Congregational Retreat

I just realized that I did not blog last week! I do not have access to a computer at my mother's home, so it never occurred to me. I was at my home parish, St. Joseph, in Sharon, PA last weekend for the kick-off of their celebrating the 150th year of the parish. I gave a brief talk on some of the virtues of Saint Joseph and how they relate to us as Sisters of Saint Joseph.

This past weekend, our congregation participated in a Graced History Retreat. We began Friday evening reflecting on our personal light history. Our communal light history, our personal and communal shadow history were the areas we spent time with on Saturday. Then on Sunday we reflected on our personal and communal hope. Different sisters gave a reflection for each of the different areas. After each one, there was time for quiet reflection, then sharing in small groups. The beautiful prayers that began each session and our Sunday liturgy added to the sacredness of the retreat.

We are truly blessed to have occasions like these when we come together as a community to pray, reflect, and share. We share our gifts and talents, and recognize those of others. It is a time to hold one another in prayer and receive the graces God desires for each of us. It was a wonderful opportunity to forget the ordinary, hectic schedules, in which we are often involved, to be quiet. I was so aware of the respect for one another by everyone participating in staying as quiet as each person was able. I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity, and I am also grateful and happy to belong to this congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania.