SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

One of the gifts in my life is having a spiritual director. A spiritual director is someone with whom you can share about your relationship with God. You can talk about how your prayer life is going, what blocks or distracts you from prayer, what touches you, and where you think God is calling you. A spiritual director can help you through a discernment process in whatever you need to discern about. You can be challenged to grow in your prayer life and relationship with God.
This afternoon I met with my spiritual director. She is a Sister of Saint Joseph from Baden, Pennsylvania. I was delighted to share the graces of my retreat with her, how God touched me, and what I learned. It was a graced time as I recalled those special moments of retreat. She has known me for a long time, so it is easy for me to share with her as she knows what my spiritual journey has been and has witnessed the growth in my prayer, relationship with God, and who I am as a Sister of Saint Joseph. We meet about every four to six weeks depending on our schedules. I look forward to the two hour drive to quiet down and then meet with her. On the drive back, I recall what our conversation was and in what way she challenges me to grow. Today, she challenged me to find ways to keep the graces of retreat alive in me during the busyness of my days.
This is a part of my life that I cannot do without. Sometimes we have to reschedule when the roads are bad in winter; however, I am so grateful when I can get there to share with her. I hope your experience with your spiritual director is as enriching as mine.

LABOR DAY AND THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I was thinking about workers, and all the different occupations. I am grateful for those who work at night, in snowy weather, in the heat, or in places where I can't imagine. I also thought about and prayed for those who are unemployed and those making wages that still can't support their families.

I went to visit my family for the weekend. I have not been home since July 4th weekend. It was a good weekend to spend time with my mother. We did some shopping, played cards, and watched a movie. On Monday we were at one of my sisters' home where everyone gathered for a cook out. It was fun to talk to my neice and nephew, and great-neice and nephew about their first days of school. I got to share my experience of the first week of school. I have a wonderful story to tell you.

There is a new student in my class, who is also new to the school. She is African-American and is unfamiliar with anything Catholic. During the week all students were taken to church for the sacrament of Reconciliation. We invite those who are not Catholic to go into the Reconciliation Room and tell Father their name and ask for a blessing. I explained this to my new student by saying, "Tell Father your name and tell Father that you are new to our school. Then ask Father to give you a blessing." Her reply was, "You mean GOD is in there!" Needless to say I had to stifle my laugh and explain that God is everywhere, however, there is a priest inside the room. Well, she went in and a few minutes later she came out. I asked her how it went and she replied,

"Good, he said I had a nice smile." So, she was happy. I would have loved to have heard her explain this to her family when she got home.

The next day was our first school mass. Watching my new student was a delight. She was on the edge of the pew looking everywhere. She did not want to miss a thing. The rest of my class was slumped in their pews not paying attention to anything.

The first week of school I have to continually remind myself that they are still Third Graders when they can't follow simple directions. Pray for me! Pray for them!