We just got back late last evening from our annual retreat.  It is a period of prayer and reflection and conferences twice a day.  Other than this and common prayer, the days are spent pretty much in silence.

As our Constitutions state, these times of silence stir up a sort of "wholesome unrest" in us.  Even if I find it a bit challenging, even after 17 years, silence is good for my soul. 

As I was praying in Chapel late yesterday afternoon, near the close of this retreat, a phrase occurred to me that I am taking with me from these days of grace.  I heard it when I went with my novice mistress for Cursillo years ago: “Christ is counting on you – and I on Him!”

As I did a little spiritual reading during that time as well, and "happened" upon a phrase which also speaks powerfully to an important truth I need to carry with me: "Trusting in the faithfulness of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the courage to accept this life…" (Constitutions 2.1)

I then decided to write a poem reflecting on these things.  I thought I would share it with you today:

I remember Cursillo days long past
And a simple turn of phrase there cast
As I prepare to meet tomorrows
With their share of trial and sorrow.

“Christ is counting on you – and I on Him!”
Is more than just a fleeting whim.
It sums up well the thoughts of my heart
As from this dear place I now depart.

It seems I have ample grace – right now
On this day when we renewed our vows.
After a nice talk with Sister, too,
I have new courage for what I must do.

But I’ll need new courage for each new day
As I am stretched along the way
And so I pray: “I’m counting on you,
To support me and see me through.

I need your Spirit each new day,
My ‘soul’s most welcome guest’ to stay!”

I am leaving tomorrow for retreat, but I haven't begun to pack.  There's plenty going on here, and it will go on with or without me.

Prayers for the retreat and for special intentions would be appreciated.

God bless you all!

I have a fairly busy day here once I get off from my “regular” work at the front desk at 1:30 p.m.  I have reading hour for our residents at 2, apples to cut up, and, if I get time, a little cleaning to do.  We’ll see how far I make it. 
 
My time is limited because, besides the above-mentioned tasks, I have plans later in the afternoon as well. 
 
Confessions start at 4 p.m. at the local church.  I’ll try to make it up there by around that time.  Then, I’m scheduled to read at the evening Mass; I guess I’ll stay out of trouble today!
 
Before reading this evening at Mass, I wanted to take time to reflect on the scriptures.  So, this morning, before coming to work at the front desk, I used them for my meditation time in our chapel.  I had also read them over last evening at suppertime, as we were talking about plans for the Sunday liturgy. 
 
I must say, I enjoyed the little hint of ‘attitude’ and feistiness that I read between the lines in Amos’ conversation there.  He was talking with the priest who didn’t want to deal with a prophet. 
 
It seemed as if Amos was saying: “Hey!  I never asked for this job!  Don’t pick on me!  I was minding my own business with sheep and sycamores. (Where do you think you get that nice wool and all those figs from?) 
 
God called me to prophesy – I didn’t start on my own, or take it upon myself to speak up.  If you’ve got a problem with the message, you’d better take it up with Someone else, and I wouldn’t mess with Him!”
 
Might his response remind each of us of our life’s mission, and also call us to look at our motivation for certain things we do? 
 
Could it serve as an invitation to look back on our own calling from God to our individual vocations or ministries?   
 
I think so. 

It might also call us to be open to people that we would like to reprimand or confront.  Maybe God has placed them on our path for a reason!

I’m sorry it’s been a while since I’ve shared anything here.  It has been busy, but I’ve also lacked inspiration.  Oh well, here I am now!
 
I thought I’d share about my morning.  It’s the first Saturday of the month, so we had our women’s gathering.  I was prepared to show a beautiful YouTube video about St. Junipero to the group, using a laptop. 
 
This morning, I got up early to get to chapel for personal prayer and set up for Mass, as well as take care of what I needed to before heading over to the local church for our event.  After this, I brought the items I needed back to the convent, where I spent a couple of minutes trying to figure out how I could best place them in my bike basket and on the handle basket to ensure optimal balance and safety on my 10 block trek. 
 
It took some readjusting, even after I had “hit the road,” but I made it to Church without incident.  I had arrived plenty early to set up everything for our gathering in plenty of time to get upstairs for Mass. 
 
I parked and locked my bike, and headed inside.  After finding an outlet and plugging in the computer, I turned it on.  A black screen with white typeface informed me that it was “unable to find operating system.”  These are not words that a computer-reliant presenter wants to read!  Despite multiple attempts, including first briefly removing the battery, the same fateful message met me when I tried turning on the machine again. 
 
Giving up on the futile effort, I decided that I’d better walk home and get a phone instead; I still had time to make it back for Mass–if I walked really fast…I didn’t want to monkey with the bike lock at this point.  It was 6:53 a.m., and 7:15 Mass was coming right up! 
 
I must admit I was a bit frazzled on the walk, but I did my best to prayerfully calm my nerves. 
 
I did make it back in time for Mass, with a few minutes to spare.  I had left the laptop plugged in while I was gone (about 20 minutes) so I gave it one more quick try in case it had built up enough charge to work.  No such luck!
 
After Mass, I went downstairs and we had a nice, if small, gathering.  We listened to the video on the phone, with its volume turned up all the way.
 
Afterword, I headed back out to my bike for the trek home, happy that I now had less items to carry (as a basket I had been carrying had been disposed of). 
 
I unlocked the bike and started on my way, but something wasn’t right.  I stopped, and discovered that my back tire was FLAT. 
 
I walked the bike back to the convent garage, where I parked it before heading back to work.
 
I don’t know if I had ridden over something, unknowingly, or if the weight of the computer and supplies was too much for the tire. 
 
Whatever the case, it was kind of a rocky road this morning!