Wednesday, August 22, 2012

An Encounter of the Best Kind

After a long hiatus I have decided to resume this blog.  There have been just too many interesting things not to share them.

The first thing I'd like to share is that this summer I had the privilege of a lifetime experience, a thirty day retreat at a beautiful Jesuit retreat house overlooking the Atlantic in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  As one friend said to me, "you couldn't have found a better to place to hang out with God"! This is definitely true.

The timing was perfect.  This has been a year of "running":  from Columbia to Costa Rica, to Mexico (several times!) as well as various parts of the U.S.  The good news is that we have young women from Latin America who are interested in joining us.  So my co-worker, Sister Olivia and I have been looking for a house in Mexico where they can live with us and discern their vocation. I am grateful to have had this retreat opportunity before beginning the next "phase".

Back to the retreat.  It was the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, a tried and true method for encounter with God that has been in existence over 400 years. One thing St. Ignatius wants people to understand is God's unconditional love for us, so gazing over the Atlantic certainly reinforced the knowledge of God's unfathomable love.

Besides basking in God's love, we pondered the life of Christ in the Gospels during 5 different daily prayer periods.  I came to understand why this retreat is called the "Exercises".  It truly was an exercise in spiritual growth.  This was such an impressionable experience that I'm sure I'll be sharing more as time goes on.  In the meantime to see some photos of this beautiful place, click the following link:
        http://www.flickr.com/photos/22016325@N05/sets/72157631202173366/show/

Please know you were all in my prayers during the retreat.  God's love is reflected to us in all those people who love us and share their lives with us.  Thank you for that.

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