Mount St. Francis Lenten Retreat

With the love of the mountains, the quiet of the forest, and the wisdom of the Father’s and Sister’s I knew I was going to be engulfed into God’s milieu. The silent retreat was a gentle blend of equanimity and reflection. The Father’s and Sister’s brought us together 5 times during the week-end to impart their knowledge, years of listening, reading, teaching, and absolution.

The excitement of a new toy is no different for those who spring to clutch the Lord’s cloak. The last supper without silence, I can’t but look at my new acquaintances not truly wanting to speak for in a mere half an hour we will be silenced for 48 hours. Light whispers contemplate the food as much as our first Lenten workshop. My eyes leap from one shelf to another in the expansive library yearning to catch the eye of a book that will revolutionize my week-end. Spiritual Master’s by Father B. Hughes it is.

Father Kevin, a spry lean man gentle in touch, speech and gestures engages us in the

Possibility that we are a reflection of God’s beauty.
Isaiah 61 - The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

My mind reels into the lost opportunities, the stories of what never happened, due to my rush, my embarrassment, my need to protect myself. And, yet he returns and shows me new places, spaces to dwell with those that need sustenance.

We are to be the voice for those that have none, and yet here we are silenced, for me the safest place to be, for in my youth too much excitation existed my vocals with rhetoric.

“Christ,” he says, didn’t walk with those like him, he choose to reside with the sinners, tax collectors, and women of the night. It is here he felt comfortable, why is it so hard for us to distance ourselves from those different from us. What is in our makeup that pushes our synapsis to fire viciously, repulsively for those that were made perfect in his image too?

Father’s last words are; “He is everything for everyone.” Why isn’t that enough at times for me?

Father Louis.

Perseverance – A willingness to include pain and suffering in our approaches to life – Psalm 27
When we say, I love you, what are we saying:
I accept you/ you are precious/ apart of my life that I love/ we are giving life/ God is begin us to come close/ pay attention to body in thinking about Christ.

We are saying to God that we are ready to do his Will.

He taught us a new approach to prayer;
I want to approach you through the gifts of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me. I place them in your hands. Help me to be attentive and receptive of your world. Accept the time I spend in your presence as an expression of my love for you, my desire to be with you.

Lent is a time lean on Christ, this was very new to me, not only to be available but be renewed. I hope to spend all the gifts God gave me during this time, leaving only a little footprint for others to follow.