Recently I returned from my silent retreat in Maple Mount--a tiny, out of the way town in the state of Kentucky, known to many locals and others as "God's country." What a fair and fitting label!
For those who offered a prayer for me or all of us on retreat, thanks. It was a beautiful time. I'll post pictures with a few words of description tomorrow.
I will not share too many personal graces here, though there were many. But, I will say in a rather general way that this retreat opened my eyes to the role of wonder in life, a wonder that I think I've allowed to play too small of a role in my own life: wonder in creation, in the Church, in each other, in myself, and in the God who makes it all possible and holds it all together.
Wonder. That's the ticket into a dynamic relationship with the living God. Remember Moses and that bush? The bush causes Moses to wonder, and he can't help but draw near to God--despite his fear--even as that same God draws near to him.
But the wonder we're called to, and into which this retreat invited us--or at least me--is a wonder that draws at the heart more than the mind. No one can think his way into a relationship with God; he is pulled there.
Thoughts, then feelings, then desires. O happy memories of IPF!
I'd also like to share something I found just awesome about this retreat: the feast days of the saints were perfect and fit in beautifully with our time at Mount Saint Joseph.
On Monday, we celebrated the feast day of Saint Francis de Sales, a man with keen insights into the human spirit. The second reading in the Office of Readings that day reminded us that there are different kinds of plants that do different things. Same with us: and so it'd be foolish for a bishop to live the life of a Carthusian, or for a married man to live as a hermit. We are, he says, to spend our lives in devotion to God--in whatever path that is for us. The heart will show us the way.
Tuesday marked the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul--and what a conversion it was! He went from murderer to evangelist. As Chrysostom says, Paul lived an extraordinary life of ministry after having been transformed and converted in Christ, but "the most important thing of all to him was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ." Is there any wonder, then, that he "considered himself happier than anyone else?" Any retreat that helps one realize not only that Christ loves him, but that that's all that really counts in the end--I'd call it a success.
Wednesday was the feast of Sts. Timothy and Titus, whose lives always pointed to what is the goal of our earthy journey and ultimately our religion and faith: heaven. Funny, on this day, early in the morning, I sat in the chapel and looked through the clear windows. It was foggy and gray outside, cloudy, misty and cold--just as I like it. From the chapel window, it looked as though we were already in heaven, as if the room I was sitting in were somehow floating in the clouds. Who knows, perhaps a bit of heaven descended upon us that morning like the dewfall. Or perhaps we were somehow being brought up. Who knows--but what a moment it was.
Thursday was the feast of St. Angela Merici, the foundress of the Ursuline Sisters, in whose motherhouse we were staying. St. Angela founded the Ursuline order. She scattered seeds on the land we were upon, but it was long after she died that they came to fruition. She never did see them bloom, though I imagine that's not altogether true--I'm sure she smiles down now. But talk about a woman who had patience and trust in what she was doing. And that patience and trust has gone a long ways, like that mustard seed mentioned in the Gospel that day, and, pray God, like that seed of vocation in each of us.
And then on Friday we celebrated the feast of St Thomas Aquinas, whose writings we seminarians get sick of early on in our time here. Kidding, of course, but Thomas' legacy lives on in the Church and has done a great deal in helping us understand the essential mysteries by which we are saved--here and hereafter. Our chapel here is dedicated to him, and I know he watches over us here in a special way.
Photos to come.
mk
