Well, I just returned home yesterday from my retreat at Prince of Peace Abbey in Oceanside. This is the home of The Benedictine Monks who are filled with the spirit of Prayer, Peace, Perseverence and Penance.
I went on a private "somewhat silent" retreat with my mom and was a little nervous before leaving because this is the first retreat I've been on that wasn't planned or structured. Although we did have the opportunity to go to daily Mass and join the monks in prayer up to five times a day, there was no designated speaker for us to listen to.
So we went to daily Mass and took ample amounts of quiet time for spiritual reading, prayer, and walking the stations of the cross and enjoying nature. It was wonderful!
I felt I received a lot of peace on this retreat and that God spoke to me in the silence of my heart.
Since this is private, I will not reveal anymore but I would like to leave you with the running theme for the last few days for both me and mother that somehow the Lord wanted to stress this importance to us.
Perhaps it is because I am not as grateful for all the gifts He has so generously given to me or that I can be selfish and not give as freely as I would like to.
So I will take the opportunity now of admitting this to myself and to you before God and ask Him for His forgiveness.
I love you Lord, but help me to love you more in all the things I do, say, and think.
Theme of this Retreat:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear.
For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.
Notice the ravens:
they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse or barn, yet God feeds them.
How much more important are you than birds!
Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your lifespan?
If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest?
Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin.
But I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow , will He not provide much more for you, O you of little faith?
As for you, do not seek what you are to eat or what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore.
All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide moneybags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustable treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
~Luke 12:22-34
May God bless and reward you!
I went on a private "somewhat silent" retreat with my mom and was a little nervous before leaving because this is the first retreat I've been on that wasn't planned or structured. Although we did have the opportunity to go to daily Mass and join the monks in prayer up to five times a day, there was no designated speaker for us to listen to.
So we went to daily Mass and took ample amounts of quiet time for spiritual reading, prayer, and walking the stations of the cross and enjoying nature. It was wonderful!
I felt I received a lot of peace on this retreat and that God spoke to me in the silence of my heart.
Since this is private, I will not reveal anymore but I would like to leave you with the running theme for the last few days for both me and mother that somehow the Lord wanted to stress this importance to us.
Perhaps it is because I am not as grateful for all the gifts He has so generously given to me or that I can be selfish and not give as freely as I would like to.
So I will take the opportunity now of admitting this to myself and to you before God and ask Him for His forgiveness.
I love you Lord, but help me to love you more in all the things I do, say, and think.
Theme of this Retreat:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear.
For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.
Notice the ravens:
they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse or barn, yet God feeds them.
How much more important are you than birds!
Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your lifespan?
If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest?
Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin.
But I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow , will He not provide much more for you, O you of little faith?
As for you, do not seek what you are to eat or what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore.
All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide moneybags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustable treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
~Luke 12:22-34
May God bless and reward you!
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1 comment:
Trust in Him; He will provide all that you need. Only He knows what you NEED. I love you Sister! :)
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