Glorious Pansies

Glorious pansies

Happiness, beauty of spring

Hardy in the sun

~~~~~

When you are blessed with a weekend on retreat, time for reflection is offered in many ways.  For me the pansy is a gorgeous and hardy plant.  It survives in cold and heat and yet it maintains its beauty!  For that I am truly grateful.  Lasting through the summer and fall the pansy is a lesson in perserverence.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!!

 

Weekend Retreat1

Isn't she lovely?  It's always a wonderful weekend when I can spend time at The Woods.  Well, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.  I've had a relationship with The Woods since 1974.  This is the mother house for the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.  It is also the campus for Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.  The sisters, under the guidence of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, began an academy for girls in 1841.  

Part of the curriculum for the college is its equine studies degree.  And so at a quiet time during the retreat I took a walk to the stable area to commune with the horses.  They are so very beautiful and were so intent on eating they hardly noticed me.  

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for image-in-ing  and Mosaic Monday  It's great fun!

Grateful For Retreat

Glorious sunrise

Frost is on the ground

All's right with the world

Choir is singing

Praises rising to heaven

Grateful thanksgiving

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

/> Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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On Retreat

Saint Mary-or-the-Woods, IN

I'll be on retreat starting tomorrow at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.  I'll be back next week.  Pray for me as I pray for you!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Lenten Retreat at The Woods

Church of the Immaculate Conception

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, IN

Starting tomorrow I will be on retreat at Saint Mary-or-the-Woods.  The Sisters of Providence have been in Indiana since 1842 when Saint Mother Theodore Guerin set foot in these lovely woods.  The Woods is a place of serenity, peace and quiet.  Yes, and it is the campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.  It is an amazing place and I am so excited to be able to spend time there with the sisters and other associates. 

I will make my retreat in HOPE.  I'm not sure what I am hoping for but then that is the reason I am making a retreat.  I pray the Holy Spirit will guide me and that I have the willingness to listen.

"But our hope is in the providence of God

which has protected us until the present, 

and which will provide, somehow,

for our future needs. . ."

Saint Mother Theodore

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Hope is in the Spirit

Companion on the journey

He is counselor

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

The Door

I stand at the door

In fear and trepidation

Just wanting to knock

Just wanting to knock

In fear and trepidation

Wanting an answer

So boldly I knock

LovinglyI am embraced

I should never fear

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

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I'll be on my annual retreat this weekend at Saint Meinrad Archabbey.  Please keep me in your prayers!

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Please visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

Finally, I am joining A Soulful Life for Soulfood Friday

Retreat Postscript

Today is the day after...I've been on a high.  Yes, a high.  The two days at Saint Meinrad Archabbey each year are something I really look forward to.  Most years the weather is conducive to long walks and quiet.  But this year there was ice, sleet and snow, there was no walk around the lake or reflection at the Grotto.  You know, I did have time for quiet alone at the Abby Church, the guest house chapel and sitting quietly in the reading room watching the snow/sleet and thanking God for the Monks and their hospitality!  Thanks, too, to St. Benedict and his Rule.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Joy in the Memories

Today I join Meri for Share the Joy.   For I believe we need to find it in my life every day no matter the realities in which we live.  God is Good in so many ways even in times of trial.

Joy comes in many forms.
And this day has the potential of
being just as grand as
celebrating the beauty in
all that surrounds me.

I must be open to it!

           
~~~~~

It's been a number of months since I've ventured here.  But now that I am retired I am going to try to rejoin this community with eagerness and anticipation.  Joy comes to me in the strength and integrity of this tree on grounds of Saint Mary-or-the Woods, home to the Sisters of Providence, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and, most importantly, the shrine of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, founderess of the congregation.  This tree was well over a hundred years old when it finally had to be cut down.  There is sorrow in that because an old friend has passed.  On the other hand, the joy I get from the memories far outweighs the sorrow.  I am a graduate of SMWC and a Providence Associate. Walking the campus, praying with the sisters and gathering on retreat with Associate sisters and brothers is such a JOYFUL time.  So it is that I anticipate a weekend of JOY as I "retreat" to The Woods to gather in community of prayer and reflection!

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Strong and gnarled tree

Comfort for the weary

Shelter for us all

For those who labor

Shade from the sun and heat

Beautiful branches

~~~

There is nothing so beautiful as memories of times past and nothing more exciting than anticipating the joy in new memories!!!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy

Please visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

I will also be joining Weekend Reflections for the first time.  You might want to visit as well.

Joy in Retreat

Today I join Meri for Share the Joy Thursday.   For I believe we need to find it in my life every day no matter the realities in which we live.  God is Good in so many ways even in times of trial.

Joy comes in many forms.
And this day has the potential of
being just as grand as
being on retreat at the Archabbey

We just need to be open to it!!
~~~~~~~

Benedictine monks
Retreat at the Archabbey
Time for reflection

I am so fortunate to be going on retreat this weekend.  The joy and community at St. Meinrad Archabbey is always a time of being.  Yes, being, taking time to be present to the one who love and cares for us and the time I have to just be in the presence.  

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

     

Please visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

The Joy In Tea Talk

Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the

 comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.

~~Author Unknown~~

I'm having...Chia Latte  Oh my how tasty!

My teacup...is really my favorite pot and mug duo.

I'm feeling... I'm feeling excitement in the anticipation of what has become for me an annual get-away.  Tomorrow I begin retreat at Saint Meinrad Archabbey with fellow friends and "companions on the journey!!!"

On my mind... preparation for tonight's Bible Study.  I still need to pack too.

Please join Ruth at Tea Talk today.

~~~~~~~

Today I also join Meri for Share the Joy Thursday.   For I believe we need to find it in my life every day no matter the realities in which we live.  God is Good in so many ways even in times of trial.

Joy comes in many forms.

And this day has the potential of
being just as grand as

as a winter sunrise.  I must be open to it!

~~~^j^~~

Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy

Retreat at Saint Mainrad Archabbey

St. Meinrad

St. Meinrad, martyr is venerated as the patron and in some sense the founder of the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland which has kept an unbroken continuity since Carolingian times. He settled as a hermit at Einsiedeln, where he was murdered by two ruffians to whom he had given hospitality in 861. His feast day is January 21st. (Catholic Online)

Feast Day: January 21

I'm off to a time of prayer, instruction and community. May God bless you all most abundantly this weekend.

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Thanks be to God!

++Today's reflection is at Provident God++

Stripped in the Desert

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
picture by Steven L. Pierce

This is the title of a reflection from the book Radical Grace by Richard Rohr, O.F.M. It truly speaks to me today.

The Hebrew people entered the desert feeling themselves a united people, a strong people, and you'd think that perhaps they would have experienced greater strength as they walked through. But no! They experienced the fragmentation and weariness; they experienced divisions among their people. They were not the people they thought they were.

When all of our idols are taken away, all our securities and defense mechanisms, we find out who we really are. We're so little, so poor, so empty--sometimes, even so ugly. But God takes away our shame, and we are able to present ourselves to God poor and humble. Then we find out who we are and who God is for us. The desert is where Israel experienced its sinfulness, that it was weak and unable to do any good. Our temptation is always to shorten the time, make our timetable God's timetable. We want to get out and get it over with. But we cannot rush the journey of faith. We have to attune ourselves to its times and seasons. You can't bake a cake quicker by turning up the heat to 450 degrees, nor can you slow it down by lowering it to 200. It will flop either way.

from Great Themes of Scripture
by Richard Rohr, O.F.M.

~~~~~~~

He was talking to me. I trust we all have been here. Some for longer than others. I'm still such a slow learner or stubborn that only a gentle kick in the rear will bring me back to reality! Yes, sometimes a stiff KICK in the rear. DUH! Then the light comes on and I see how God has been there all the time fine tuning and pruning what I thought I was bold and wise enough to do by myself. Yes, indeed, there it is, The Hand of Providence. So if any of you were wondering, it was a fruitful and wonderful retreat at the Woods!!!

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Thanks be to God!

Road to Providence

Dear friends, I will be on retreat at Saint Mary-or-the-Woods starting tomorrow evening. I would ask that you keep me in you prayers! Thank you all!

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Thanks be to God!

Time for R & R...

Yes, Retreat and Reflection. Tomorrow is the day I begin retreat at St. Meinrad Archabbey. It's been a year and time again!!! But before I go, I want to leave you with a couple of my "treasures." First, as I was going through one of my books, I found this card. Wondered what had happened to it because it gives me such a boost at the end of the day. (Perhaps mislaying it is so I don't lose my appreciation for it.)

The prayer on the back goes like this:

Thank you, God, for love's unfolding this day through the people and events that touched my life. I entrust my night's sleep to your renewing care. Copyright, Abbey Press, 1994

The other thing I would like to leave with you is the name of a book. It's called Love in the Little Things: Tales of Family Life by Mike Aquilina. It is wonderfully tender book about Christ in the midst of family from Mike's own reflections.

And so it is that I venture off.

~~~~~~~
Thanks be to God.