I’ve just returned from a wonderful week of retreat. The bad news is that I haven’t blogged for over two weeks– a blogger sin! After retreat I took a detour to New Jersey because my sister has been diagnosed with cancer, and that has made focus quite difficult. The good news, however is that going on retreat each year is a treasured perk of religious life, and again this year the time of reflection led me to my center where God is. Clarities come in the quiet there. Ahhhh!
Early in religious formation, making a retreat sounded more like a jail sentence than a perk. Not to talk for a week seemed impossible. However, as I matured in my sense of self, the opportunity for reflection became precious. A significant moment in that shift came when I discovered Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s little book, Gift from the Sea: An Answer to the Conflicts in Our Lives. I remember sitting on a beautiful rolling hill at Immaculata College and devouring the book. She wrote these pages during a brief vacation at the seashore where she wanted to examine the patterns of her life. However, her search for meaning in her life has spoken powerfully to other seekers for years. If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it. The insight that a woman needs solitude to find the essence of her life was Anne’s ”gift” to me, a gift that has grown deeper with each year’s retreat.
There is no way we can advance without retreating!
I spent the hour of Barak Obama’s inauguration in the lunchroom at the University of Detroit Mercy with students, faculty, and staff. There was a feed from CNN projected onto the wall showing everything very clearly. I voted for Obama, so it was a blessing to me to see him take the oath of office — and know it better than the chief justice of the Supreme Court! I loved watching him listen to Aretha Franklin and to the classical music quartet with equal attention and enjoyment. I loved his obvious tenderness towards his wife and children and his generous appreciation of those on his team. The people around me were responding along with the crowd on the mall in Washington, but they weren’t wild or boistrous. I have a feeling that, with him, our nation can find some sort of center. I don’t mean a political “nowhere between two somewheres” but a true centeredness. I pray that people who love to hate don’t give him too much grief — even that they can be converted and begin to trust not only him but others. Thank you Jesus, for this man!
Commenting on Jan. 20th . . .
I was overwhelmed by the huge sea of people gathered to be
present for this history-making event. Filled with hope and trust
in an individual who challenges us -a world family-to join with him to make the changes that will indeed make our world a better and safer place to be.
The huge crowds in Washington were linked to the world-wide images of people gathered to celebrate with us.
I will carry those images with me for the remainder of my life!