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retreats
Last night I went to the home of a local parishioner to hear a priest speak about "Being a Catholic In Today's World." It was spiritually invigorating and emotionally uplifting. It hit the spot! It gave me the feeling one gets after sipping on a nice refreshing drink after toiling for hours on some project. The turnout was more than we expected. We sort of "threw" this together last week, when we found out he was staying in the local area on his own "personal retreat." He is in Alaska giving a pair of retreats and was spending some time recharging himself, but was quite gracious to give us a quick talk, and evening of fellowship.
The bummer for my family, is that he is giving a retreat this weekend up in Denali for young adults and families, and unfortunately we can't go for a multitude of reasons. My wife and I are big fans of retreats, having planned and attended quite a few in our lives, and are very disappointed we can't go this weekend. But we are hoping to do a one-day retreat sometime soon for our friends, so that we can all recharge a bit heading into the fall. Of course we wont have the assistance of a priest (unless any priests that read the blog have a spare weekend, that they would like to spend up in Alaska).
blogs
We have had family here recently, so I haven't been blogging the way I usually do, but at the same time trying to keep up. Blogging is weird, I think we all go through phases in what we post and why we post. Lately due to spiritual reasons and my family being here, I have had a dry spell. I have been reading blogs still, and realized that there seems to be a lot of angst, and I got to thinking: "maybe we should all just take a break... over the weekend. A Blog Pause?" Something tells me that won't happen.
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spiritual direction
So I have this delusion that Vincenzo, Swiss Miss, Cathy, Terry, Adoro, and the rest of the Minnesota Church Militant all sit around on the weekends drinking watermelon & strawberry vodka drinks (isn't that what Minnesotans drink?) and discussing their faith. I envision that they drive in Audis to St. Agnes, go to Tridentine Mass in their Ralph Lauren, and then spend Sunday afternoon at some park with a Dominican or FSSP priest (not to mention the squirrels) about the spiritual direction they each need, receive the Sacrament of Reconcilliation, and then all play croquet with Fr. Z at his compound.
I KNOW! Delusional right? Or... is it?
I think about this because I feel like Alaska is a spiritual desert. I have some very faith-filled spiritual friends up here. Ones that teach me a lot. What we don't have is a sophisticated spiritual infrastructure. So I feel sorry-for-ourselves a lot. Which is uncalled for. The priest last night regaled stories of saints that wandered through deserts alone. Saints that died in destitute situations that make my spiritual desert look like a Disneyland. So I should shut up and quit complaining, and focus on my faith. The promise of Heaven is all the Hope one needs.
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Would like to taste Watermelon & Strawberry drinks though...
A little girly, I KNOW, but I bet they are still good!
