Spiritual food for the journey, that is what we need and what School of Leaders provides for us. Rick opened School by asking us to reflect on this potential situation…someone asks this question “Why would I want to live a Cursillo weekend?”…what would we say? While grouping we had a chance to share our answer with the others in our group, to clarify in our own mind how we would respond to the question, to get different perspectives and ideas on how we might engage someone in that discussion. Food for thought, food for the journey.
Sister Simon spoke on prayer- a subject we are all familiar with and yet there is never a time we can’t grow in our prayer life, learn to see it in a different way. Sister offered the words of Julian of Norwich, “The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.” Sister then went on to stress some elements of prayer- take yourself where you are, be yourself in prayer and remember sometimes we need to use our will to give ourselves to God. We need to STOP and give ourselves to God, to be content with the imperfect self.
Next was a talk about friendship from Janet Moscuzza. She spoke the words we have heard many times, but never tire of hearing, never stop needing to hear…Jesus calls us and He sends us out to make disciples. Janet noted that some will be friends and some will be acquaintances but all will be those that God has put in our path, our square meter that surrounds us, our environment and we are meant to reflect His love, caring, understanding and friendship. After listening to Janet, I recommend to you the Book of Sirach, chapter 6 verses 5-17 for more thoughts on friendship. Friendship is an art, an art we can learn and strengthen, as we move in our environment, being authentic witnesses to God’s presence in our lives. It is often that witness that will draw others to us. These people, with whom we find a commonality, are the people God puts in our lives to share our journey with Him and to Him.
The sharing after each talk is a wonderful way to reflect on what we have heard, get even more insights and deepen our relationship with God and our sisters and brothers in Christ. We may have heard the same words before but each time we hear, share, listen-we are in a different place than the time before and we never know when God will give us what we need, what He has for us to do. We never know if that conversation, talk, discussion will spark us, move us forward, lighten our load, open us up. In the words of Dr. Seuss “Oh The Places You’ll Go!”. Let’s go together, let’s go with God.
