Sorry to be posting so late, y'all! A full day for me, including the Cathedral Chapter retreat. Hope your Saturday has been a good one!
Simple reading for today--page 10, The View from Ellie's House.
Winner describes feeling pathetic about moving into her priest's guest bedroom and sleeping in a twin bed at the age of 32. How have you responded to unexpected, difficult moments in your life? What do those moments have to do with your understanding of vulnerability, gratitude, grace or faith?
For tomorrow: please read pages 11-14.
1 comment:
This is a real thought provoking question. I have been ruminating on difficult moments that I have gone through. As I do more and more of these "moments" come to mind. Except for a few I have never given them much thought. They were just those stepping stones we all traverse in the process of becoming who we are. But looking at them from the lens of feeling vunerable or grateful was something I had never done.
There was one time when I left Chicago after graduating from nursing school. I was accepted at University of Washington and got on a plane with my bags without a place to stay when I got there but feeling that I could easily handle it and find a place to live. There was no permanent housing available on campus, all the hotels were full. I was allowed to stay overnight in a dorm room, spent the evening and the next day responding to "rooms available" in the newspaper to no avail. My mother had an aunt that lived across the lake from the University and had given me her phone number for emergency. I didn't want to call but I had to - she drove over and picked me up and took me to her home where I was given a spare bedroom. I stayed with her and her husband for about 9 months. I must say I was grateful for her opening her home to me and taking me in. I could easily have been homeless and I was a long, long way from my parents in Rhode Island. With Chris and Lester I began my adult life. They gave me space but were there when I needed them.
My twenty eight year journey to the diaconate was frought with "difficult moments" to many to number. Faith was what got me through. After hearing in my heart and soul a call from God to "be my deacon" I was sent to a discernment weekend totally unprepared. The weekend was a disaster! It ended with being told that I was meant for the laity. I cried the whole three hour drive back to my home. Shortly after that I again heard from God (in my heart and soul) not to worry, that if God wanted me to be his deacon no man or woman could stop it, God's will would prevail. For the next twenty four years and more human rejections a small flame remained lit in my heart. Then one day is another of life's difficult moments I suddenly left the parish I was in for twenty three years and found myself at St. Peter's. It was here that I was heard, accepted, encouraged and supported through parish discernment, sent on another discernment weekend and the call I had heard was validated and formation began. Three years later I was ordained. Throughout the twenty eight year journey what sustained me was faith - faith that God was calling me to the diaconate and that if it was God's will it would happen when God saw that it was the right time. As I look back I can see that the twenty eight year journey and all that it entailed was pivotal for the development of the faith I now have. It also has led me to pray a prayer of our Lord's, a prayer that had changed the course of the world and the course of my life, "Thy will, not mine be done."
Post a Comment