On-line Advent Retreat

STOP


Seek


The


Other


Possibility

An Online Discernment Retreat for men and women who would like to explore a call to Religious Life. In the privacy of your own home and at a time convenient for you, you will be able to receive materials for reflection via the internet. After your time of prayer, you will be invited to contact a retreat director via e-mail where you will share your thoughts and reflections. Retreat directors are experienced spiritual directors committed to a daily exchange with participants assigned to them.

December 5-9, 2010 - five days beginning the second Sunday of Advent. Sponsored by the Religious Vocation Office of the Archdiocese of New York. For information and registration, go to:

www.nyreligiouslife.org

or Contact: Sr. Deanna Sabetta, CND, sr.deanna.sabetta@archny.org

Deadline for registration is December 1, 2010

Retreat Report

A Good Retreat is a Gift from God

Some would ask, as my mother often does, "Why would a contemplative nun have to leave her monastery for a long retreat?" Some might even ask why a lay person would choose to do such a thing when they could just take some vacation time and remain in the comfort of their home. To remain at the monastery or to stay in ones home will work but only with a healthy dose of self-discipline and focus. But the call to retreat, especially to one longer than a couple of days or a weekend, is a call to re-awaken, to renew, to dismantle the false self under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to allow our loving God to bring you back together again both in your complexity as an individual and in your relationship with God. Getting away from the familiar, the usual stimuli and distractions, the social element is necessary for the process of abandonment of self to the work God intends to do in this graced time apart.

My recent eight days of retreat with daily spiritual direction at Linwood Spiritual Center, Rhinebeck, New York was just that kind of experience. The page below, my version of an illuminated manuscript, is a reflection of my meditation during those days. In the background behind the four scripture quotes at the bottom appears my effort at reproducing the spectacular view of the Hudson River from Linwood's beautiful grounds. 

The days leading up to my retreat had been filled with challenges- physical, mental, spiritual and relational. The time apart was perfect antidote as opportunity to just sit with God, to allow the Divine Son and the warmth of the sun above to heal and also opportunity to closely contemplate the wonder of God in every aspect of the environment. I thank God for that preparation for this Holy Week. As he did with the the daugther of Jairus, Jesus took me by the hand, bid me arise, and my spirit returned. Thanks be to God.

A Retreat Opportunity

Weekend Retreat at Linwood

Spiritual Center, Rhinebeck, NY

"Reclaiming Wisdom in Challenging Times"

Presenter: Brother Don Bisson, FMS

Silent Atmosphere with Daily Spiritual Direction

March 6-8, 2010

(845) 876-4178

The Spiritual Practice of 'Making Retreat'

When I was a young, pre-Vatican II Catholic, we spoke in Lent of 'giving up' things or, less frequently, of taking on some holy devotion like making the Stations of Cross daily or going to Mass on weekdays. We did not talk in terms of 'spiritual practice'. This is a term we have been blessed to be able to borrow from Eastern religions whose traditions are so much more familiar to us in light of the ecumenical thrust of the Council.

Whatever the vocabulary, the act of 'making retreat' has been a common part of Christian 'spiritual practice' since the earliest times. Devoted Christians have always sought to imitate Jesus in going apart, seeking a deserted place, removing themselves from the norm of life, to commune with the Father. We read the lives of saints and learn of their life-changing spiritual experiences while on retreat or pilgrimage. We know men and woman who have 'made retreat' in Lent or Advent or some regularly set time every year, marking off the days on their calendar in advance as surely as they mark the birthdays of those they love and want to be sure to remember. I have met men at Redemptorists retreat houses who would not dream of missing their annual retreat, proudly boast of their longevity in the practice, and have, in turn, initiated their sons.

As contemplative nuns our spiritual practice includes daily periods of silence designed for 'going apart' to "sit in your cell as if in paradise". (Rule of St. Romuald) Each of us picks one day a month for personal retreat and has a ten-day long retreat during the year. The community retreats together for ten days each year. For many years before entering this monastery occasional 'retreating' was my practice - weekends with a theme at a retreat house, long silent retreats with daily spiritaul direction, and once a solo vacation to a remote place that evolved into a spiritual experience of 'going apart'.

Regardless of the history of this time-honored tradition in our faith, regardless of the spiritual necessity of this discipline for those searching for God, the average Catholic has never been on a retreat and many do not even know what a retreat involves or would mean for them. Years ago I observed a very devoted women - wife, mother and grandmother - attend Mass daily and exercise various ministries in the parish. When I found the opportunity I recommended an 8-day silent retreat in which she would get some input and have daily spiritual direction. In response, she told me that her priest/spiritual director told her she was "not ready for such an experience"! I still feel that his assessment was a diservice to a woman of great faith.

The number of books concerning spirituality on the shelves of mega-book stores gives testimony to the general hunger for God present in people today. Many practicing Catholics, if asked, will express their inner desire for more, more of God than what happens for them in their parish at weekly Mass. "Making a retreat" - a half hour in a day, an hour a week, a weekend every now and then or a week each year would be spiritual medicine for such as these. A retreat is an effort to stop, to waste time with the Lord, to smell the roses, to sense the gift of God in their aroma, to hear what God might be offering in love in this very moment, to feel the embrace of the Almighty.

Catch-up Time

Community
Retreat

God's Call to the Vows:
Evangelical Counsels
for Today's
Redemptoristine Nun

It has been much too long between posts. But contemplative monastic life demands times, short and long, when a further movement into silence and solitude is required, when it is imperative to re-visit earlier commitments, when the invitation to come apart is heard again and the response is given. For ten days stradling the end of September and the beginning of October, our community was blessed with such a time. The blessing came not only in the time set apart but in the presence of Father Philip Dabney, CSsR as our retreat director. Father Philip has served the poor and the most abandoned in a great variety of assignments for the Congregation. For fifteen years he was Vocation Director seeking out and working with young and not so young men as prospective candidates for the priesthood or brotherhood in the Alphonsian tradition of the Redemptorists. Most recently Father began a new assignment on the staff of the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Mission Church) in Boston. That Church has now gained national reputation as the setting for the funeral of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Father Dabney had lots to share about that occasion since he served as pointman for the media and Secret Service as they invaded Church and rectory.

Most important for us, however, was Fr. Philip's take on the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty as sources of liberation of spirit and soul for life in relationship with God and our fellow human beings. This interpretation converts poverty, chastity and obedience into invitations for all Christians: chastity as right relationship and availibility for relationship; poverty as an open-handed attitude toward things, askewing the tight grasp on things material and promoting a sharing of the abundance of God's creation; obedience as a right and free attitude toward authority and our commitments, an attitude rooted in conscious reflection and decision-making rather than blind observance of law.

Fr. Philip shared with us from the depths of his own spiritual journey and personal experience as son, brother, priest and community member. For all that he gave, we are most grateful.

Vassar Students on the Spiritual Path

What a privilege it was to offer spiritual direction to students of the Catholic Community of Vassar College! Was I ever impressed by them and their advisor, campus minister Linda Tuttle. Just two weeks into the fall semester freshmen to seniors, male and female, from so many different countries and cultures that I lost count, committed themselves to a three-day "busy person's" retreat. This was an opportunity to discuss family, faith, life, meaning, and vocational commitment with two contemplative nuns, one sister from an active congregation and two diocesan priests assigned to a variety of campus and seminary ministries. From the gathering of campus faith organizations (called a "bounce" because students and guests can go from table to table - bounce around - checking out each group, the faith it represents and what they have to offer to students) Friday evening to Mass on Sunday afternoon celebrated with the young people by Fr. Richard Lamorte, students consistently expressed their conscious journey with God - a journey maintained in spite of busy schedules, impressive academic programs and goals as well as study and travel abroad.

Vassar College Chapel

Linda Tuttle and Alyssa Pabalan

Katrina (senior and president of Vassar Catholic Community)and friends preparing scripture readings for Mass

Fortunately our monastery is less than a half hour away from the beautiful Vassar campus in Poughkeepsie. The nature of the retreat made it possible for me to spend just a few hours a day at the school from Friday to Sunday. Over and over again the invitation was issued for students and staff to come to our monastery to share prayer, to get input on some spiritual topic or just to experience the monastic way. Since we have four fine colleges within easy commute of our monastery we have been working on developing relationships with students and professors. We hope that we see some Vassar students at our door in the near future.

Retreating is Good for the Soul

It has been much too long since my last post. The summer has been a busy one. And that's the truth! All the more reason for me to look forward to six days of quiet personal hermit retreat within our monastery during last week. This is not to be attempted in the normal family home. I know. I tried it. Doesn't work. Sometimes it doesn't even work in a monastery where one's responsibilities may tend to lure one out of solitude. In the family home there are even more ways to be pulled back into the fray. At least here, the meals get prepared, everybody is with the program and does not break into spontaneous conversation upon meeting you in the hall. And there is nothing else that you have to do except to be alone with God. Even in a contemplative monastery the need to occasionally go apart is necessary.

Since our monastery has an almost park-like setting, with paths to walk and a road for strolling down to the river bank, communing with God in creation has great importance for all of us. However, hazy, hot and humid descended last week closing off outdoor meditation as an option. It could have felt like house arrest but it didn't. By the time the days of retreat arrived I felt that I was pretty short on energy and would not be bringing very much to the relationship. I began to mull over the image of spiritually preparing for the retreat as the construction of a humble hut in which to entertain the Lord and listen to whatever He might have to share with me. The weather conspired with the plan and so I spent much time in the humble hut, disposing myself to absorb grace from His presence. And so it was.

For guidance I chose a book I heartily recommend, Moment by Moment - A Retreat in Everyday Life, by Carol Ann Smith, SHCJ and Eugene F. Merz, SJ. (Ave Maria Press, 2000). I quote from the cover:

Drawing on the classic retreat model, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Moment by Moment offers a new and inviting way to find God in our often busy and complex lives. In a series of 32 "Moments," the text guides the reader with thought-provoking questions, practical suggestions, and excerpts carefully chosen from scripture and The Spiritual Exercises. Its simple format can be used by an individual or by groups in a number of ways: as a way of making The Spiritual Exercises in daily life, as a guide for daily prayer, as a companion for reflection, or as suggested themes for a retreat. Drawing upon their extensive experience as spiritual directors, the authors write in their introduction, "This book offers a way to reflect and sift through one's multiple life experiences and to discover in them the leading thread of God's longing and desire to make us a holy people who are given in service to others."

The Holy Season of Lent

Re-orientation Time

An image that speaks to me of the Ash Wednesday commission is that of the Sargent of a squadron of parade marchers shouting the command, "Eyes Right!" There was probably a lot of that during the parade following the recent Presidential Inauguration. It is a call to re-orient, to shift focus and pay tribute to the one being honored. The image conjures up some questions for self-examination: In what direction has my attention wandered? Am I attentive only to what is right in front of me in my own little world? What kind of effort might I have to make to orient myself to another reality? To whom am I being called to pay homage?

For the next five days some men and women will participate in an online directed retreat focusing on Vocation Discernment, what God's call to them might be at this time in their lives. Each is trying to determine the directive for their re-orientation and answer the question, "Where shall my focus be?" This retreat is being sponsored by the Vocation Office of the Archdiocese of New York and is the combined effort of the director, Sr. Deanna Sabetta, and many vocation directors of various religious congregations and orders. We will provide the spiritual direction for these participants via e-mail.

You might find the daily meditations and reflection questions challenging. Here is the link: http://www.seekotherpossibility.blogspot.com

Back Home

Returning from Retreat
New and Improved, I Hope!

Perhaps you've been wondering if I'd dropped off the edge of the earth. No, I only dropped out for a while - ten days for my annual personal retreat. Does a contemplative nun need a private retreat? In a word, "Yes." Just as the Trappist, Thomas Merton, left the community of the monastery seeking solitude in his hermitage, all contemplatives need, crave, and desire time apart. It is a time of greater withdrawal and movement to a place of greater intimacy with God.

The place this year was a house in Vermont all to myself at the peak of the fall season. And it was glorious. The pastel drawing shown here was the result of an amateurish but very helpful effort to enter into recollection by concentrating my attention and being totally present to my surroundings. The result was a much deeper and more abiding sense of the total glory and immutable transcendence of God. All else just fell away. And what a relief that is! And what a sense of the freedom of the children of God comes with that blessed grace.

My time was further blessed by the availability of daily morning Mass nearby celebrated in a small parish worshipping community. A visiting priest from Nigeria offered short but intensely meaningful homilies so in tune with Redemptoristine spirituality that he became my retreat director without knowing it. I was in awe.

When I say the Divine Office privately, I like to use Psalms from Nan C. Merrill's book Psalms for Praying. In her translations, in accord with the spirit of the Gospel of John, she often gives God the name Love. Merrill's version of the Psalms is always a gift in retreat ime.

Another personal guide was a book by Robert Waldron, Thomas Merton - Master of Attention. Waldron reveals how Merton, influenced by Simon Weil, came to see pure attention as prayer. Jacques Cabaud, biographer of Weil explained, "...Attention is synonymous with contemplation...The mind remains in the state of suspension essential to contemplation. Attention is linked to desire. It is not linked to the will, but to desire."

Here are some snippets from my retreat pondering:

Sing with all the sons of glory, sing the Resurrection song!

The fruits of those who know LOVE are a blessing to all.

Nan C. Merrill

Let nothing disturb thee.

Let nothing afright thee.

All things are passing.

God alone sufficeth.

Teresa of Avila

Today is all I have and God is all I have in today.

How Can Contemplative Nuns Take Retreat?

An Icon Writing Retreat
(Icon by Mary James)

Don't recall mentioning this before but I do think of myself as an artist of sorts. There must be something in the familial DNA. My mother trained in fashion design and discovered a particular gift for water color in her 50s which she has exercised to the pleasure of many into her 80s. Used to tell her to clean less (she is a spotless house keeper - no DNA carry over there) and paint more.

My middle son, Matthew, whose drawing tops each episodic addition to "my story" (see archives for "When Mothers Become Contemplative Nuns"), is also an artist. When he was in 4th or 5th grade he could spend hours drawing a space shuttle, registering every rivet in its plated 'skin.'

My brand of artistry has been expressed in all kinds of needlework. Don't remember learning how to crochet. Have just always been able to do it. Knitting, needlepoint crewel, counted and not counted cross-stitch all followed. But in 1975 I was introduced to quilting and fell in love. More about that affair at another time. Just before entering the monastery I was lured into spinning wool by a group of avid knitters who assured me that I just would not fully appreciate the fiber arts until I learned to spin. It is very comforting to know that each of St. Teresa of Avila's nuns had spinning wheels in their cells. She would approve of mine.

Years ago too, perhaps out of the same DNA that made Matthew want to place every tiny rivet in his picture of the space shuttle, I was attracted to pysanky, Ukrainian wax resist dyed Easter eggs. After all, if I could do fine hand quilting certainly I could draw those intricate designs on eggs. Perhaps that art form was my introduction to things Orthodox, Eastern European in flavor, leading the way to a natural affinity for the icon form which was becoming so popular in spiritual circles.

Then I met Mary James, the painter of the icon shown here. She is a true artist who can draw anything and works in varied media all with great success. I can never, never attain her skills - my particular strain of DNA only goes so far. But she made me want to try it as I have tried and enjoyed and been blessed in the doing by so many other crafts and art forms. Now my community is giving me a chance to bring that desire to realization.

This is a retreat and not just a workshop because in the true tradition of icon writing the work gradually emerges not merely from the media but from the aura of prayer, the unceasing prayer of the iconographer in an atmosphere of silence and reverence. I have asked my sisters to pray that, regardless of the quality of the end product, my effort alone will be something beautiful for God.