When my own daughter was expecting her second child, she took two-year-old Julia with her to her doctor appointment. Julia’s little feet dangled over the edge of the chair as the doctor explained, "I’m going to turn the sound up, Julia, and if you listen carefully, you can hear your brother's heartbeat.” Julia’s eyes grew wide with intent and then a smile spread across her face. She slid off the chair and twirled, "I will dance to it! I will dance for my brother!”
There was a sign over the parish secretary’s desk that greeted each person as they came into the church office: How will I know when it is the dawn of a new day? When there is enough light in the world to look into the face of a stranger and recognize my brother.
May we always sing and celebrate our sister.
May we learn to dance to the heartbeat of our brother.
May we come to see with eyes that recognize
that are all our sister and brother.
What to expect
The morning begins by setting the scene, the great city of Jerusalem in the spring of the year at Passover, in times both troubled and hopeful. Who was there? We gather the witnesses, those whose lives will be changed forever by the events of that day. We will be given the name for the Witness that will be ours and join a zoom breakout with others having the same person. Using scripture, historical background, reflection questions, and our creative imagination we create the back story for our specific Witness. After our breakout, we come together to meet the other Witnesses.
Prayer, song and movement are woven throughout all of these gatherings, large and small.
After lunch break, we are guided in planning the liturgy for an interactive Stations of the Cross. Our retreat ends with the Stations in character, a powerful and moving experience. Once again, Kathleen will be joined by Betsey Beckman as co-presenter!
Lent Sharedli
The week before Lent I had an idea for some Lent sharing so I sent a survey to some of my wisdom friends asking them:
Some were simple but effective:
"I turn off the car radio during Lent. Silence is a welcome change; I can clear my mind. And if I have passengers, we actually converse," wrote Maureen."The daily readings in Lent are really meaningful--highly recommended" said Emily.
A family experience:
Again, Gail had some practical advice: "As a family of 4 we decided to have a donation box in the corner of the kitchen. We took turns putting something in the box every day--something that was usable/working/wearable. Our kids were 5 & 8. We filled the large donation box 4 times! What we learned: That we have too much stuff!!! Our kids, ages 5 & 8 learned to share and think more about those who have less."Some humor to end
My own sister, Terry, gave up candy like the rest of us but still took it whenever offered and stashed it in a shoebox under her bed. I called it cheating but, really, was just jealous I'd not thought of it first!A And my cousin recalled meatless Fridays. His in-laws stayed up every Friday night 'til midnight, then drove to a local restaurant and had Coney Island hot dogs smothered in onions and chili. He still marvels that they could sleep at night!Several of them focused on giving up some bad habits:
Elizabeth, for example, tried to give up impatience. "I didn't always succeed but it did lift my spirits."
Gail added a practical reminder to her efforts. "I gave up complaining for a recent Lent. I had a red rubber band that I wore on my wrist & every time I complained I had to move it to the other wrist." What did she learn? "that I complained A LOT." Turns out complaining begets more of the same and negativity had become a steady companion. Knowing that meant she could change that.
And, as for taking ON something:
Ann Marie's daughters learned in high school, "Don't give UP something for Lent; give OF yourself. Donate your services. Volunteer."Another prompt came from the parish priest and Richard followed through. "Every week I bought $20 worth of McDonald five-dollar gift cards and gave them out to whomever was begging on a street corner. I learned how hard it was to do that without judgement...but it softened my heart."
Tom wrote: "A couple years ago, I made a resolution to follow through on my positive impulses. I seemed to be encountering situations that subtly called me to respond and I'd later think, "I should have done that." I recall being in a store and seeing a mail carrier in line at the cash register with a donut and thinking I should pay for that because I never thanked mine. That was the root of my resolution. It's led to some interesting adventures like helping snow-stranded travelers, etc. No regrets."