February Woman II
Lent invites us to follow the Lord Jesus into the desert through forty days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We lay aside the nonessentials to remember who we are and to Whom we belong.
During this first weekend of Lent -- despite the warnings of an old-fashioned Minnesota blizzard, forty women joined the staff and friars, thanking God for the privilege of prayer.
Following are some of their remarks about the weekend:
Every meal was fabulous, such wonderful comforting food. I like the setup of the dining room too. Judy is a treasure and I hope she realizes how much she is loved and appreciated. God bless you Judy! Thanks for bussing the tables too!
The retreat house is so clean and well-kept. Thanks to the women retreatants who shoveled the snow off everyone’s cars!
The entire staff is awesome. That word is overused but the staff is truly awe-inspiring. The are the most peaceful and caring people who do their best to take care of us. The conference speakers are great and I could listen to them for hours. I leave here feeling so peaceful, rested, and ready to face the world again. I always enjoy my time here; this is my third weekend retreat and I look forward to many more.
As I prepare to leave this quiet and peaceful place I am grateful to be among women of faith whose prayers, stories, life experiences and willingness to share ground me in my feminine nature and enrich me as I love forward on the journey.
This is a very special retreat for me. I’ve been here for several. Your theme this year is meaningful. I was moved by the anointing of the hands on Sunday morning.
I always look forward to retreat weekend. Peace and love envelope you here and all of your needs are met. You have the time to sit quietly and listen to God who is trying to speak to you. God wants to constantly remind you of how much you are loved.
God gave me a quiet place to rest my weary soul, mind and body, a place to retreat from the demands of everyday life and family. God spoke to me through the presentations, through my own reflections, quite time, reading, and through the beautiful women whom I met this weekend, and the ones I have known from past retreats. God has renewed me and refreshed me, given me strength and hope to go forth in loving attention and care to the myriad details of my life, to help others and to love them as God has given me to do.
The rituals and the personal stories in the conferences touch me at a level of awareness beyond the usual to true communion with God and God’s people, to a deeper revelation of the presence of God.
Judy, your food is wonderful: nice choices, inviting, delicious. You obviously enjoy what you do.
One comes in the door with earthly cares on heart and mind and then experiences becoming filled with gifts of peace and grace. Hearing God’s voice, assurance of his love, just as I am. I leave filled with wanting to go out to share the enjoy I experienced this February weekend. I come twice a year now and part of me stays until I return in October. Twice a year is wonderful!
While my last retreat seemed really about drawing tighter into our relationship, this retreat it seemed that God wanted me to recognize Him and be with Him with my friends. Being in community, not my lone worship, He expanded our love to others. It was truly beautiful to experience His love that way.
My heart is full of gratitude for this place of peace. The message this year was so simple and spoke so powerfully to me. I am in God’s hands, as is the rest of the world, and I thank you for the reminder. The stories, songs, laughter and tears are all things I will treasure in my heart.
This was my second year coming and it was like coming home. A safe place with wonderful friends who care for me and don’t judge me when I speak. Fathers Ken and Howard are wonderful to listen to. This has been a very safe place for me to revisit confession since I was a child.
God spoke to me many times. I could listen because there were no distractions. I felt all the staff was very gentle towards me.
My room was very comfortable and clean. I didn’t spend much time in the common rooms. The chapel felt very welcoming. I felt very pampered, not having even to bus my dishes.
This is a holy place and it draws me back to Jesus. To be quiet, to reflect, to be still especially during Lent allows me to go deeper in my journey with God. Thank you for this space, dear Lord.
I enjoyed this little taste of monastic/observant Catholic life: the opportunities for prayer, the open chapel, and the very practical seminars. The Lord did bless me this weekend as I sought him in the quiet. Thank you for providing me an uncluttered opportunity to be with Him.
It is good to spend time only with Jesus. It is good to reenergize my spiritual life. I am not alone. My good deeds are not my deeds but God’s through my hands.
God has blessed me with peace and the assurance that he will never leave me. But, I must also never leave him.
The food is always wonderful and bountiful.
My daughter has been on three retreats, which she enjoyed immensely, and wanted me to join her. I have always been a prayerful person and my time here has brought me a deeper understanding of prayer and renewal of my faith. I truly feel God’s presence and power and a feeling of contentment. There are times one must listen to one’s children!
Rest and peace were my biggest blessings this retreat. I’ve been drained and exhausted lately. Now I feel recharged and ready to go back home and spread my blessings with my family and others.
I felt a holy comfort in all my fears. I appreciate the gentle repetitiveness of the subject, Precious Lord take my hand. The healing generated by the anointing of hands, the blessing of hands, Brother Bob’s calling me by name as he blessed them, the many moving testimonies, including the hand of God in bitter health. I loved seeing the reflections of the altar candles in the windows, and their being extinguished by Father Ken as Eucharistic Exposition ended. I loved the litany. Father Howard’s gentle reminder, “You’d better hurry” as I faced the wild winter winds and the approaching snows of evening. I loved the fragrance of the pine cones outside and the community of people inside. What a holy place and a disposition of holiness to bring to others. Behold, I make all things new.
The people that were presenting were able to hit right to the heart of things. Real examples of real life issues. Thanks for your gift of sharing and then allowing me to process issues on my own.
I don’t know how or why but every retreat I make seems to get better and better. And I’ve been making retreats for years and here is my favorite.
I find in the silence of retreat and the closeness of God the ability to face those things about me and in me that I tend to avoid the rest of the year.