A Few Days of Rest

The first retreat of the fall season has completed and I feel very good about what happened. I very much liked being with the retreatants. They are just good souls.

I am tired though. I have moved into my new room after living in a temporary room for a week. I have been unpacking and getting rid of boxes. I am amazed at how much stuff I have. I wish I gave more of it away before I left Maine. Last year, I threw away many papers and gave many books as gifts to people and I whittled down my possessions. I really don't buy much, but I receive much along the way. I believe it when they say that when you are generous, you get so much more back than you could ever anticipate.

The past two days of silence have been very good. I laughed at myself today when I left the property to get silence. Silence is pervasive here, but the busyness of unpacking has its own sort of chatter to it. I took a short ride to Rockport for a change of scenery. I passed by many stores and could not bring myself to go in because why would I go into a store? I don't want to buy anything. I don't need anything. I have so much that is intangible and invisibile that fills me up.

The tertians arrived today. I already knew five of them so it was good to have a meal with them and catch up. I wish I had more time with them, but they entered into silence this very night. I'm glad they will be with us for a month as they make their 30-day silent retreat.

At Mass with the tertians I began thinking back on my own experience of tertianship. I could see Adrian's and Joe's faces in my imagination. I miss my brothers. I wish our friendship could continue in a physical realm. We stay in touch by email, and I lament we cannot see each other with great regularity they way we did in Pymble, Australia.

I thought of our long retreat where we presided at Mass each day and the directors provided homilies. Church is more egalitarian there. I brought to mind the parishioners at the Canisius Chapel and the way we celebrated Mass with a different style. I could almost smell the sweet flowers on the trees at Canisius College, and to imagine that the plover eggs have hatched into little chicks. The aroma of the vineywards at Sevenhill was so full, and the kangaroos that popped out after dinner was always a treat. God has been so good to me then and continues to be. I have such good memories of the miracles God worked in my life.

I feel sated. God is enough.