My summer job

or -  my job this summer -   because this is one I haven't had for a while.  I'm giving a retreat to my sisters.  It's what is known as a guided retreat.  That means that I guide them through the eight days with material I have chosen for them to read and pray about. 

                                              Bluebell Forest    by Mrie-Line Vasseur


The format is this:

One conference each day of the retreat –probably no more than twenty minutes. The director also  

 invites the sisters to come speak with her at least once or twice during the retreat; not required, but offered.  Also, I plan to  offer one or two optional group sharings in the late afternoon before supper, or in the evening. 

This particular retreat is a Praying with Poetry retreat.  They are not writing poetry; they are reading it. 

This week I have been working on this.  I looked at the Scripture readings for the day of each retreat, and found them rich with possibilities for prayer and reflection.  I located a theme for each day, and have gathered poems for each day, from a variety of sources.  This has been fun!

I'll share some of the poems on this blog.   Here's one:

A Walk   by Rainer Maria Rilke

 

My eyes already touch the sunny hill,

Gazing far ahead of the road I have begun.

So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;

It has its inner light, even from a distance –

 

And changes us, even if we do not reach it,

Into something else, which hardly sensing it, we

Already are;

A gesture waves us on, answering our own wave…

But what we feel is the wind in our faces.

 

                                    What you seek is seeking you.   -  Rumi