These pictures may give you an idea of the beauty of the University of San Diego where I made my retreat after a wonderful week to prepare for it by staying with my sister and her husband on Colorado. One of the highlights of that week was the weekly Sunday evening concert with all the families on the island coming with their picnic suppers, chairs, tables, blankets, etc. and there is a great deal of dancing around the bandstand from 5:00 to 7:00 - they invite a different band each week and the children love to dance around while the parents and grandparents sit and watch; some of the older people get up and dance, too. It is a reall village green just across from the Catholic Church and has a playground for the children as well as all the beautiful grass and trees that makes it a delightful spot.
My brother and sister-in-law drove from Arizona to see me, too, and it was really a restful week but I was ready to go to USD and begin my retreat on Thursday night. I let the Holy Spirit direct me, but one of the things I did during my retreat was to look at my own history in connection with the history of the Society of the Sacred Heart. I found this fruitful but mostly I sat in front of one of the tabernacles (my room was next to Founders' Chapel, the Church was just east of me, and the community have a prayerful chapel) or on a bench overlooking San Diego. The weather was cool but I did go swimming a few times as I love their big pool. I think my biggest realization during the retreat was how much I love my vocation to the Society and how many graces God has given me over the years and that He is always with me no matter what! These were thoughts that deepened as I prayed over all the changes since I entered sixty years ago; I also went back to some of the letters of Reverend Mother de Lescure and used some for prayer as well as some of John's Gospel. The days went by so quickly and now I am home and trying to catch up here.
I will start reflections for the blog again tomorrow.
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