Now that summer is approaching, I start thinking about my retreat. It will not be until August 4 but, as I told my community last night, it is the most important week in the year for me. In the meantime, I am loving Walter Kasper's book on Mercy; it is full of references to Scripture and to the early Fathers and other mystics and theologians. I have it on my Kindle and wish I had the book in my hand so I could easily go back and forth and look at the notes, etc. I hate not having page numbers, but the books on Kindle are much less expensive.

Now I am thinking of the blessings that come with all the Feasts at this time of the year. Our Mother Foundress, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, has her feast on May 25; then we have the Feast of the Ascension, Pentecost, the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and then, now the next day, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That takes us up to June 28 so there is plenty to prepare for and pray about in the next few weeks. I think that entering into the mind of the Church through the celebrations of feasts is one way to deepen our own Liturgical life and our interior life as we try to prepare and celebrate with Jesus.