Suffering

     I picked up a small and dated book (1971) on one of my favorite saints last week. It was titled: I Knew Blessed Maximillian, and it was a first-hand account of one of the friars who wasa member of one of the monasteries founded by (now) St. Maximillian Kolbe in pre-World War II Poland (and in others places like Japan). He describes Fr. Kolbe as telling the monks prior to their friary being dismantled by the Nazis, about "...the three stages of life: first stage, the preparation for the activity; the second, activity itself; third, the suffering."
    I grew up in the ethos of the American form of ever-unfolding progress; things got better over time, with improvements through technology and historical reflection. For many years, I believed in scientific positivism, where research would increasingly yield a higher quality of life for all peoples. But I could never adequately answer why the poor got poorer, why genocide continued, why one war followed another.
    But St. Max not only preached the Paschal Mystery of suffering, death and resurrection, he lived it. Fr. Kolbe gave his life at Auschwitz for a poor farmer, who lived to tell of the Nazis allowing Fr. Kolbe to offer himself as an oblation for this individual. Suffering can often be senseless, but it can also be redemptive, and one of the most important "stages" in life. It can even lead to "all joy"!

SOLT Healing Retreat

I was able to participate in the SOLT Healing Retreat in Corpus Christi, Texas on August 7 - 9, 2015. The silent retreat was led by Father Dan Estes, SOLT, and addressed the three "systems" operating in the spiritual world: God's System, Man's System, and Satan's System.
The focus then focused on Forgiveness and Childhood Trauma, Unhealthy Relationships, Bondage, the Occult and concluded with a healing service followed by Holy Mass.
The retreat was powerful. I recognized God's presence deeply all through the weekend of prayer and mediation. I experienced a profound trust that our Blessed Mother would help me then and in the future as I addressed some issues in my life that have been with me for many years.
It was a deeply blessed and holy time.

Rascals

Two of our grandsons love to hangout with each other and enjoy vanilla ice cream, a favorite of their grandfather