A Ministry of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph
Give Peace, Quiet and Prayer a Chance
Find the God who journeys with us Retreats
From page 12
that offers more opportunity.” The Retreat Center is looking a year in advance before – hopefully – Covid-19 will allow a return to normal, Joyce said. How successful the online retreats are this year will help determine whether there is a role for them in the future. “We’ll see what the interest and the need is,” Joyce said. “We have a sense that many local folks are tired of being home and want to come in person if they feel safe. If we get good response from people around the country, we may look at programs for people who can’t come in person.” One of the registrants for the “Covid” retreat was from Illinois, and one for “Dismantling Racism” is from Washington, D.C. “Embracing Autumn” has a participant from Ohio registered. Those interested can learn more about these retreats and their costs, then register online at the Ursuline Sisters’ website, ursulinesmsj.org/ retreat-center. Participants will be emailed a Zoom video conferencing link once they are registered. New experiences can be a little nerve-wracking, so Sharon Browning offered a few tips for the Zoom novice: • Get familiar with the Continued on next page
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ave you had enough solitude? Never would I have imagined that my call for inner solitude in the last Ursulines Alive would have been mailed to you at the start of a global pandemic! Since my last writing, our world has been turned upside down: we have faced unprecedented disruption of our life and normal activities, making precious what we once took for granted. We could no longer expect to go to work, the grocery store or out with friends without taking Maryann Joyce leads one great pause for our safety. of the “12 Keys to Spiritual Vitality: Powerful Lessons to We have followed the safety guidelines from Living Agelessly” sessions Gov. Andy Beshear and closed the Retreat Center in June. The program was in March. As of this writing we are uncertain part of the new “Mount on when we will reopen. the Road” and took place at St. Stephen Cathedral in This is not the way I imagined my tenure Owensboro, Ky. as the first lay director of the Retreat Center to begin. Over the past months I have reflected and prayed on how we could be a spiritual support to all our Ursuline friends, Associates and people of this diocese during this shutdown. As I wrote a reflection called, “Ten Spiritual Tips for Surviving the Pandemic,”* I realized how much we collectively have to grieve the loss of our sense of safety and control. At the same time, our hearts and minds have been strained to cope with this grief and loss on our own. Psychologists call this “a double whammy” on our mental health: great stress coupled with intense isolation. (*The tips are available online at ursulinesmsj.org) How do we get through? Pew Research says more people are turning to prayer than ever, even as our communal worship has been largely halted. In many ways, this virus is giving us new opportunities for spiritual growth. Now, more than ever, our faith, our deep inner life with God is our strength. Now is the time to find the God of Compassion, holding us in solidarity, and journeying with us closer than we ever knew before. We want to hear from you. How can we support and enrich your spirit over the coming months? What kind of programs would you like to see us offer? We are preparing to offer a variety of online programs to address grief, help us awaken to the transformations that lie within the suffering. In other mini retreats we will consider how to respond to the call for greater racial equity in our time as well as explore how illness can be a spiritual catalyst for us. All of these will be online through Zoom so you may participate from the comfort of your own home. Look for new and enriching programs this fall and winter on group spiritual direction which will be offered through Advent. In the new year, we will offer a six-week series on “Boundless Compassion,” based on Joyce Rupp’s book by the same name. I hope to see some of you online or back at the Center. And please email me with your thoughts and suggestions for programming, at maryann.joyce@ maplemount.org. Maryann Joyce, Director, Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center 13
