Notes on the retreat

Food!

Me and Heather

stations of the cross, still haven't figured it out

view of stations of the cross outside

St. Thomas More, Tallahassee FL

St. Thomas More Tallahassee, FL

The woman's day of renewal I attended on Saturday was very uplifting.  I am glad I went.  I sort of had a breakthrough, as cheesy as it sounds, and I realized a lot about myself and the ability to pray and listen to God.  Father Tim gave 3 discussions, each one on the 3 Pillars of Lent; Prayer, Fasting and Alms-giving.  Mainly the day was for reflection and prayer and he talked about this analogy of the desert.  The desert being a place we shy away from with distractions like TV and that the desert within us is a place of thirst  and unrest, where we need to go to face ourselves and receive God's love and guidance.  I am paraphrasing here.  On fasting, he connected it to prayer and explained that we fast to obtain Jesus.  That we should be giving up our distractions and realizing that we don't need these things, we need God.  Father Tim joked about the things he gave up in the past and how giving up chocolate isn't really what God wants.  I am glad I gave up Facebook, that is a huge distraction and I have realized that I don't need it.  His third talk was about alms-giving  and that it's not just about giving to the poor, it is about praying and fasting and then giving our whole selves to others and especially God.  We are vessels of the love of God and when we give our selves to others (not sexually) but in time, talent and treasure, others can feel God's love as we do.  He summed it up by saying that prayer, fasting and alsm-giving go together and that when we practice these 3 things, it makes it easier for us to give love, that is what God is all about.