Retreat Report

Yes, it's Memorial Day, but for 26 sisters here at the motherhouse, it's simply Day 3 (or 4, depending how you count) of their annual Spiritual Exercises. The theme for the retreat is from St. Paul: "We believe and so we speak." The first three meditations (Friday evening through Sunday morning) were on the "believe" part; tomorrow we begin the "speak" part. Today we looked at the "bridge" between the believing in God and the speaking to or about God. We looked at what our Founder called "the apostolate of desires." (St Therese is probably the best example out there of this supernatural mission.)

Here's a bit of the morning's conference:

Holy desires come from God; are a form of communion with the heart of God. "Incline my heart according to your will, O God."  After all, God can accomplish his will without us; he doesn't need us for the achievement of his desires. But he gives us communion with him in the very desires, if not in always in the actual carrying out of the explicit goal. He may just use our "prayers, actions, joys and sufferings" in the Body of Christ to bring about the end he, and we, desire without our being actual instruments in the accomplishment. But he lets us commit ourselves (prayers, works, joy and sufferings) freely and passionately to seeking these good outcomes for his sake, for the glory of God and peace to humanity.

Could it be that, like Simeon and Anna, holy desires will train our vision to recognize the way God is accomplishing his plan? They were so in tune with God in "longing for the consolation of Israel" that when He came, they recognized him intuitively. Their "longing for the consolation of Israel" was a holy desire and a prayer at the same time. It was the apostolate of desires.