Dearest Goddaughter (LTR-6)

Dearest Goddaughter,

Last week, I spent 4 days on a silent retreat. If you have not experienced a silent retreat, or gone on any retreat of any thing, I highly recommend it. It is a wonderful way to unplug from the busyness of daily life and focus on our relationship with God, which is very important for our mind, body, soul, and spirit.

During the silent retreat, which included short talks by our priest in the morning, we were encouraged to do three (3) prayer hours throughout the day, a Holy Hour, and Mass. We also had opportunities to talk with a spiritual director and go to Confession. It was so wonderful because we had a lot to rest and relax and take naps. One night, I slept for 12 hours, which I cannot remember the last time I slept for that long.

One of the graces from the retreat was, the Holy Spirit reminded me to go to the Blessed Mother in prayer. I have always had a devotion to Mother Mary, especially throughout Diaconal Formation, but I somehow had forgotten that. So I spoke with Mother Mary and she answered my prayers with one word: PATIENCE. Interestingly enough, and I consider this a God-incidence, but Fr. Michael O'Connor talked about patience in his homily on the Gospel for the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

It takes time for us to get rid of the "weeds" in our own spiritual life (and life in general), to get rid of bad habits that we have developed over the years. It takes patience. Patience is a gift of the Holy Spirit, so it also takes perseverance in prayer and renewed commitment to God each and every day of our life for that gift of patience. We also have to be patient with those around us as well, especially when we see them not following Christ as we are all called to follow Christ.

Saint Paul wrote in his First Letter to the Corinthians: "Love is patient, love is kind" (13:4). That is our God loves with and we are called to love others in the same way. A spiritual director once told me while it is said that we are to see Jesus in another person, sometimes that can be really hard. However, we can pray for the strengthen and grace to love others as Jesus loves them. At the same time, we must be true and faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church, because we will all stand in judgment before God (the harvest) and His angels (harvesters) will separate the good (wheat) from the bad (weed).

Love,

Bỏ Phúc

P.S. These are the readings for the day: Wis 12:13, 16-19; Rom 8:26-27 and Mt 13:24-30.