My Return From The Sea



My week of silent retreat was wonderful, amazing, awesome (in the truest sense and meaning of that word)~I could go on with the adjectives but I will let the posts I will share over the next several days do it instead.
The sea itself is a meditation and one that is hard to leave.
I have come to see this time away with God as His way of allowing me to glimpse heaven~ no worries, no responsibilities, no grind of daily life. But now He says: "It is not your time, so you must go back." I don't mean to imply that I had a near~death experience, but I did have a taste of heaven. I am always so grateful that God allows me this very intimate and grace~filled time with Him.
The first thing that I would like to share with you is not one of my own reflections, but one from Henri Nouwen. It was given to us by the priest who says Mass for us during the retreat. It is Nouwen's "Love Deeply" from his book The Inner Voice of Love. Many of you may already be familiar with this book and this reflection, but I think it serves as a wonderful reminder that while love my be scary and dangerous sometimes, it is worth everything.
As I said I will be sharing some of my own thoughts little by little, and I am putting together a slide show of the pictures I took. Pictures can never capture the full beauty of God's creation (especially when it's just me and my little old cell phone camera), but it will give an idea of the beauty I experienced over the course of the six days. The picture at the beginning of this post is just a sample.
But for now, here are Henri Nouwen's words on love.

Love Deeply
Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply.You might be afraid of the pain that deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love ever more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life to new seeds.

The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving, those whom you love will not leave your heart even when they depart from you. They will become part of your self and thus gradually build a community within you.
Those you have deeply loved become part of you. The longer you live, there will always be more people to be loved by you and to become part of your inner community. The wider your inner community becomes, the more easily you will recognize your own brothers and sisters in the strangers around you. Those who are alive within you will recognize those who are alive around you. The wider the community of your heart, the wider the community around you. Thus the pain of rejection, absence, and death can become fruitful. Yes, as you love deeply the ground of your heart will be broken more and more, but you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it will bear.

Comments

Mary N. said…
Welcome back, Karin! I'm glad to hear that your retreat was very fruitful. God obviously spoils you rotten as you so humorously put it before you left and that is exactly what I asked of Him when I prayed for you this week,"Lord, please continue to spoil Karinann rotten while she is on retreat." Of course...I did do some Our Fathers and Hail Marys as reinforcement (lol).

This is a wonderful reflection on love. Is there anyone on earth who has not suffered because of love? Just as Jesus suffered for love, so does His Mystical Body. Sacrifice is a part of love as He taught us so well! Henri Nouwen's words are pure gold. Thanks for sharing them :)
Unknown said…
Thanks for the prayers, Mary- the spoiled rotten ones (which he did :) )and the Our Fathers & Hail Mary's- those never hurt!
I'm glad you found Henri Nouwen's words on love helpful and spiritually enriching.
Deanna said…
Dear Karinann,
What a heavenly place to get refreshed. There is something so healing about hearing the waves of the ocean.

God bless,
d
paramedicgirl said…
Retreats are wonderful times to get aquainted with God again. In 2007, I did a Lenten retreat with Father Corapi. I took my sister Shirley (of the blog Seeking Jesus) and that was a turning point for her in her full return to Catholicism.

I am now looking forward to my next "retreat" - I am going on a pilgrimage to Italy with my FSSP church next February. We are going to so many holy places, and staying in religious houses. I am so happy that San Giovanni, where Padre Pio lived, is included in the tour. I wish I could bring you all!
Unknown said…
Thanks Colleen and Deanna for the welcome back wishes.
Paramedicgirl- your upcoming pilgrimage sounds wonderful-what a grace to be in and see such holy places- just thinking of being in Padre Pio's house gives me chills!(good ones :)
Anonymous said…
Karinann, may your spiritual retreat bear much fruit in the weeks to come. Thank you for your comment on my post regarding the Holy Father's recent speeches to secular and non-Christian audiences. This is a matter that disturbs my soul and requires much prayer and discernment. It would be so easy to slip back into old "rad trad" ways.

Pray for the Pope!

David
Karinann, glad that your time away was spiritually rejuvenating, but I have to say that for the rest of us, a week without your blog posts is NOT good for the soul. Welcome back!!!
Unknown said…
Thank you David and Jeffrey.
As for the week without my blog posts, Jeffrey, hopefully my week by the sea has also refreshed my posts, but I'll let my readers be the judge of that. :)
Karinann, add me to the list of those who missed your blog posts for the week. I am glad you had a grace filled retreat. Enjoyed this post - very timely for me. Thanks.
Unknown said…
Thanks Robert- It's good to be back blogging.