Each year we Sisters make a week long retreat. Last week I had the pleasure of making one under the direction of Fr. Bernie Owens, S.J. It was a preached retreat, so every day we heard two conferences and were given handouts to mull over. I thought I might share with you some of the high points of these talks, so you can enjoy their richness and use them as grist for your prayer.

• God asks, “Give me your heart, your all.” After you do, God says, “Thanks for your life back.”

• I always wondered why in art showing the pierced heart of Jesus, the spear wound is on his right side but his sacred heart was on the left side. Father explained that the spear went through his lung, across the top of the stomach to the heart.

• Place the wounded of the world into the heart of Jesus at the Eucharist. He will bring them to the Father.

• Friendship is the eighth sacrament, a grace, a gift from God. A friend tells us that we are lovable. We’re able to overcome hurt moments.
• Life has to humble us before we are exalted.
• St. Ignatius said that the source of all sin is ingratitude and forgetting the blessings of God.
• By making mistakes we learn not to make mistakes.
• We overdo things. Learn to say No and check with God first before taking something on.
• Give God your “two coins” like the widow in the Gospel, and God will surprise you. Jesus is the two-coin widow.

• Like filings to a magnet, we jump to what is good, true, beautiful…namely, God.
• There’s no Eucharist in heaven. He is the bread.
• We end the way we begin—like babies.
• Why didn’t Jesus run from the garden? Because of his bond with Abba. Love is stronger than fear.
• Fix your eyes on the crucified one and everything else will be small for you.
• Good can come in strange guises.
• It is good at times to be overwhelmed by God’s love.
• God is like the pelican in the legend that punctures her breast to keep her young from starving.

• Mary Magdalene was the first apostle, that is, one who was a witness to the risen Lord. She is also the apostle to the apostles.
• At Emmaus the two travelers say to Jesus, “Stay with us,” and he gives them the Eucharist. This is the way he stays with us.
• Love God not just for what he does for us but because of who he is: Beauty, Truth, Love.

• Have you made a retreat recently? A day of recollection? If so, what nugget(s) did you come away with?