New Year

Happy New Year! I write this from Boston where our novices reside as they prepare to take a definitive step in their formation. During the Christmas school break, our younger Sisters (called Junior professed)  gather for an updating and renewal meeting. We call it an "Encounter" as our Italian  and Spanish-speaking use the word "incontro" or "encuentro" to describe similar meetings. Today we enjoyed a festive meal  prepared by a bevy of talented Sisters. Last night we closed out the old year with a retreat and a commual Hour of Adoration. During the Hour we prayed for all of you too.
May 2012 make us more aware of how God is acting in our lives, and more open to the flood of graces God wants to give us.
Father Ron Rolheiser offers some great practical New Year's advice. Here is an excerpt from Father's article:

Guidelines for the Long Haul

Don’t be naïve about God: She or He will settle for not less than everything!

Distrust all talk about the consolation of religion. Religion puts a belt around you and takes you to where you would rather not be. Get used to virtue; it gives you a constant reminder of what you have missed out on.

Know that God will not settle for less than everything. Demands from God always seem unreasonable. Learn to wrestle with God; you can win by losing.

Pray that God will hang on to you!

Distrust Gallup polls. Trust prayer. Prayer is an enlargement. Be willing to die a little to be with God. He is dying to be with us. Let your heart, as Henri Nouwen puts it, become the place where the tears of God and the tears of God’s children merge and become the tears of hope.

Excerpts taken from the book “Forgotten Among The Lilies” by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI. Published by Doubleday, 2005.