We want to share them with you to discuss with us:
- Where has life stuck you, fixated you, caused you to limit your possibilities?
- Where has life blessed you, given you a gift, and what have you done with it?
- Where are you blocked by fear, leaving you resistant to change?
- What is the fear beneath that fear?
- What do you need to let go of to move on?
- What brought you to this place in your journey, this moment in your life?
- What is holding you back from the larger journey of your soul?
- What have you always felt called toward but feared to do?
- What new life wishes to come into being, through you?
- Is now the time for you to answer the summons of your soul and live a second, larger life?
In response to #2:
ReplyDeleteI’ve been given a gift for enjoying life and being with “kindred spirits” - whether they’re downhill skiers on Elderhostel programs in the winter, water aerobics pals in YMCA pools, retreatants I get to know in silence at Retreat Centers, and people I meet at Sacred Threads programs. I’ve enjoyed several Sacred Threads programs but this one was unique because of the interaction between the speaker, Michael Woodnick, as he shared his story with us and the way we shared our own stories with him and each other. It was lively, interesting and filled with the joy that comes from hearing how others have survived – and thrived - spiritual and physical injuries, illnesses or betrayals, and appreciating the way our own lives have survived – and thrived – often after events we never planned on or expected. (E. Ford)
In response to #5:
ReplyDeleteActually, I needed to let go of the Catholic Church after 5 years of holding Voice of the Faithful Meetings in an Episcopal Church in Gloucester because we couldn’t meet in our own parish. A cradle Catholic with a background in Criminal Justice, I thought it was a good time to be a Catholic, helping to reform the church – until I realized that the hierarchy and many parishioners didn’t want their faith disturbed by thoughts of reform. My anger was consuming me and I wondered why others didn’t share my anger. I wrote to bishops who covered up clergy abuse, begging them to step down for the “good of the church,” wrote columns about it, prayed about it and in 2004, when a few bishops interfered with the presidential election, I made an 8-day retreat, left the church and have never regretted the move. I receive the Eucharist in a local Episcopal Church and at Catholic retreat centers where there are no litmus tests for receiving Holy Communion. Since 2007, I’ve been a summer volunteer at Adelynrood, an Episcopal Retreat House in Byfield, MA run by The Companions of the Holy Cross, a group of lay and ordained Episcopal women. (E. Ford)