Rest in Him

Oh my friends!

So much has happened over these last couple of months.  It has only been a couple of months since the virus came and changed everything? Can you imagine that?  I have a hard time wrapping my brain around that- only a couple of months.  And yet – it is true.  The beginning of March, I had the most beautiful pleasure of having a little retreat, with just a couple of friends.  Just a little house across the street from a church, with two good friends, one old, one new.  It was a very, very blessed weekend – good prayer time, rest, edifying conversation, good food, quiet reflections, laughter, tears, friendship, oh the gift of friendship – it is so precious.  God is so very good to us.

I look back on that weekend, and I am still in awe of the beautiful tapestry of God’s design.  I look back in awe at His Hand in it all.  How He just knew.  How He planned it out.  How everything very last minute fell into perfect place.  How much He cared for me.  Oh His love.

He gave me a space,

a moment to breathe,

a moment that truly was time standing still.

In the busy pace of this world, it is hard to take these moments.  As a mom of 8… I have a hard time taking these moments completely away from my family.  I know I need to, but there is always something. And yet, He knew that.  So He created it for me.  And my husband encouraged me.

Jesus longed to be with me and I longed to be with Him.  And then, we did just that – we were together.  Like a little daughter resting in her Father’s arms, head on His chest so she could once again hear His heart beat…  I got to just BE with Him, and let Him remind me of His great love for me.

I look back on that weekend now…

I feel like He really let me have the grace to truly embrace the moment and the gift of each moment.  Quiet prayer time in an empty church, the sacrament of confession, two beautiful Masses, receiving Him in the Eucharist.  I knew it was a sacred time. And the words of the priest that weekend I will never forget.  “Pray at this Mass as if it is your first Mass, your last Mass, your only Mass.”  Wow.

I came home from that retreat, and then the whole world flipped upside down and side ways.  Like being on a boat in the absolute calm, and then a squall just appears, out of nowhere.

And yet, He allowed the grace from that retreat to remain.  Jesus told St. Catherine of Siena, “Empty your heart of all other cares and thoughts; think only of Me and rest in Me.”  And so, I will keep asking for that grace to do just as He asked.

In these unsettling days we find ourselves in, let us keep our eyes fixed on Christ.  He will not abandon us. Let us rest on His Heart always and trust in His love.