Dear Fellow Parishioners, Several have asked me how my retreat last week went. Many have told me they were praying for me all week long. Thank you for asking and thank you for praying for me. I have been making an annual retreat each year for the last 55 years; and I must say this was the most powerful retreat I have ever experienced. Our retreat director was Fr. Dennis McManus. At the beginning of the retreat, he told the twenty-two priests that were present that he would be available throughout the retreat to talk with anyone who wanted to enter into conversation. He went on to say that he would make himself available for as long as anyone needed to talk. In his first presentation he told us that the Sacrament of Reconciliation or confession would better be described as the Sacrament of Conversation. He asked us to get in touch with the “shadow side of our heart” - our weaknesses. It is from those weaknesses that God works through us in ministry. By Tuesday, through much prayer and reflection I believe I had identified two shadow areas of my life that I needed to examine in a deeper way. I set up an appointment with Fr. Dennis. He talked with me for an hour before the afternoon conference and told me we would meet again after night prayer. After night prayer we talked for another hour and a half! During that time, he set the direction for my spiritual direction for the year ahead. Incredible! My spiritual director is an 82-year-old Jesuit priest who is of wonderful support on the spiritual journey. I am eager to share with him the insights I gleaned from this past week. Part of me wishes that I had this conversation with Fr. Dennis 50 years ago, but I realize that we never know when the hand of God and the voice of God will enter into our lives more fully. I feel like Lazarus called out of the tomb, untied, and set free! Or maybe like a stained-glass window that was boarded up and finally someone took the boards away and the sun is able to shine through. One never knows when the hand of God fully enters into our lives. We just need to always be open to the serendipity movement of God. May we all be open to the opportunities for these powerful conversations! Fr. Bill