Meet J.J. ...

C. started with the beginning, now let me show you how it has continued.

All three of us recently went to a great retreat called Mount 2009. The bus ride is where it all begins. We were with a group of about fifty. We watched movies, talked and prayed all the way there. It's great to begin a retreat getting to know the community your going there with. Once we got there (about ten hours later...) we were registered and had dinner. That evening we heard a couple of talks by some great lay speakers, we celebrated Mass and witnessed the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. All night Adoration was available right across the hall from where the girls sleep. Before bed I went to confession, and that began my weekend on the right note. After confession I went to Adoration and truly committed myself to the part of the Act of Contrition were you promise to avoid the "near occasion of sin". I totally surrendered and pretty much gave up the things I had wasted the most time on in the past few years (reading Fiction and Fantasy/Sci-fie). It was such a big change in my life and something I had been struggling to do for so long, that it straightened out a lot of my life. The next day when I heard the Vocation Talk, I fell in love with the Order of the Sister who gave the talk. I've been to a lot of retreats, and at the end of the best retreats they ask for everyone who has heard the call to the Religious life to "please stand up!". I've always stood up at this time. Somehow I tend to forget or ignore it when I get back home. This time it stuck. When they asked on Sunday at the end of the Closing Mass, I stood up again. When I went home, I truly looked into things seriously, and still plan to follow through! I realize now that being completely open to doing God's Will, no matter what you have to give up, is the only way to hear when He calls you to your Vocation. The best retreat is the one at which you are open.