Bullseye Reflections

On Memorial Day weekend Francis, myself and our family will be hosting a Family Retreat at Circle Lake Family Retreat Center. The retreat will be centered around Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel. Prior to the retreat I am sending out e-mail reflections to the families. I'll be posting them here as well. Dear Family Retreatants, Mother's Day is a great day to begin the reflection journey towards our family retreat! Everyone who reads this is either a mother or has a mother! As you read the words of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium please reflect on your relation to mother and how that role is a bringer of the joy of the Gospel to others: 1.The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew. In this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful ...

I wanted to share an excerpt from a book Francis & I are reading for our Spiritual Formation for the Deaconate program. The book is called SPIRITUAL DIRECTION: WISDOM FOR THE LONG WALK OF FAITH.  The book is a collection of writings that were put together by 2 of Henri Nouwen's students after he died.  Nouwen is one of my favorite theologians and writers.  Francis & I had the privilege of meeting him many years ago and in person he reflected a strong gentleness and deep peace.  The chapter I was reading from this morning was titled "Who Am I?" The Chapter and the Prayer Exercise at the end assisted me in taking one more step into the reality of who I am. I am a beloved daughter of God.  For me that identity was deepened when I became a mother.  My children are beloved by me, not because of anything they did or do, just because they are. They are my beloved children.     There is nothin...

              So my scripture for 2014 is one of hope. I've listed various translations of this passage below. All of them reflect a powerful prayer for the year that we may abound in hope by the Holy Spirit. There are times when humanly, I despair. I walk in the darkness of disbelief and frustration. I throw up my hands and say, "Really God, this is ridiculous." I especially found myself saying this as we closed out 2013 and opened 2014. Several friends have been diagnosed with various forms and stages of cancer. I, myself, have to go have an MRI at the end of this month to confirm that "worrisome spots"(as the Doctor calls them),found on a recent mammogram,are just spots.            Through the power of the Holy Spirit, my human despair, is replaced with joy and peace. Beyond human understanding my belief in the God of hope provides hope in abundance. God is not a God of scarcity. God is abundant in all that i...

Eternal Life Reflections for 2013      About 7 years ago I felt called to take one scripture passage and reflect on it throughout the year. Since that time, I spend the month of December praying, reflecting and asking God to reveal the scripture for the next year.  My annual scripture search begins with placing the search in God's hands.   I envision God holding the year ahead.  God knows what I will walk through in the coming year and I ask God to give me a scripture passage that will equip me with wisdom and strength to move through the year.  The goal is to give glory to God by living out that one scripture passage through the year.   Once the scripture is revealed, I write it down every day.  I also look at commentaries and spend time reflecting on the passage throughout the year. Each year I have been amazed at how the passage that I write down and reflect on becomes such a source of strength, joy and peace beyond all understanding a...

I have no idea how to go about "blogging" but my children have told me to start blogging instead of sending them long e-mails and texts in the wee hours of the early morning!  They created this blog site for me as my Christmas present and I had to ask my husband Francis how to get on it this morning :) So here is my first test post to see how this "blog thing" works....

There is something sacred about the silence of the morning. My mom experiences it as she rolls out of bed at 5:00 am. She goes to makes her cup of hot English Breakfast tea, grabs her bible, lets our dog, Mac, jump on her lap as she sits in her favorite chair, and simply let's God speak to her. By the time my father gets up she has already come to a new profound conclusion and planned both hers and my fathers day. She has been sharing her reflections with my siblings and I for as long as I can remember and now, in the words of our favorite musical Newsies, it is time "for the world to know!" My mother, Sara Fontana, has a wealth of knowledge that the world needs to hear. I admire her wisdom and relationship with God more than she knows and cannot wait for you to learn how to "hit the bullseye" each day.

RAMBLING THOUGHTS BEFORE THE DIALOGUE BEGINS:  We will all die. If I knew the exact time of death would I focus on when I was to die or living until the dying? I know I will die one day.  What do I do with the staying? I choose to stay fully present, fully alive until God calls me back to be fully present with Him.   Time is a man-made thought. God created season and cycles - not time, not minutes, not counting the hours until... MY DIALOGUE WITH JESUS: Me :  Jesus, let’s go into all those years of your life that are not written about in the Bible.  How did you live? How did you reveal your Father’s presence? Jesus :  I was alive.  I lived.  I am who I am in the midst of the chaos of time. Me : But I thought that you didn’t invent time. Jesus : Time is significant not by man’s standards but by God’s.   God’s time reveals moments of love and emotions.  An indescribable longing to be; just be, not elsewhere, n...