Numbers 6, 24-26
“Don’t put a period where God has put a comma. God is still speaking.”
-Gracie Allen and this was later used in a slogan for the United Church of Christ
3) Emotionally heightened spiritual moments --at anytime in your life, in any location
As a little girl, I remember my mom coming to my bed to make this prayer every night:
“Con Dios me acuesto, con Dios me levanto, la Virgen María y el Espíritu Santo.” I would cross myself, ask for her blessing and then kiss her goodnight. It was a mother-daughter ritual that made me feel protected. All I needed it back then.
During …show more content…
Born to a Catholic mother and a “spiritual” father, and after growing up in Catholic schools making promises to God, trading good grades for sacrifices; college, work and living far away from home felt like a long break in my relationship with God. Not a break up though. My heart never stopped believing and my brain frequently thought about it. In random busy days I used to give thanks for everything I got, asked for favors and I even got married in a religious ceremony (A bilingual Bishop from the Old Catholic Church, who was willing to marry us on the beach and signed our marriage certificate as a Notary). I knew I had pending conversations with the Lord, but I didn’t know how to start. I found myself with no guidance at all. I knew he was “there” for me; I just had no idea on how to get “there”…directions, anyone? I was lost, suffering of spiritual poverty. I was dry. I needed to regain equilibrium, if I ever enjoyed any at some point in my …show more content…
Emmaus is a Catholic retreat program that is open to people of all Christian faiths. It sounded like a good start. My friend Saskya had invited me and encouraged me to go multiple times before and I had not been interested nor available but this was my time.
The same way you schedule a check up with your gyn/primary doctor or take your car to the mechanic for a tune-up, I decided to take a break and set aside a weekend to immerse/enlist myself for a spiritual and reflection bootcamp, the gift of time to find out more and think deeply about my life as part of the personal process of evolution that I was just starting.
My husband Claudio and my sister Carla dropped me off at the parking lot of this random church in Hialeah, FL. After a brief introduction where we enjoyed Cuban pastelitos and croquetas after agreeing to give up our cellphones for the three days, I jumped on a bus full of strangers that took us to a remote location I couldn’t recognize the road to. I started crying the minute I sat on my seat. And that was the start of a cathartic