October 2008

"Hospitality"

Dear Friends in Christ,

Hospitality is a central theme in the scriptures starting with Abraham welcoming the angels and continuing throughout to the widow who provided for Elijah and Elizabeth greeting Mary. The obligation of hospitality is so great in the scriptures that the failure of hospitality at the birth of Christ is especially jarring.

Hospitality is at the center of our ministry here at the Spiritual Life Center. We welcome both groups that come to use the retreat center and individuals who come for our programs or just for a few days on a private or directed retreat. We are continuing to look at how we can become more hospitable in all we do.

One of the immediate effects of this focus on hospitality is changing the registration deadlines for our evening programs and retreats so that we can welcome people who do not plan their lives quite so far ahead. The basic principle I would like to use is to require only what is necessary so we can serve people well. There still will be some deadlines so we can order adequate food, but we will try to keep these at a minimum so that we can serve you better.

I would like to make you aware of some upcoming events. The first is a three-part evening series entitled “Hearing the Voice of God in Daily Life.”  I will be leading this series that starts Thursday, October 16th. This series will be very practical and seek to focus on listening to God in the events of life and learning to discern what God may be saying to us through these events.

The second event is entitled:  “An Encounter with Jesus: The Way of Intimacy Through Prayer.” This weekend retreat on Nov. 14-16 will focus on our relationship with Jesus, which is at the heart of faith. Participants will be led through different types of prayer to directly encounter Jesus in a deeper and more personal way.

We also have a Day of Prayer focused on the Joy of Advent with Fr. Mike Simone on Saturday, December 6th. This Day of Prayer will help lead people into the hope and joy of Advent and Christmas.

Finally, we have plans for January. There will be a series on St. Paul in January that will be led by Monsignor William Carr in honor of the year of St. Paul entitled “Saint Paul: The Man, His Writings, His Theology.”  Fr. John Lanzrath also will once again lead his retreat that has been so popular; “The Fruit of Silence is Prayer” that opens up the spirituality of Mother Teresa of Calcutta for retreatants.

We hope you see you at one or perhaps more of these offerings in the days, weeks and months to come.

Rev. Kent Hemberger, Director