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Retreat focuses on women, daily life, Jesus Looking to find God -- or a little bit of joy in the everyday? All Catholics need to do, Kim Harris believes, is to pick up a broom -- and pray. Women from across the Albany Diocese are invited to attend "Rejoice With Me: Celebrating the Wonderful Persistence of God," a retreat at the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna, Sept. 14-16. The retreat will focus on Jesus' parable of the woman who cleans her entire house until she finds a single coin she had lost. Lessons According to Ms. Harris, the story applies to women on many levels: * The woman signifies God's persistence in dealing with people and the kind of spirituality women can access in everyday activities; and * the story teaches about joy and "reminds us how much God really loves us." The key to the story is the woman's sense of joy when she discovers the lost coin, Ms. Harris continued. "The thing I love is that it's a story about a woman doing an everyday task," she explained. "Even in an everyday task, we can find ways of rejoicing and tying into God's joy." Rejoice Cultivating a sense of rejoicing, Ms. Harris said, is important for Catholics. "Sometimes, it's very easy to be caught up in the heaviness of things going on in the world," she noted. "In the midst of that, we're 'Gospel people.' How can we let the Good News shine in us, in the world?" Many of the activities of the weekend will be based on rejoicing. Participants will sing and pray together, play games, talk, and connect with one another. Even the act of gathering for communal meals, she believes, is a way to rejoice. "There's something so powerful and healing when women gather," Ms. Harris said. "Just in the act of gathering, we hear each other's voices and listen to each other. We connect with each other in fears and sorrows, and also in our joys and successes." Cleaning Ms. Harris won't omit the active part of the story -- the cleaning. Cleaning is a positive, healthy attitude in the parable, she explained, and it can involve an element of spirituality. "Psalm 51 says, 'Give me a clean heart,'" she noted. "When I hear the word 'clean,' I'm in the kitchen, I'm sweeping the deck. That's what I see. I find a spirituality in that. As the house gets cleaner, it almost feels like our insides are cleaning out, too." To reflect that, the weekend's prayers will sometimes be not only with hands and voices, but also with sponges, brooms and aprons. Ms. Harris said that reflects the fact that human beings are "whole people," whose daily experiences integrate their physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual sides. (Kim Harris recently earned a master's degree in divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She will pursue a Ph.D. in worship and the arts. The weekend costs $180; $165 for those over 65. The price include meals and accommodations. For reservations, call 393-4169.) (9/6/07) |