In Fredrick Buschner’s book, The Sacred Journey, he says, “Just one day following the another, helter-skelter, in the manner of days. We sleep and dream. We wake. We work. We remember and forget. We have fun and are depressed. And into the thick of it, or out of the thick of it, at moments of even the most humdrum of our days, God speaks.”(p. 2)
Our lives are just a series of one day following another. LIFE is what we make of those days. Each day we crawl out of bed. We go to work or school. We eat. We sleep. We breathe. These are all essential for life, but the true STUFF of our lives comes in between all that. Life is made up of experiences, encounters and conversations with people. We learn from these events. We move on. We keep these lessons in our hearts. In this way, God speaks.
In June of 1997 I had just completed my sophomore year of high school. During my theology class that year, Sr. Karen, the teacher, told our class about a five-day retreat being held at a retreat center near us. My friend Megan had attended the retreat the year before. She urged me to go, so with all that encouragement, I decided to go. This retreat, put on by the National Evangelization Team (or NET), was called Discipleship Week (or D-Week).
Megan decided to go again to the retreat, so we spent the hour drive in her car, just letting our excitement flow. We were both psyched. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew from her enthusiasm that it would be great. God spoke to me here. He told me to keep an open mind and to have fun. I of course followed that instinct.
When we arrived at the retreat center, there were massive amounts of people standing outside to greet us, and point us in the right direction for sign in. These people were all smiling and energetic despite the extreme heat of the summer sun. God spoke to me there as well. He told me that if these people are all here and this excited, there must be something big going on.
From then on, the week gradually, turned into the best week of my entire life. God spoke to me throughout the entire week. I had lots of questions, and God gave me the answers. I was wondering if I should go out for the Peer Ministry Team at my parish, and He told me through the NET team that I would have a lot of fun and could possibly affect a few lives with the ministry.
I was wondering if Marine Biology was really the field I wanted to study for college and turn into a career. I didn’t like Biology class, but what else did I want to do? I didn’t know, until then. God told me in his oh, so subtle way that he wanted to use me as a minister for him. He wanted me to reach other young people like myself. God called me to be a high school youth minister. God spoke.
My experience of D-Week is beyond time. I look back on that week frequently, and remember the faces and hearts of those I encountered. I remember the impact they had on me. I am continually learning from that experience through what I discover each day. I have discovered since then that Eucharistic Adoration is EXTREMELY powerful. We had the opportunity for that during the retreat, and I didn’t realize what an impact it had on me until later. I continue to use that week as my calling week. It was the week that God showed me where he wanted me to go. That week will live on in my heart forever.
“As Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but he Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (1Kings 19:11-13 NLV). God speaks to us in many ways. We must remember that even at the dullest moments, we must listen, for God speaks.
