Day of Recollection - February 12, 2008

Our day of recollection was held Tuesday, February 12, 2008, at The Pavilion, Waveland, MS. Brother Juniper Crouch, OFM, led us through a thought-provoking Lenten meditation on the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert and poverty, chastity and obedience.

Brother Juniper talked about Jesus’ refusal to turn stone into bread and the vow of poverty, his refusal to jump from the temple and the vow of chastity, and his refusal of the glories of the world and the vow of obedience. Brother Juniper reminded us that by renouncing ownership of things, we are not held by them any longer and that we should not put a holy and chaste God to the test as the Israelites did in the desert about providing food. God will supply our needs. God is God and he is the one we serve. Brother Juniper spoke of poverty and St. Francis in the manger scene with the baby Jesus and of the obedience of Jesus in the garden and St. Francis and the stigmata.

Everyone brought food to share, and we had a great lunch. We celebrated John’s and Ann’s birthdays with cake, song and angel gifts. We had a wonderful time sharing along with Brother Juniper’s teachings and time for prayer. The facilities at The Pavilion were lovely and greatly aided in a relaxing day. We give thanks to God for his blessings of the day, to Brother Juniper for leading us and Eileen for setting up our use of the facilities and other details for our day of recollection.