These words of Fr. Pat Crowley during mass on Friday that were extra meaningful to me this week. I came into JVC hoping that I would find some clarity of future occupations and discover if teaching is really for me and I have been so blessed this year. I have a placement that I love going to every morning and I love my students and the faculty at Dolores Mission. Southern California's weather is absolutely amazing and I am in LOVE with Los Angeles. "Giving" this year as a volunteer has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I am so blessed to have so many people supporting me.
Back to Fr. Pat though. There was no school on Friday because we had a faculty retreat at school. Being able to have religious experiences with my co-workers is extremely meaningful to me because I really feel that sharing something as intimate and important as our spirituality is key to the DMS staff's cohesiveness and the warm environment of the school. We started with a "Whole Life Check-in" in which we reflected on the Mental, Physical, Spiritual, and Social Dimensions of our lives and then shared with the rest of the staff how we were doing in the various categories. Then Ms. Moreno, our principal led us in some reflexology practices like fingerholds (kind of like these). Fr. Pat celebrated mass with us in Dolores Mission Church with only the staff. It was an amazing experience since there were less than 15 people in the church and we all were gathered around the altar, making me feel like we were part of the early Church, celebrating in small, initmate celebrations of the Eucharist with close friends and believers.
After mass, Fr. Pat performed a Healing of Memories with us. I had never heard of this type of healing, but it was very moving and freeing. On his blog, Healing Light, he has a post that outlines the healing. From some further research, I learned that this type of Healing began in South Africa as a way to "remain attentive to how our divided past can impact us both individually and as communities and a nation. [They] believe that when personal stories are heard and acknowledged, individuals feel healed and empowered. Through deep listening and meaningful sharing, human relationships can be transformed and restored."
Pretty powerful statement. Sounds like a way that our world could become a much more peaceful place - if we could all just stop and listen to others and try to understand what it is like to walk a mile in their shoes.
[Following this, I decided to add intentionally praying for someone each day to my Lenten journey this year. Hopefully this will be a way for me to better empathize and have more patience with others, understanding that everyone brings something unique to the table and that everyone has a history. For example, finding out that a couple students at DMS recently were homeless - no wonder they were behaving differently during recess.]
And now the personal meaning of Fr. Pat's quote at the top of the post: I was accepted into PLACE Corps for next year! [Briefly, the Partners in Los Angeles Catholic Education is a teaching service corps with three pillars of community, spirituality and professional development. I'll be living in an intentional community, teaching in an under-resourced Catholic school in LA and working toward my masters in Child and Adolescent Literacy.] On June 22nd, I'll be moving onto Loyola Marymount University's campus to begin my summer courses and then at the end of the summer, I'll move into my new intentional community where I will live for the next two years.
Yay! Thank you for all your support this year!
And some pictures:
Stolen from Lauren - me, Jen, and Lauren at our Mardi Gras party!
Jen, Lauren, Shrek, and me - nbd
Casa Valentine
in San Fran before Re-O with Colleen and Paula
Dinner with the JVs and the Jesuits - Fr. G, Fr. Scott, Fr. Tre, Fr. Mark - they're pretty awesome
