Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, 10 January 2021
In today’s final reflection for our first-time, kind-of-experimental, virtual Advent & Christmas retreat, Waiting in Joyful Hope author Michelle Francl-Donnay reflects on Isaiah 55:11-12, Isaiah 63:19b (again), and terns‘ territorial defense.
If you’re curious about numbers, during the course of the last 43 days, we’ve had an average of 11 visitors to these daily reflection posts. The most visited post, “Do You See Light Up Ahead?” (6 December) was read more than thirty times. We’ve also read comments from nine people.
What insight can we glean from the numbers? It’s hard to say, really. Numbers are interesting and useful, but not as interesting as your voice, and your ideas.
In the comments section below, can you share your thoughts on how this platform worked for you as a way to interact with other members and friends of our parish? What did you find helpful? How could it have been improved? Do you think you’d be inclined to try something like this again? If you’d rather not comment publicly, you can also email your feedback directly to Father Gurnick at mgurnick@dioceseofcleveland.org.
Thank you for your virtual—and very real—presence in our parish.
I am grateful for this experience. I wanted to do something extra for Advent and was considering a one day zoom retreat with people I did not know. The thought of being on zoom for 6 hours turned out to be not that appealing. I grew spiritually from this experience. I had to really read the meditation each day. I would do that each morning and look at the question and toss things around in my head throughout the day. Some questions were hard and I couldn’t come up with anything. Many times I did not feel what I came up with was that good but it was what it was. I really appreciated the variety of responses. They helped to open my mind. It also, in a very important way helped me feel connected to a parish community which I really miss. Thank you.
Baptism- I am a daughter of God and my Father is well pleased with me. This statement has brought me great comfort over the years. I loved teaching about the sacrament in PSR. The children never got tired of hearing how Jesus was baptized just as they were. They wondered if they would have heard God’s voice and seen the dove. I told them it takes an open heart. I told them we all have a Father who is well pleased with us.
I miss teaching our children. I miss all of you. God bless all of you. Stay safe, stay healthy, and we will worship together again!