Time for Reflection

After Easter I often take a spiritual retreat with several of my clergy colleagues. Our usual retreat is the St. Joseph Abbey, north of New Orleans outside of Covington. St. Joseph Abbey is a Benedictine Monastery and while there, we enter into the cycle of the monks -- morning prayers, noon mass, evening vespers ... and silence! Do you have any idea how difficult silence is to maintain?

This year our retreat took us to Ponchatoula, LA to Rosaryville. Rosaryville is the original site that the Benedictines settled in the 1800s. However, they moved upstream to their present site and a group of nuns took over the retreat house at Rosaryville. I enjoyed the openness of the retreat. Without the cycle of the monks we were on our own. We were still to observe silence, but ... did I mention how hard that is?

The three days were gorgeous. I filled them with meditation, reading, art work, and of course, photography. I always find it hard to enter into the time and harder still to return to the world.

Images of my Reflection

Relay for Life

Tonight we celebrated life with our cancer survivors in Relay for Life. Our plan was to be at the high school stadium, but the weather ran us inside to the American Legion. It was surely nice to be inside and high and dry as the storm raged outside!

The evening began with the walk by the cancer survivors around the circle of luminarias decorated in memory and in honor of loved ones.

Dancing and margaritas (non-alcoholic, of course), rounded out the evening.

Relay for Life 2009

Easter Sunday Morning

Christ the Lord is risen today ... Alleluia!

Bubbles, Bubbles everywhere ...

These were taken at the Crawfish Boil. I love it when the bubbles come out!

Easter Crawfish Boil

It is hard to have Easter without Crawfish. We did it up right today! Friends, food, fun, and even the Easter Bunny ... life is good!