So far…

The Retreat in Greenville continues. I give a morning meditation on the Passion after the 7.00 and 8.00 Masses, and in the evening we have the Rosary followed by a little reflection (traditionally called the Motivum Passionis), then a hymn, then the sermon (which last about half an hour) and the service concludes with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament given by one of the local Passionist priests, Father Justin or Father Patrick. I hear confessions after each of these three services. Yesterday I had about half an hour of confessions after the first Mass and an hour's confessions after the second Mass and again after the evening service. Yesterday's morning meditation was on Jesus in Gethsemane, the Motivum was on the first of the Seven Last Words ("Today you will be with me in Paradise&quot and the sermon was on our nothingness before God's merciful love.
During the day, I had some people coming for one-to-one spiritual chat and I also had 45 minute sessions with the two senior classes ("eighth grade&quot in the parish school. We talked about the saints - in the morning about how a person becomes a saint and in the afternoon about individual saints and their particular virtues. The classes had already done a big project on the lives of the saints, with each pupil choosing a saint whose life they would research. You can find the website of this excellent Catholic school here.