Sunday, April 08, 2007

Easter's Yellow and Purple Spots

My countdown to Easter was spent at The Karis retreat house, a beautiful sacred space in cool Tagaytay, at my second Jesuit silent Holy Week retreat. I had four days to sloooooooow down, rest, refresh my weary self and relish in God's Silence... and yes, to appreciate His yellow and purple creations!

My spiritual director was Bro. Oliver Dy, S.J., a.k.a. Bro. Ody - truly a blessing and a kindred spirit when it comes to our love for stars and words. It was wonderful to share my personal history with him (which is not complete without the story of The Yellow Paperclip, of course!). He enjoyed reading my story and saw glimpses of Aquinas' medieval theology - now that's a first! But more importantly, Bro. Ody helped me to identify and articulate the ever-elusive yet present thread of Providence working in and out of my life. I was just so happy that the gift of writing stories is, and will be, an important element in my continuously unfolding life story. Storywriting has taken on a completely new meaning for me and I can't contain my excitement for the work and service ahead. I am humbled beyond words. Thank you, Lord!

You're invited to visit my prayer blog for more Easter reflections. May our Every Day be lived as Easter Day!

PS. Look at our photo closely. Doesn't it look like I have Easter bunny ears because of the plant behind me? Hee-hee.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Nikki!
Happy to read that you had a nice and peaceful Easter Time and that you enjoyed your stay at the retreat. It seems like a great place to relax and just appreciate all that we have to be thankfull to. And indeed your writing is a blessing :) hopefully you will be able to touch even more people with your stories in the future! Bro seems really nice and it did look like you had some easter bunny ears because of the plant behind you :D nevertheless is a very pretty picture!

XXX

P.S. we emailed you a picture of the yellow paperclip in Lisbon to your gmail address!

Handpicked by Ron and Chris said...

hi nikki a.k.a ms. congeniality...

just passing through and thought of googling karis tagaytay.. aba top ang iyong blog sa search!

thanks for the beautiful and generous words plus a bonus copy of your book, ive left in Karis for all to browse...

hope all is well and kita tayo minsan.. we missed you the last time!

chris & ron

CloudWoman said...

Hi Chris and Ron! Thanks for dropping by my blog. I still have several shots of beautiful Karis but haven't had the chance to upload them on my prayer blog just yet! :-( I'll find time to do it in June when I get back from Korea... and yes, let's get together then! Annyong haseyo!

Novice Blogger said...

I know Bro. Oliver. He was a classmate before in several philosophy classes.

And I saw your prayer blog. I like your post on God in small things. :)

CloudWoman said...

Hello Novice Blogger! Thanks for the comment. I'm glad Bro. Ody connects us. You have a pretty cool, fun blog!

Anonymous said...

Good Job! :)