My
name is Sandra. I am 41 years old. I am South African
born but living in Ireland with my husband, who is Italian, and an 18
year old son. I am a radiographer/mammographer by profession and enjoy
travelling, hillwalking, swimming and just going for walks in the natural
environment. I am a member of RCIA (rite of christian initiation of
adults), which has only recently started up here in Wicklowtown. I started
searching for gospel reflections on the internet for a particular meeting
with the RCIA members when I first stumbled on the Creighton Online
Ministry site. It was in doing the Daily Reflections that I came across
the reader's project involving How Big Is Your God. So here
I am ready and as excited as a child in a candy store to start this
journey.
My
name is James. I am a Human Resources professional
by trade. For most of my life I have called Australia home, but I have
also experienced living in the Middle East and India. Consequently I
have had some rich experiences in life, none more so than that of being
father to two young adult sons who are my pride and joy and with whom
I share a passion for sport, especially cricket and tennis, music, photography,
geneology, nature and a love of travel and adventure. A few years ago
I was in a fatal car crash which almost claimed my life, too. It caused
me to re-think my values and priorities. In my search for meaning I
came across the Daily Reflections site of Creighton University which
in turn led me to this wonderful opportunity, nay a gift of prayerful
reading and reflection which I am so looking forward to being a part
of. Did He lead me to the well? I think so! I hope so!
My
name is Joan and I am a native New Yorker, currently
living in Manhattan's Chelsea area. I work in tourism marketing, which
has given me the opportunity of traveling around the world, especially
Asia. I am a Cradle Catholic, but lately I have been struggling. Not
with my faith and spirituality, but with the big "C" Church.
I don't know if that is because of recent changes in my parish, or lack
of certain changes in Mother Church. Despite this, my relationship with
God continues to grow, and is definitely the most important thing in
my life and grows more precious to me each day.
I began my spiritual journey (or at least my awareness of it) when
I joined a Jesuit parish about 16 years ago. The greatest influence
in my life has been doing the Spiritual Exercises, the first time in
my parish with a weekly meeting with a spiritual advisor; the second
time on the Creighton website, where I was fortunate to be part of an
online sharing group with Andy and Maureen. I am active in my parish,
where I am a Eucharistic Minister and lector, as well as chair of the
Spirituality Committee. I am a huge fan of Anthony DeMello, and delighted
to find similarities in Paul Coutinho's writing. I am looking forward
to sharing this journey with my worldwide fellow pilgrims, as we endeavor
a deeper experience of the Divine.
My name is Lindy and I'm from Rock Hill, South Carolina.
I am approaching 50 with a husband and 3 growing sons, 17, 14,12. My
undergraduate degree is in English and I have an MBA. I have been Christian
all my life, first growing up in a Protestant home and later converting
to the Catholic religion near my oldest son's first communion. I am
part of the Bible Study Fellowship group, which is a wonderful study.
I hope to be very productive and vibrant and make a contribution outside
my home in my 50's. Maybe this discipline will help.
My
name is Adele and I live in the small town of Rothesay,
New Brunswick in eastern Canada. My husband and I are the parents of
two adult children and grandparents of two wonderful boys, ages 8 and
10. We winter in Florida where the availability of daily Mass and open
churches throughout the day are a huge blessing. When in Canada, we
take care of our gransons during their summer vacation while their mother
works. We love being able to do this. In addition, I volunteer one day
a week at our beautiful Catholic book store in Saint John.
My faith is central to everything I do and the thought of an opportunity
to learn more and grow in my faith by reading this book and sharing
insights with others drew me like a magnet. Thank you for this opportunity.”
My
name is Bob. I live in Newport News, Virginia. My wife
and I have been joyfully married for 36 years and have raised two sons.
I work in the Science Directorate of the NASA Langley Research Center
in Hampton, Virginia. I am a lifelong Catholic and have been involved
in various ministries since becoming an altar server at the age of 9.
Currently I serve our parish as a catechist in our RCIA process. I feel
that involvement with people and community is the key to developing
our spiritual lives and so this opportunity looked like a means to bring
some new ideas to share in ministering to our inquirers, candidates,
catechumens and other catechists in our initiation team. I look forward
to beginning this journey with all of you.
I am Isake. I live on the western coast of the bigger
island [Viti Levu] of the two main islands of the Fiji Group. I am a
single male parent and have four children aged 28, 23, 19 and 11. I
work for Fiji’s international airline, Air Pacific Limited, and
have been with it for over 12 years. I conduct a weekly scripture sharing
session with members of our St. Michael’s parish here at Nadi
Town and we have been doing this over the last 26 months. We use quite
a lot of reflections from the Centre for Liturgy at St. Louis University
and Living Space [Sacred Space] Websites and we share the readings for
the upcoming Sunday. The people who join me at these meetings include
parents and many young adults who enjoy learning a little more about
the Word. We gather and pray, share the scripture and pray again and
sing on these occasions and we greatly look forward to our Parish Priest’s
homily on the Sunday Readings we share on.
I wanted to be part of this initiative because my experience has been
spiritually uplifting and the sharing of scripture has provided me a
better perspective of our human limitations and I am able to work on
my boundaries with the help of the awesome God that I take much for
granted in making a difference to those I serve.
My
name is Hamish Currie and I am a Roman Catholic priest
from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. I have been pastor in urban
and rural parishes, have worked as an Addiction Therapist in inpatient
and outpatient settings, and have just completed a term as Past-President
of The National Federation of Priests Councils (Canada). I am a musician,
a potter, a gardener and an avid reader. Abundantly blessed, I desire
to be more responsive to God and the promptings of the Spirit within.
It is a new and exciting experience to reflect and share with others
in this reading group.
Linda, who lives in Canada's beautiful Okanagan Valley,
has 20 years experience helping people produce excellent writing. She
and a Chicago buddy write a weekly online media column whose mission
is to have fun in the conviction that under all the fluff and stuff
human beings are all the same. Linda's other endeavors included teaching
of religious education, where she integrated real life experiences to
bring alive scriptural teachings to her students. Creighton's reading
group is one more way for her to share God's action.
My
name is Sue. I am a single Woman in my forties. I am
British and live in a town close to London. I come from an ecumenical
background as I was brought up as an Anglican and moved into the Roman
Catholic Church in my twenties. I have some Theological and Pastoral
training and I worked as an ecumenical chaplain for a number of years.
I am currently working with children with special educational needs
and I will complete my training to be an Religious Education teacher
next year. I love the ‘great outdoors’ and this picture
shows me enjoying a day out with friends at Windsor where our queen
has one of her homes.
I also enjoy music mainly classical and traveling. I am looking forward
to reading Paul Coutinho’s book and sharing my reflections. I
have been looking at daily reflections for a number of years and I have
been stimulated by the reflections of others. It will be a privilege
to contribute some of my own reflections and read those of others. I
also think it will be a discipline throughout the month of October which
will encourage and challenge us to grow in our relationship to God.
My name is Rosalie. I was born on the island of Malta
of an Italian mother and a Maltese father. I lived in Italy & Switzerland
for a number of years and now have been in the U.S. for 30 years. I
am a psychotherapist and love my work! I see 25-30 clients a week. I
have been married to Dick for 23 years. I love to travel, cook , exercise
& read. My faith journey is very important to me. The Lord has blessed
me in many ways and I wish to continue deepening my spiritual life.
Reason also why I wish to be part of this group. Thanks for giving me
this opportunity.
My
name is Anne and I live in West Allis, Wisconsin. I
am 42 years old, have been married to Paul for 17 years and we have five
children, ages 7-14. I am a nutritionist for the Women, Infants and Children
(WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program and feel that this is a ministry
in which I can serve God through his little children. Although I am a
lifelong Catholic, I feel that I have undergone a conversion process in
the past two years in which I felt God move from my head into my heart.
During this time, I have begun Spiritual Direction, attend daily Mass,
and pray lectio divina and journal daily. I have become an avid
reader of spiritual books and attend book clubs and discussions. I have
also taken up writing as a hobby. I love to write prayers, poems and short
stories about my experiences of God.
I am so excited to take part in this reading group and join others
who also have a love for reading and sharing their thoughts and reflections.
I look forward to seeing how big God really is in all of our lives.
I
am Mary, from Vellore, Tamilnadu, India. I am married
and am a recently retired Prof of Pathology. My husband, son and daughter
and their spouses are also doctors. We stay on the campus of the Christian
Medical College where the others continue to work / study.
At the moment am not taking up professional work outside home to have
time for the family before our children finish training and leave for
other parts of India next year. We are members of the CSI church [Anglican].
I would like to set aside time to join this group and share in making
God more real in everyday life . This experience I hope, will make me
define and articulate my faith and my understanding.
My name is MarySue Occhiuzzo and I live in Tallahassee,
Florida. I am a lifelong Catholic and take great joy in the celebration
of the Eucharist and in my Catholic faith. However, many people who
I have dearly loved for many years chose to express their spirituality
in other faith traditions or even in no tradition at all. Yet, they
have a deep spirituality I cannot deny. I think of the poem of the seven
blind men feeling an elephant for the first time. Each argued their
own perception was the reality of the elephant. I do not want to limit
the reality of God to only what I can perceive, I want to expand my
reality to include the perceptions of others. Certainly God is bigger
than what my feeble brain, heart and soul can imagine. I look forward
to sharing and growing with each of you and learning what is in your
heart and on your mind.
My
name is Cathy and I am from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I am 25 years old, I have been married for three years, and I have two
daughters. I stay at home with my children, and I teach private percussion
lessons. My husband and I just recently received Bachelor of Music degrees
from West Chester University and are starting a small business teaching
private music lessons and tuning pianos in our community. My husband
also just started teaching music at our parish's school and works part
time at UPS. I enjoy praying with others and finding God in all things.
Some of the things in which I often find God are music, movies, reading,
writing, cooking, the outdoors, and my family. I am very excited to
be a part of this reading group because I really enjoy reading, sharing
God with others, and hearing others' reflections about God in their
lives.
My name is Emmanuel, I'm 49 years old, and I come from
the Philippines. For the past 16 years my family (wife and 2 sons) and
I have been living here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I work as an
engineer in the local oil and gas industry. The Philippines is the only
predominantly Christian country in Southeast Asia so like most Filipinos
I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church while still an infant. I've
also had a solid Christian education all the way from kindergarten to
college. But despite this I'm still struggling with my faith. It's not
so much that I don't believe because I do believe. Rather, the struggle
is in trying to live my faith, trying to live my life the way He wants
me to. I haven't had much success with that, and that's why I want so
much to be part of this reading group. Like the book says, I only have
religion instead of a relationship with Him. I pray that with His help
and yours, this book will teach me what it means to be a true Christian.
I pray that this experience will imbue in me the Ignatian spirit of "contemplative
in action". I also pray that He allows me to share with others the
grace that He is offering me through this book."
My
name is Jack. I was born on the feast of St.Teresa
of Avila in1917 in a blue-collar section of Philadelphia. I graduated
from the first free Catholic high school in the city. That completed
my formal education since the great depression left no funds for college.
I went to work for the local utility for the next fifty one years and
retired at age seventy. I remember watching Archbishop Fulton Sheehan
on TV and discussing it with non-catholics at work. His revelation of
the natural law tied in with the Baltimore catechism taught by Sr.Mary
Rose, SSJ. My personal Faith was secure but I never felt satisfied with
the lack of Evangelzation on my part.
My
name is Greg and I am currently serving as an Air Force
Major (activated reservist) in Balad, Iraq until December. I am a civil
engineer here where my duties include the planning/design and construction
of facility infrastructure projects. My home is Raleigh, North Carolina
where I have lived for the past 20 years (on and off). I work for the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a facility engineer managing
the operations of the Agency's Research Triangle Park Campus. The one
good thing that has come out of this deployment is that I have really
had the time to devote to my relationship with God. I'm able to attend
Mass around 4-times a week, and discovering the Daily Reflections website
has been wonderful. I'm planning on participating in the on-line retreat
that starts on September 14. I'm excited about participating in the reading
group and sharing my thoughts/experiences in doing so.
My name is Vicki. I live in Saint Louis, Missouri.
I have been a Catholic all of my life and I have a strong desire to
have a deeper relationship with God. I am a stay at home mom of three
wonderful (most of the time! lol) children. I belong to a faith sharing
group at out parish with a group of fantastic women who only enhance
my spiritual growth. I look forward to being a part of the "How
Big is Your God?" Group.
My
name is Sharon and I live in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
I have a beautiful daughter, a wonderful son-in-law and a charming grandson
who thankfully live in a small suburb close to me. For the past five
years I have been actively seeking God and the Daily Reflection has
been very helpful to me in this process. I offered to be part of this
reading group because I want to experience an even deeper relationship
with God and to share the journey with others. I think that we learn
and grow in our faith by sharing our thoughts about God with others
and listening to their viewpoint.
My
name is Ken. I live in Tonganoxie, Kansas, which is
about thirty miles west of Kansas City. I am in my 33rd year as a business
professor at Kansas City Kansas Community College. My wife is in her
35th year as an elementary school teacher. I attend daily Mass and pray
the rosary and morning and evening prayers each day in addition to readin
Scripture. I have used the Creighton spirituality website many times
and enjoy it greatly. When I saw that they were asking for some volunteers
to take part in a reading group about a book on spirituality, that was
very appealing to me. I am just trying to make progress on my path in
this life and thought that this would be a good opporunity to try something
a bit different and to share the experience with others who are also
on the path.
My
name is Mary M. and I am a Sister of St. Joseph. I
am originally from New York, and have been living in Pittsburgh for
the past 15 years. I am currently in the process of splitting my time
between New York and Pittsburg to help in the care of my elderly mother.
I am a critical care nurse and am a huge fan of anything that comes
out of Creighton! I had a profound experience of grace the year before
last when I did the 19th Annotation online. My life is lived out of
the Ignatian Exercises, and when I read of this offer it felt like an
invitation from God. I am excited to be able to read what I am sure
will be a wonderful book, and to share with others and be enriched by
the insights of others. What a lovely grace!
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My
name is Pat. I live in Dallas, Texas with my husband.
We have 4 grown children and 9 grandchildren. Faith is my number one
value and it permeates all I am and do. Roman Catholicism is my religion
of choice. I love that it is the same wherever I am in the world and
I travel a lot. Image Anew is the name of the international image and
communication company I built beginning in 1983. As a professional speaker/trainer
I work to enable persons to recognise their value, discover their purpose
and communicate this by the way they look, act and speak. I am trained
as a spiritual director and will be directing Ignatian Retreats. As
an avid reader I love to share the ideas and thoughts and stories books
present. You can be assured that I am ready, willing and able to be
an active part of this group. I am also a fan of Paul Coutinho, S.J.
so it is easy for me to discuss his stories and approach.
My name is Kathy and I live in Tustin, California.
I was born in California and have lived here all my live. My heritage
is German, and on my father's side of the family I'm only a second generation
American. I am 61 years old, and work in the Worship and Music Ministries
Department of a large Lutheran Church.
I love to read, to learn, to discuss, to share, to debate - NOT argue.
I like having my thoughts, learning and beliefs challenged so I am stretched
to look at them again through new eyes. I have been a part of the Barnes
and Noble online book groups for over three years and have enjoyed sharing
readers' gleanings, whether from fiction or non-fiction. My education
has been in music, both performance and history, and in the area of
spirituality, with courses of study at Fuller Theological Seminary and
the Art of Spiritual Direction Program offered by the Sisters of St.
Joseph, Orange, CA and Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, CA.
My God continues to become bigger with each encounter I have with Him
directly and through others. There are so many wonderful avenues that
so many others use. I'm prepared to be awed - and to borrow.
I
am Mary H. - an American but have been living in the
Netherlands, near Maastricht, for the past five years. Church is a very
different experience over here, much more of a private matter than in
the US. Most weeks, we go to an English language Mass in the crypt of
the local cathedral. Interesting...but that's about it. I have missed
the sense of community. The Creighton daily reflections website has
been my "connection" for the past several years and I am very
grateful for it. I have always been involved in the life of the church,
even in the midst of struggles with the faith. A couple of years ago
I discovered a Jesuit retreat house in Belgium and have been attending
their school of contemplative prayer. Fantastic! Wonderful! But in French
I can only enter in to a point. So, I am looking forward to sharing
my faith and sharing in others' faith journey through this reading group.
I am married with four children and one son-in-law. I love to cook,
travel, read, knit and take long walks in this beautiful South Limburg
countryside. I have just stopped working and am taking some quiet time
off before starting a Master's program in Library Science in January.
Perfect timing for this book group. God's timing, perhaps?!
I'm Catherine, and I live in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
I am married 25 years and Ihave 2 daughters, ages 21 and 16.
I have been a member of St. Mark's parish for over 7 years.I am a Eucharistic
Minster and I schedule the Eucharistic ministers. I am a leader of an
adult faith formation group and I am currently enrolled in a lay ministry
program at St. John's Seminary in Brighton. It is called, MAM ( Masters
of Arts in Ministry). I heard about Creighton from one of my formation
leaders who is graduate from Creighton's program for lay ministry. I
am looking forward to being apart of the reading group.
My
name is Danny. I grew up and graduated H.S. in Texas
and will always consider it home. I, my wonderful wife and three beautiful
daughters now live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I retired in September
from the USAF after 22 years. I am a cradle Catholic with a booming
voice. I feel God gave this gift/cross to me to be a voice for HIM.
I am really driven to know more about the Church and love apologetics.
I do not read a lot but love talks on CD. This is a chance to for me
to step out and grow.
My
name is Freya; I am 61 yrs old and live in Warwickshire,
England, which has many connections with Shakespeare. I have recently
returned to the Church after a three year intense foray into Zen Buddhism
and I have also practiced Transcendental Meditation on and off for 30
years. Since returning to the Church I have increasingly realized how
Buddhist teachings/spirituality can inform a greater understanding of
traditional Christian spirituality. Over the years I have discovered
that Jesuits are one of the religious orders who are prepared, more
than most, to explore “outside the box” and I have enjoyed
the writings of Jesuit authors such as Gerard Hughes, Anthony de Mello
and Robert Faricy.
I’m
Annette who lives on a farm in North Central Missouri,
about thirty miles north of Columbia. About a month after retiring in
July, I volunteered to coordinate our parish confirmation program. When
I found out the requirements of the program would take my life, and
realizing I had no background working with teens, I became consumed
by my inadequacies and fears. Then I saw the Online Ministries'
ad for the fifty people who would read How Big Is Your God?
I thought that perhaps this book and the program could make my God big
enough to rescue me from me.
My name is Jean and I live in Greenbelt, Maryland.
I was born almost 69 years ago on Thanksgiving Day and I’ve been
a Pilgrim ever since. I am a deaf person retired, from almost 30 years
of teaching undergraduate psychology at Gallaudet University in Washington,
D.C. I am also an R.N. And I am a member of Christian Life Communities
in permanent Diaspora.
I recently completed a Certificate in Spirituality from the online
program at Saint Thomas University in Miami, Florida. I have been graced
with the privilege of accompanying someone and supporting another through
Annotation 19 using the Creighton online materials.
I have been really blessed in the past with annual Ignatian retreats
at Guelph, Ontario, Canada and by being guided through a Annotation
19 retreat. I hope to continue sharing the great blessings and support
I have received from so many people’s graced contemplation in
action.
I currently live with a certified hearing dog and enjoy nature, reading,
friendships, beginning Tai Chi and attempts at mindfulness.
I happily chose to join this book discussion because we still too often
encounter explicit and implied church teaching, preaching and practice
affirming what Rahner has described as the “god not worthy of
belief”. My own life and prayer experiences have taught otherwise.
It is a gift to be able to continue sharing with others in the area
of spirituality. I also see it as a Eucharist of sorts, thanksgiving
to and with the online Body of Christ so wonderfully expressed by the
Creighton website participants and readers. Let us continue to live
in His love.
My
name is Sandy and I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have
been a social worker for Catholic Charities 38 years, helping people
to grow in their knowledge of themselves, so that they might experience
God more fully in their lives. Spiritual growth is important to me,
and I am more aware of what I "don't get" about faith and
God, than what I "do" (get). I offered to be a part of the
reading group because I think it will help me in being more aware of
God's activity in my life as well as stretching me to grow in my faith
and sharing it with others. I am married, to Pete, and enjoy cooking
and eating, exercising, reading, and playing the piano. I am a Lector
and Eucharistic Minister at St. Xavier Parish, where I also write the
Prayers of the Faithful for Sunday Mass, and serve on the Parish Council.
I look forward to meeting the other readers who are part of this group.
My name is Mary A. I am 86 years old, live alone and
have just had successful right hip replacement. God has blessed me many
times over, most recently with the care and love of children, grandchildren,
siblings, friends, neighbors, home health care people and doctors and
nurses. I am not a great thinker but would like to join your group in
reading the book How Big Is Your God. Thank you.
My
name is Rob. I live in Shelton, Connecticut. I am married,
18 years, to a wonderful wife, Debbie. We have a beautiful daughter, 15
years old, I work for a relocation management firm, I teach an 8th grade
religious ed class preparing the students for confirmation and I am the
confirmation coordinator for my church. I am utilizing Creighton's website
to make an everyday retreat and I am very appreciative of all of the resources
that Creighton has made available on the website. Thank you. I am looking
for any and every opportunity to grow in my faith, to become one with
God, and to share my experience and faith with others. The more I understand
the easier it is for me to share with others. I am studying contemplative
prayer and How Big is Your God? seems like it would be an excellent
accompaniment to this study.
My name is Isabel. I live in a city in the east part
of The Netherlands near the German border.
I read about this initiative to start a reading group. I am interested
in taking part. I was not brought up with a religion. Now as a 44 year
old I am discovering my relationship with God by listening to "pray-as-you-go"
and "daily reflections". I think reading, reflecting on this
book and sharing that can help this process. The sample chapter also
helped me to see the difference between a religion and my personal relationship
with God which gives me freedom.
My
name is Elda. I am a native New Yorker - New York City,
no less. Most of my life, I pursued a career acting and had moderate success
but now I work as an Administrative Assistant and keep my acting to constantly
working in some production or other for VERY moderate amounts of money.
After a "hiatus" from the Catholic Church, I returned in 1980,
by happenstance, to a Jesuit Parish in Chelsea - attached to a high school
- St.. Francis Xavier. The spirit there was extraordinary, where I experienced
being a Christian as the most alive I had ever been.
As with all things, those people, that spirit moved on, passed. The
parish no longer has that kind of verve. I am now struggling financially,
having been divorced, laid off from a good paying job, and fretting
over a really old mother (97). I know, I KNOW, that God's spirit is
no less with me now than at the time I was given so much. However, it
is a real struggle for me to truly experience that feeling, that awareness.
At the suggestion of a friend, I started reading the daily reflections
on the Creighton website. It provides sustenance.
Just the title of the book, How Big is Your God, struck me
when I read it. I thought - ah, the way to freedom. Perhaps, this time
in my life is a gift so I will truly seek the kingdom of God and find
it in my own soul - and not in finances, success, whatever. I have no
less respect for the exigencies of finding work and having a decent
wage. But I would like to experience this period of my life with the
grace of knowing God even more deeply, deepen my faith and hope and
not have all those wonderful teachings of the Gospel be a mere intellectual
reflection - I want to experience it. I suspect this book will help
me get there
My
name is Carolyn. I am from Brewster, New York. I am married
with two grown sons, one lovely daughter-in-law and one beautiful granddaughter.
I am a speech-language pathologist and I work at Lehman College/CUNY as
the director of the speech and hearing center. I am a Passionist Associate
(lay member of the Passionists) and I am in the second year of two year
interfaith program that leads to ordination as an interfaith minister.
I am also an unabashed animal loving, nature loving, tree-hugging vegetarian
(much to the good-natured eye-rolling of my family!)
My hope is that my participation in this group will lead me to recognize
some of the ways in which I’ve become limited in my views –
in the ways I think about God – and that I will begin to grow
beyond those limits. Sharing my ideas – putting my thoughts into
writing – will push me to be more reflective and to clarify my
thoughts. I am very much looking forward to reading the ideas of the
other group members and to learning and growing from their thoughts
and experiences.
I am an 85 year old widow named Brenda and I live
in Santa Rosa, California. The idea of this reading group appealed to
me because I am finding myself struggling with my faith. I am a former
elementary school teacher and administrator. My life has been full of
spiritual classes, daily Mass and Scripture study. In my retirement
years, I have taught Scripture and have written some of the lessons,
but now I need something more.
My
name is Loretta and I am from Billings, Montana. We have
three children, who live in the area and four grandchildren. My full time
job is childcare for our two granddaughters. I also work part time for
a retail corporation doing inventory data entry.
We moved from Missoula, Montana, where I was part of a Jesuit parish
that has been very active with the Exercises since 1994. I am a Spiritual
Director for the SEEL retreat, directing the 19th Annotation. Billings
does not have a Jesuit parish or the SEEL program here. We do have one
Jesuit Priest here who is the Hospital chaplain. Little by little, I
have been offering the 19th annotation retreat. I recognize that I can
only accomplish this by the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. I don’t know what He has in store for us as we take these
baby steps to begin this program here. I just know that I believe and
trust that He is the ultimate Director and the ultimate guide for us.
I attended the Jesuit Institute in St. Louis, this summer for the 1st
time. I so enjoyed Fr. Paul Coutinho’s talks. They were interesting
and challenging to listen too. They left me with food for thought. In
reading his book now as part of this group I am hoping to have a new appreciation
for his thoughts and when I am challenged, I hope I’ll learn from
what the others have to share. I recognize that as I give of myself in
service to God, I need to continue my studies and enhance my life so that
I can keep up my enthusiasm to share with others.
I'm
Crystal and I live in California. I became a Catholic
about ten years ago after being an agnostic most of my life, but it
wasn't until I made Creighton University's Online Retreat for Everyday
Life a few years later that I had a conversion experience. Since then
I've been working on a relationship with Jesus/God - it's a continuous
struggle, given my doubts both about God and myself, but it means a
lot to me. I think the book/reading group will be helpful.
My
name is Sarah. I live in Milford-on-Sea, in the United
Kingdom. I'm 73, and have five children and nine grandchildren. My husband
died six years ago after sharing 46 years of a great marriage. My faith
is the most important thing in my life and always has been. I have spent
my life being torn between being a wife and mother and a Carmelite nun.
Still I trust I'm doing what God intended whatever I would have liked!
I am now studying for a Diploma in scripture which is wonderfully interesting
and makes a change from all I have done in the past. I love the Internet.
I run several websites including one for my village and have met some
lovely people including those at Creighton, whose 'Daily Reflections'
is one of my prayer sites every day. One of my internet friends has just
been ordained in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo! I find
the internet a wonderful tool for evangelisation and have published a
couple of books by Fr. Robert Kelly SJ who lived in Lusaka for many years
and have a third one on the way. I offered to be part of the group because
I love reading faith books and discovering new books.
My
name is Tricia. I live in San Antonio, Texas.
I am a proud member of the newest parish in San Antonio, which is "The
Shrine of St. Padre Pio". My family and I were at our first Mass
(in the elementary school cafeteria, where I teach) almost 7 years ago
and have enjoyed every step along the way in building our faith community.
The ACTS retreats have been a huge part of our parish and family life
and I'm hoping that I can work on the "A" for Adoration and
the "T" for Theology through this reading group. I'm doing
pretty well with the "C" for Community and the "S"
for Service, since there's always somewhere to help in a new parish,
and lots going on with an amazing group of people. I am very blessed!
My
name is Marj. I live in Eureka, Illinois -- a small
town of 4,500 about 3 hours southwest of Chicago. I have been married
for 34+ years to Jim and am the mother of 7 -- 4 grown, 1 in college
and 2 teens at home. I am proud of being a "Cradle Catholic"
and of my religious education through me local parish growing up. I
spent 20 years involved in religious education programs in my parish
and diocese. My husband and 3 of my children introduced me to Jesuit
Education and Ignatian Spirituality. When I was looking for ways of
growing spiritually, I found Creighton Collaborative Ministries. I have
started my reading the reflections there almost every morning for years.
This chance to interact with others seems like a good next step. I think
I will learn so much from the others in the group! Not only that, but
the title of the book, How Big Is Your God?, really sold me
as I have thought a lot about the limitations we put on God.
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