"Your Word is My Delight" - Come to a Catholic Writer's Retreat Oct 5-9

I am happy to have been invited by the Catholic Writer's Guild to contribute a few talks to their first-ever retreat for writers. This is going to be a great escape in a lovely setting. Come bring a manuscript you are working on, or start on one! Imagine what you and God can write together! There will be talks, Mass, adoration, critique sessions, and more. Come mix and mingle with other Catholic writers and publishers -- or hide out and writewritewrite to your heart's content! Take time to be alone with God, with an opportunity to be refreshed by Word and Sacrament! This is interior development for your career development!

Here's a preview of my talks:

1. Psalm 119 for Writers: "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path." (Ps 119:105.)

Psalm 119, the longest in the Psalter, praises God and offers timely instructions to live by. This talk unpacks selected verses from this psalm as a devotional foundation for the retreat by offering inspirational delight and counsel for the writer's interior life. Writing prompts for personal journaling will be suggested.

2. Encouraging Words: What the Church says about writers, their craft, and the creative life.

This talk celebrates the role of Catholic writers and their call to put the divine spark of creativity into action for the sake of the Church and the world. This talk draws on the words and catechesis of John Paul II's Letter to Artists and Benedict XVI's Verbum Domini.

3. Hope - in theory and practice: "I have placed my hope in your word." (Ps 119: 74, 84, 114, 147.)

The theme of hope resounds in Psalm 119 and elsewhere in Scripture. This talk offers insights and practical tips for overcoming discouragement or setbacks by growing and nurturing hope in the writing life.

A team of other presenters will round out the experience. 

A full brochure is here. (.pdf)

The full schedule is here. (.pdf)

The retreat house website is here.  

SIGN UP HERE!

Making my garden a place of prayer? Margaret Rose Realy's new garden book gets it done!

To use a very well-worn phrase, Margaret Rose Realy, you had me at "hello."*

I was hooked by the opening words from the Preface of A Garden of Visible Prayer -- delighting me with St. Teresa of Avila's wisdom:


"A beginner must think of herself as one setting out to make a garden in which her Beloved Lord is to take his delight..."


Now, I'm a sucker for the saints, and St Teresa makes my Top Ten of all-time favs. But I had always read that quote as a spiritual tenet, as tending to the metaphorical garden of the heart of prayer. I never once considered it gardening advice... until, well, now. It is, indeed, both!

What's more, Margaret Realy -- Michigan's Jackson Living garden columnist in the Jackson Citizen Patriot -- got me reading about a subject I might have otherwise ignored. And that's saying a lot from a non-enthusiast. (Sadly, if we were talking about Top Ten lists again, gardening would not make mine.)

Truth be told, the gardening gene skipped a generation. My mother is great gardener; I am a minimalist. I do what I have to do outdoors to get by, and I have a particular fondness for hearty perennials that lighten my workload but make my gardening efforts look good.

That is not to say I don't appreciate everything a garden is, and all the work that it requires. After all, I am a lover of flowers and birds and fragrance and beauty. I think there is something innate in us that draws us closer to the Creator, and his splendor, and his provision for us, when we are in a beautiful garden. So, I do really get the book's subtitle: Creating a Personal Sacred Space One Step at a Time. I especially enjoyed Chapter 6 relating gardens to our sensibilities for color and fragrance.

Still, I kept reading. I've never really known much about plants and landscape planning, but this book is getting me there. And I love the spiritual perspective it brings to this task. Plus the assured hand-holding and direction it gives folks like me who never knew how to interpret a plant tag (until Margaret explained it in this book.)

You see, I have a small "Mary Garden" in my backyard, where Our Lady of Grace, in statuesque form,  keeps vigil. It's been a place of prayer for me and just something that I look at with fondness during the harsher New England winter seasons that helps me hang on until spring. (Ok, around here we judge how bad the snow storm is by if we can see Mary's head above or below the snow!) But what's more, I have this devotion to Mary that make me want to keep that little garden patch a place, not only for prayer for my family, but a place of honor for her. That said, I am very grateful for the book's appendix on Catholic Traditions in Prayer Gardens.


Here's the publishers' synopsis:

Gardens are places of growth, not only for plants but for our souls as well. Creating an outdoor spiritual sanctuary, no matter how small, is now within every gardener’s reach.  A Garden of Visible Prayer shows you how to develop a contemplative outdoor space in a creative and systematic manner. Whether you are a new gardener or an old hand, wanting to create a public or a private retreat area, this book will guide you in a step-by-step approach to discern what leads you, personally, to a deeper sense of spirituality and then how to take that information to create your own outdoor space for prayer.

Set up in a systematic approach, this book breaks into three easily understandable units to create an outdoor retreat: discern, design, and development. In the discerning process you will establish what elements in a garden lead you to become quiet and introspective, fostering spiritual growth. The next section guides you in designing your prayer space; where to locate it, where to place the features you have chosen and how to select plants. There is also a section on Catholic traditions in the garden at the end of the book. The final chapters on development tell you how to install your garden based on your design. A Garden of Visible Prayer helps you feed both hungers for natural beauty and spiritual insight.

What a lovely surprise! Margaret Rose Realy's new book, A Garden of Visible Prayer, Creating a Personal Sacred Space One Step at a Time is a warm and engaging "how to" that has as me anticipating Spring in a new way.

Buy it now, for your favorite gardener or for the gardener wannabe. Endorsed by the Catholic Writer's Guild Seal of Approval, of which I am a member, this book is a perfect gift for Easter, Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Oh, and Margaret, these are irises that I transplanted from my mother's garden on Long Island years back, and still they live here in New England. I am amazed! 

*Readers will note this has nothing to do with an endorsement of  Jerry Maguire the movie, or the Kenny Chesney song of the same name. Altho' I could be persuaded about the song!

Catholic Writers Guild Conference, August 4-6, Valley Forge, PA

Get Details Now!

The Happy Recap* -- Catholic Writers of Long Island, "The Word Made Flesh"

John 1:16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. 

Last Saturday, I was happy to be a presenter and team member for a day of enrichment for writers, "The Word Made Flesh", sponsored by a fledgling group, the Catholic Writers of Long Island. (Being a LI native, now living in exile in Massachusetts, they graciously invited me back.)  It was one part prayer, pep talk, and practicum for both new and veteran writers alike.  A wonderful spirit of community emerged between these writers; a good thing indeed for people who often toil at a very solitary endeavor.

It was just the kind of event that the mission of the Catholic Writers' Guild has sought to spawn.  CWG President, Ann Lewis, was on hand to present a lifetime achievement award to keynote speaker, Rick Hinshaw, editor of the Long Island Catholic.


Two blog posts have showed up touting some of the positive messages of the day.

First, go read this inspiring homily, offered by Monsignor Charles Fink, as he preached on John 1: 1-5, 14-16.  That will give you just a hint of the nourishment we all received by one another, and by our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist.

Then read Elizabeth Scalia's round up at The Anchoress.  (It was certainly a highlight for me to meet Elizabeth in person, after years of experiencing her great wealth of soul in her words.)

I couldn't let this recap conclude without finally high-five-ing my friend and colleague, Lisa Mladnich, founder of Amazing Catechists. (When Lisa's new book comes out on being a catechist, you'll hear about it here, so stay tuned.) (And come meet Lisa in Boston Aug 6-7, as she presents at the children's track at the CNMC.)

Lisa was a gracious and well-spoken MC, and a tireless leader in bringing this event to fruition, along with a wonderful team made up of the Amazing Catechists' crew:  Peggy Clores, Alex Basile, Catholic bloggers, Mary Ellen Barrett, Leticia Velasquez, and Alice Gunther. Click around the AC site to learn about all of them. Besides being catechists, many are authors too!

Did I mention yet that this was an event at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception?  Many thanks  to our generous hosts, especially, Rector Monsignor Peter Vaccari, and Monsignors Richard Henning and Charles Fink, and their seminarians.

COOL UPDATE: June 23rd: Check out this video from NetNY.

COOL UPDATE #2: June 24th: Check out this recollection article from the pen of Alice Gunther of The Long Island Catholic.

COOL UPDATE #3: June 24th: My writer-gal-pal Leticia Velasquez describes her experience.

COOL UPDATE #4: June 30, but this post was dated June 23rd, from Dr. Gerard Nadal.


*Being born in Queens and growing up out on Long Island, I was a Mets fan. (Apologies to those AW listeners who are taken by the mystique of the woman who now coos about living down "a country lane in New England.)" But back to the Mets... at the end of a winning game, Bob Murphy, their original longtime announcer, would set up the break before the post-game show, by saying he'd be back in a moment with "the happy recap." Thank you Bob -- you had a great voice, a great love of the game, and a tag line that forever remains with me whenever I recount or recall a happy event.

The Word Made Flesh - An event for writers

"The Word Made Flesh" is the theme for a day of encouragement for writers who are Catholic, whether they write within Catholic media or beyond. It is also the launching of the Long Island (NY) chapter of the Catholic Writers Guild.  Mark your calendar for this June 19th event.

The Long Island Catholic says:

Lisa Mladinich, founder of Catholic Writers of Long Island and organizer of the event hopes the day will bring together a wide spectrum of people interested in writing from a Catholic perspective.

“We really want it to be open,” she said. “It is for anybody interested in Catholic writing, from high school and college students, creative writers, journalists, novelists, bloggers, the mom writing poetry at her kitchen table, the volunteer who writes the parish bulletin, the catechist who uses the written word.”

Writing is usually a solitary pursuit, she explained. “It’s a lot more fun, a lot more productive, when you are hooked into a writing community that can provide encouragement and feedback.” The event will also serve as a fundraiser for Catholic Relief Services by raffling off Catholic books, theater tickets and other prizes. The conference is called “The Word Made Flesh,” emphasizing the connection of Catholics in the Body of Christ.

The keynote speaker, Rick Hinshaw, editor of The Long Island Catholic, will receive the Catholic Writers’ Guild’s “Lily” award for Meritorious Achievement in Catholic Arts and Letters. The Catholic Writers’ Guild is a professional group of writers, artists, editors, and illustrators, whose mission is to help build a vibrant Catholic literary culture. 

Yours truly gets to give a little talk about getting starting with new media.

The date for this event is June 19, and it will be held at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, NY.

Full program and registration details here.

Are you a writer? Join us in The Catholic Writer's Guild!

Registration for the annual online conference is going on now!  Check it out!

Whoa, did I mention ya gotta sign up by Feb 15th?  Do it!