Pentecost Weekend was very enjoyable. We spent it with
loved ones, many faith-filled people who are passionate about serving the Lord
and others. Saturday I had some good
prayer, reading, study, and writing time.
In the evening, Kevin and I had dinner with my mom at a delicious
Italian place on the Southside called Angelo’s.
Their stromboli is scrumptious!
From there we
headed over to Church of the Epiphany, where Kevin and I were married on
September 4, 2004. Two of our friends
from Cursillo were doing a concert as part of their Give Me Jesus tour. The band S2K they’re in plays for Kairos retreat weekends.
I knew it would be a blast, because our two friends are characters on
their own, but are even more hilarious together. The concert was awesome, and the banter among
the guys entertaining, as always! We got to sing along to the praise and
worship music they performed, and heard their take a on a few classics that fit
in with the theme of Kairos.
In between sets, one of the men in the band would talk about how, when, and why they became involved in prison ministry. Each of them has gone to one or more Virginia prisons to put on Kairos retreats for the inmates. It was really awesome to hear the stories of how these men from a variety of faith denominations and backgrounds came together to serve men, women, and juveniles who are incarcerated.
One of the most moving testimonies was from a gentleman who had been an inmate on the very first Kairos retreat that ever took place in our area back in 2002. When released from prison, he began studying to become a minister. Now he’s one of the chaplains who serves Kairos. Talk about transformation and metanoia! There you have it!
Sunday morning Kevin and I went to 11:15 Mass at our church because our friend was doing the second reading in Hindi as part of the celebration for Pentecost. It was neat to hear the reading in an unfamiliar language, and the music was beautiful. Afterwards, we headed up the hill for the church picnic that the Knights of Columbus had organized and were preparing for. I ended up sitting with a few friends from Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP), a couple of whom are now also Cursillistas, and we had a good time. Good friends, good food, and good fun!
Then I got to catch up with a dear friend I met through CRHP who has been at pharmacy school in Chicago for the past couple years. We were assigned to be roommates for the overnight portion of the CRHP retreat, and we stayed up half the night talking and have been good friends ever since. We weren’t sitting at the same table when we made our retreat, so we wouldn’t have gotten to know each other as well had we not been assigned to the same room. Another God incident indeed!
Lord, thank you for surrounding us with so many people of faith to inspire us and pray for and with us. We are grateful to have friends who are family steeped in the love of Christ and the dedication to serve His people. Amen.
