Sister Marie Paul Preps Teachers for a New Year

Inspiring Catholic school educators with the charism of the Sisters of Notre Dame is one of Sister Marie Paul Grech’s top priorities. Put simply, that charism (or what the sisters believe) is that God is good and provides for us. They strive to look at the world with hope; and what could be more important in a classroom than a positive attitude?

Sister Marie Paul loves this part of her ministry. Her love for teachers and her respect for the role they play in the lives of their students shows in her dedication to faculty and staff retreats.

“These men and women who give of themselves so generously to touch the hearts of the young are always an inspiration to me. It’s a real joy to continue spreading our Notre Dame charism and spirit,” Sister said.

She taught secondary school for more than 30 years in Ventura and LA counties, as well as in the sisters’ mission in Uganda, Africa. Armed with her faith and a lifetime of experience as a sister, Sister Marie Paul shows others how to infuse their classrooms with joy and compassion.

“Teachers continue our mission in our sponsored and affiliate schools where we are no longer physically present. God’s call to teachers in every Catholic school is vibrant and it is my joy to be part of their ongoing response to that call,” she said.

Sister recently led a retreat for 20 teachers from Saint Jude the Apostle School in Westlake, Calif. The retreat began with a morning Mass and breakfast, followed by small group discussions and a video presentation.

“Your job” Sister Marie Paul told the group “is to help children connect the dots- between science and religion, between what they learn on the playground and in the classroom. Your job is to teach them how to learn.”

Deana Herrera (pictured at right in the photo below) has taught at Saint Jude the Apostle School for seven years. She was motivated to apply Sister Marie Paul’s lessons in her fourth-grade classroom.

“Her positive spirit reminds us to see the good in our everyday lives,” Herrera said. “Sometimes when things don’t go as planned, one of my students will say something really funny. Those moments are God saying ‘Lighten up!’”

Sister Marie Paul is the coordinator of Kindred Hearts Ministries (KHM). KHM offers prayer programs, spiritual events, retreats and many other services for local parishioners provided by the Sisters of Notre Dame. To learn more about KHM, visit www.sndca.org/khm or email Sister Marie Paul at mgrech@sndca.org. Click here for the KHM calendar of events.

    

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Late-Summer Retreat for Ages 18-40

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Hearing God’s Voice in a Noisy World

Looking for one last hurrah this summer?? “Hearing God’s Voice in a Noisy World” is a special retreat in August sponsored by the Archdiocese of LA and co-organized by our sisters!
Check it out:

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Peaceful quiet settles over Notre Dame Center

The word retreat actually refers to “pulling back or away.” When used in a religious context it refers to a time set aside for an individual or group to pray, to listen to God and spend quality time with God.

In the Catholic tradition this time can be just a few moments, a few hours, a few days or even longer.  St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises (30 Day Retreat) or the 19^th Annotations are highly regarded longer options.

As Sisters of Notre Dame we make an eight-day retreat every year.  The sisters always look forward to this time of retreat. After a year of ministry, there is an urgency to reconnect with the God who has called us to himself. Our primary call is to be women of prayer and retreat time allows us the time to be immersed in prayer.

I like to think of my retreat time as a second honeymoon. It is time for me to renew my personal relationship with my God; the God who created, chose, called and sustains me in my religious vocation. In silence I am refreshed. I spend peaceful time with my Beloved and I am guided by the words of the old song  “I only have eyes for you!”  My Jesus IS the center of my life. I am free from most of the big distractions in my life. As sisters living in community, we still have some small obligations. We still help with dishes! But the demands on us are minimal. We are given time, that most precious of commodities.  And this time is marked by an overall quiet in the house, the freedom to pray as much as we want and the certitude that our sisters are praying with and for us.  It is a time when I as an individual, called by God, can discern in a special way where I am in my life, what challenges might be weighing me down and how God fits into it all. It is the time that prepares me spiritually for the unknown, the inevitable steps that I will be taking in the days and weeks until my next annual retreat.

Retreats that are private, directed, guided or preached; alone, in small or large groups, home or away; led by one of our own sisters, by a good set of CDs, by books, or by a priest or a sister from another community are all enriching experiences.

We can even do retreats for a minute, five minutes, an afternoon, a day or two, or longer. Take time for awareness and communion and loving relationship with our good God who is always waiting!

 – Sister Marie Paul Grech

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“Mary in Our Life” – Retreat Opportunity

This Saturday, November 23, the Sisters of Notre Dame will host a retreat titled “Mary in our Life” from 9am to 3pm at Notre Dame Center in Thousand Oaks. 

If you’d like to join us for a day of reflection, prayer, discussion and fellowship, please contact Sister Val Roxburgh at sistervalsnd@gmail.com and see the flyer below:

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Quiet Time

Deep within us all there is an inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center a speaking Voice to which we may continually return.
Thomas Kelly

Last evening 29 of my Sisters here in Thousand Oaks began a retreat which will last for eight days. Quiet pervades the house as they devote themselves to prayer and reflection, even taking their meals in silence. It is a time when we religious women remember the old saying, “Why hast thou come hither?” In the business of life we, too, can forget the “one thing necessary.” This graced period is a wonderful time for us to wake up and focus on what has been blurred by the pace of life.

Having made my retreat earlier in the year, I am observer, sensing the presence of God overflowing in our convent as I wait for my broken limbs to heal. The divine presence is alway samong us, in us, around us. Unfortunately, most of us walk around with “spiritual amnesia.” The great work of the sabbath, of a retreat, is to REMEMBER.

We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. He walks everywhere incognito. Ane the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.
C.S. Lewis

Can you find time for a “mini retreat” today? If possible, try to schedule even fifteen minutes is your bust schedule for a pause that remembers.

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