Finding the Holy

I woke up early this morning - early for Seattle; mid-morning for home in Minneapolis. A wet, gray, cloudy Seattle morning. Probably not unlike a lot of mornings here. I like rain. For me, rain is a cleansing of sorts - I feel baptized in a sense. Rain cleans the air, cleans the street, clears the clouds that occupy the sky sometimes too often occupy my mind. After quickly dressing, I left the warm confines of our room and headed downstairs to a small restaurant and slid into a booth; ordered a glorious pot of hot tea and a warm scone and read the daily paper. And I actually READ the paper; not skimmed the headlines which is my usual modus operandi having little time to absorb all the information placed on the pages. A headline quickly caught my eyes - "'Holy' moments surround us" by Dean Nelson (USA TODAY).

My spiritual life, is, to say the least, currently in transition. Or rather in contemplation. I am an oblate of St. Martin Monastery (www.blackhillsbenedictine.com/oblates.php). An oblate is one who forms a commitment to Benedictine spirituality that is given unconditionally from the heart, that needs to be cultivated in "good and bad" days. I admit to being much more diligent in my role (or responsibility) as an oblate years back, but since moving to Minnesota have struggled.

There are seven ancient sacraments that organized Christianity has recognized for thousands of years: Baptism, Holy Orders, Confession, Confirmation, Marriage, Extreme Unction, and Eucharist. Growing up Catholic, I have experienced 5 of the 7. The point of Nelson's article is that one doesn't have to experience the sacraments in a church or in front of a priest (or clergy); but rather in those moments when we share ourselves with others. Nelson asks "haven't we all been part of conversations where they somehow take on a deeper dimension, even though it's just two people talking?".

For 5 years I went to a spiritual director (a Benedictine nun) at St. Martin Monastery. A loving, gracious, knowledgable nun who reminds me of my paternal grandmother; Sr. M awoke in me the spiritual, the holy. Before I started spiritual direction I was an empty, lonely vessel. It is often said that those going through spiritual direction should be prepared for your life to take a 360 degree turn. Mine did; radically. My life did a complete turnaround. Relationships changed, some died, some grew. I changed.

I no longer attend church or go to any religious celebrations. I do pray everyday - and share my feelings and thoughts with those people closest in my life. These are my holy moments. I relish in the time I spend with family and friends sharing my feelings, listening to theirs. It never occurred to me that these are holy moments. Perhaps my spiritual life is in transition but is moving towards what it was always meant to be - in the holy of now.

Vacation

It's almost midnight on Friday evening. "Officially" the start of a weeklong vacation. Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com) defines a vacation as:

• a time of respite from something
• a period of exemption from work granted to an employee
• a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation

Check, check, check. I'm doing all three, though I have to admit that the 2nd bullet point sounds a bit 'clinical'. Am I actually granted an exemption from work? Gee, and I thought paid time off was earned; not granted.

I don't remember the last time I took a week's vacation and actually went somewhere I've never been. We're headed west to Seattle, WA. The city of Seattle has always been on my travel list (in my mind; never written down) and all I've heard are great things. Albeit the city is wrapped in rain a lot and it is supposed to rain while we're there; I don't really care. I'm not traveling for the weather; I'm going on a vacation. And it probably doesn't matter where we're going, just that we are.

The biggest thing I fear about vacation is just when I'm starting to relax, unwind, remove work stress from my mind, it will be Monday, November 2 - the day I go back to work. Perhaps the Europeans have it right - I understand they get much more vacation than we do in the U.S. My previous employer gave us a whole two weeks a year - for vacation AND sick time AND personal time. Gee, how nice. Now I get 4 weeks, of which I'm thankful.

Some people plan their vacations to the hour - enjoying being a tourist and visiting every attraction and souvenir shop. Not us. We have no plans - we're going to wing it. Of course there are things we like to do on vacation - visit local restaurants, museums, people watch - but's that's the fun of vacation - take the time off - take a respite - but don't plan much. We're not only giving our bodies a vacation; but we're also giving our minds a vacation.

We're granting ourselves a respite...and that's what's really important.