Being a Dominican in Summer

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Every year, like most Dominicans, I dedicate some time during the summer months to retreat.  It is usually a week, but sometimes I can only fit in five days.  That was the case this year.  I went to the woods outside LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  These hermitages are about a 20 mile ride from the Mississippi River.  Gorgeous country. 

Retreat brings extra time – extra prayer time, extra time for rest, and extra time to spend in silence.  I spent part of each day climbing up and down these bluffs.  It was rigorous and amazing.   I found a spring with the purest water.  A sister friend in the hermitage next door shared meals and prayer. 

Rumi says:
Come out of the circle of time
and into the circle of love.

That is what retreat allows for…extra time in the circle of love. 

Peggy Ryan, OP
River Forest, IL



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