As I was pondering what to focus this morning’s chapter talk on, I turned to the third conference we had from Fr. Michael Dodds for our retreat.  In staying with his theme for our retreat ‘The Hiddenness of God’, he begins this third conference with a reference to the ‘sin’ of Adam and Eve who now because of their ‘sin’ are hiding from God!  Fr. Dodds writes: “The point of the story is that sin, or acting against God’s will, was not part of God’s original plan.  It arises from a free, human decision.  But that decision initiates a new dynamic between God and human beings, who now try and hide from God”.  This new dynamic between the human person and God is a dynamic of ‘wills’, that of God’s will and that of the free will given by God to human beings.

This Summer has been very full.  We have accompanied our Sr Godelieve in her transitus to Eternal Life.

We have opened a new Welcome Center for our Retreatants, Guests and Visitors

We have been graced by the teaching, deep spirituality, and wisdom of two Dominicans,  Fr. Michael Dodds, OP and Sr. Barbara Green, OP.

In our retreat with Fr. Michael Dodds, OP, our second conference was on ‘the hiddenness of God’.  This hiddenness of God, the God who is unknowable leads, Fr. Michael said, to some people denying the very existence of God.  What I was struck by in this conference was the connection Fr. Michael made between the hiddenness and unknowable dimension of God to ‘faith’.