Our First Handmaidens Meeting of the Year

Last night we had our first Handmaidens meeting of the year. What a grace-filled night it was! For those of you who don't know, the Handmaidens is a faith formation group for young women who come together monthly for fellowship, prayer and a presentation. I must say that I never cease to be amazed at the beautiful spirit of these girls. It makes you realize how alive the Church is and how much hope our future holds if our future resides in the hearts of these young people.

Our theme for this year is PUT OUT INTO THE DEEP based upon the Gospel of Luke, Ch. 5. You may want to look it up and reflect on it on your own. Last nights talk was entitled, Encountering the Living God. Our speaker chose to approach it in the light of vocation. The Latin root word of vocation is vocare - which means to call. Oftentimes we tend to solely relate the word "vocation" to that of our state in life i.e. the vocation to marriage, the vocation to the religious life. More basic than that is our vocation as man. We are men and women made in the image and likeness of God. What an awesome calling! Innately we are drawn to goodness, beauty, oneness...we are drawn to seek the Lord.

We can also tend to think of an "encounter" as a solitary event in the history of time. Not so with the Lord. We "encounter" Him from the very beginning of our existence and this encounter never stops. It's dynamic. Our very being, our vocation, as we strive to be faithful to it, opens our eyes to this "encounter" that has been in motion from our conception. As we grow in age, grace and wisdom and are enlightened with moments of clarity, as we grow in our relationship with the Lord and continue to "encounter" Him, this growing awareness and acceptance of Jesus Christ into our lives changes us at our core. He invites us to "put out into the deep", to open the doors of our hearts and to follow Him...as only in this will we experience the fullness of the happiness we were made to experience in this life.