WelCom March 2022
Anne Lumb
Parishioners at Our Lady of Kāpiti were delighted to have well-known writer and retreat mediator Joy Cowley leading a day of reflection and meditation during Advent last November.
Supported by the Catholic Women’s League, the day’s three sessions were based on the Annunciation and how it relates to our own daily lives.
‘The call’ – Joy discussed Mary’s reaction to the Angel who brought a life-changing proposition, her shock at the challenges and consequences of the Annunciation and Joseph’s reaction to her pregnancy. Joy invited us reflect on the good and bad points in our own relationships and their challenges.
‘Acceptance’ – Joy spoke of Mary’s childhood and referred to Catholic tradition of Mary being a Temple child. We assessed our responses to our own challenges, identifying what is holding us back and our fears.
The ‘birthing of Jesus to the World’ – reminded us God is all around. Joy said every person is like a clay vessel that can be easily broken, containing much, including a spark of God. She recommended reading ‘Proto Evangelium’ of James the Less, about Christ’s early life and his family that she believes shows them as Essenes. The Essenes were another Jewish sect opposed by the Pharisees and Sadducees, like Jesus in the Gospels.
During our meditation we were asked to decide how to overcome our own fears just as Mary had by saying ‘yes’ to God.
Joy reminded us that God has boundless love for us, is around us in everything, and that we should seek the spark of God in every person.
Abridged