Said Goodbye to Sister Paule and Sister Rose (both of the order of The Little Sisters of The Poor in Malta) this morning and welcomed a new retreatant, Sister Maria (of the order of Medical Missions of Mary in Tanzania). I will miss Sister Paule and Sister Rose very much...they are such beautiful souls. Every day for the past ten days, Sister Paule reminded me not to forget to come visit her at her convent in Malta when Michele arrives, and every day I promised her that I would visit. I'm into the final stretch of retreat, and with one week to go Fr. Victor is not slowing down the pace...in fact, I'd say he's actually increasing the work load to be sure we cover as much ground as possible before the 13th. So far, I am finding the experience quite refreshing. The peace and comfort of this daily academic and spiritual routine in such a warm and hospitable community is very much what I was looking for, and with Fr. Victor's help I have learned and discovered a lot since I arrived 3 weeks ago.
