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Theresa F. Latini In recent posts, we’ve been reflecting on the qualities or dispositions of Advent living, wondering what it means to “anticipate the good” and “wait in the midst of fear.” This season invites us to slow down, to practice stillness (even if only in snippets each day), to listen to our personal andContinue reading “Preparing our Hearts and Homes”

Theresa F. Latini No small amount of life is waiting. We wait in lines—longer than usual when spaced six feet apart. We wait to hear diagnoses, both good and bad, from doctors. We keep vigil at birth and death—waiting for one beloved life to arrive and another to depart. We wait to receive final grades,Continue reading “Waiting Even When We are Afraid”

Theresa F. Latini For those of us who follow the church calendar, we have entered the season of Advent, four weeks of preparing our hearts and homes to welcome God anew in our midst. Anticipating, waiting, preparing, and wondering: these are the marks of Advent living and the dispositions that Advent rituals (candles, wreaths, calendars,Continue reading “Anticipating Light when All Seems Dark”

Theresa F. Latini When I was a teenager, my family frequently celebrated Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house. Dick and Fran served a five-course, Italian style, unforgettable meal. Nearly thirty of us feasted slowly, over the course of an entire day, on antipasto, fish, homemade ravioli, a traditional turkey meal, and too many piesContinue reading “Mindful Eating for the Holidays”

Theresa F. Latini 2020 just delivered another record-breaking week. The United States endured 181,000 cases of COVID-19 in one day. Minnesota’s numbers keep climbing, over 8,700 yesterday. We are witnessing more deaths, fewer ICU beds, and health care workers stretched thin. The same is true for our neighboring states. North Dakota’s health care system isContinue reading “When the Needs of All Matter to All”

Theresa F. Latini Shalom, EleanorShalom, ZakariaShalom, LenaShalom, Oliver . . . That’s how my daughter’s first-grade teacher began class on Wednesday morning this past week. She went through all twenty-fix students, each one reciprocating, “Shalom.” They had been greeting one another in different languages for weeks. This personal address, however, stopped me in my tracks.Continue reading “Blessing for the Waiting Time”

Theresa F. Latini I woke up early Tuesday morning to rake as many fallen leaves as possible. My race to beat the snow was motivated by a strong distaste of both shoveling leafy-snowy mixtures now and raking wet, rotting leaves later. I hauled my sixth bag into the garage twenty minutes after the snow beganContinue reading “The (Dis)Quiet of Mid-October Snow”

Travis West In last week’s Retreat Where You Are reflection, “A Sabbath (Re)Orientation,” I suggested that the Sabbath is more of a value system or a way of living than merely a day of prohibitions. The Sabbath is the “master builder” and we are its “apprentices” in the lifelong pursuit of wholeheartedness, presence, gratitude, andContinue reading “Sabbath: It’s About Time”

Theresa F. Latini Woven throughout a number of resources and posts here at Retreat Where You Are is this phrase: geography of grace. I first encountered this generative notion in “Placing Formation,” a lecture delivered at Austin Seminary by practical theologian Dorothy Bass. She defined geographies of grace as “place[s] infused with the grace ofContinue reading “An Astronomy of Grace”

Theresa F. Latini A long-weekend of play before the start of school, one last trip to the Minnesota State Fair, bargain shopping at our favorite retail stores, end-of-summer picnics with friends and family, and watching parades with marching bands blaring and kids freely running and shouting: these are but a few of the ways thatContinue reading “Labor Day and Sabbath Day”