Women nurture women through retreats at St. Paul By Fabvienen Taylor
FLOWOOD — “Aren’t we sometimes like Martha, worried and bothered by so many things we forget our focus, forget about why we do what we do, forget about God,” Mary Flessner told 33 women on retreat in St. Paul Parish’s gym on Saturday, Oct. 25.
The theme for the retreat, “Making Room in Martha’s Kitchen,” was taken from the above verses from Luke where Jesus gently rebukes Martha for being worried and distracted by her many tasks and for her resentment of Mary’s behavior, Flessner said.
“Jesus tells her she needs only one thing. She needs to focus on loving God and on loving her neighbor as herself. To do this one thing is to choose the better part, is to be like Mary, to be a disciple of Jesus,” she said.
Women should not forget why they do what they do (primarily serve others), Flessner stressed to the women attending the mini-retreat from 9 - 11 a.m.
It was the second retreat this year offered by women for women at the parish.
Dot Autrey attended the first retreat, “Day Spa for the Soul,” in April with about 80 other women, some unchurched. It was a five-hour retreat with babysitting provided.
“It was so wonderful,” said Autrey, “it was absolutely the best thing. The program was good. The room was full. Father Jeffrey (Waldrep) was good. It was the most exciting spiritual event for women I’ve been too. Everyone was in the same spirit. I think it was the Holy Spirit,” she said.
The idea of a retreat for women evolved from a Bible study class facilitated by Alice Geoghegan, a parish volunteer who is program coordinator for the retreats.
“Retreats like these are important for women to come to because they feel a real need to be refreshed and they want to do something to encourage other women and themselves,” said Geoghegan.
“It is our intention to give them the opportunity to renew themselves and to experience new insights in being servants of Christ.” Geoghegan said offering the retreats connects with the parish’s mission statement. “We are to help each other grow in faith and in service to others. With these retreats our specific focus is on women nurturing and ministering to other women.”
The retreats are sponsored and supported by the women in the parish. “We had some really positive responses from women about the retreat in April, ” she said.
“They have given love offerings, or donations, as well as their time and their energy. They did that in the spring too. That retreat was the Bible study group’s Lenten project,” Geoghegan said.
The parish provides space for the retreats and prints the programs.
New to the parish, Brenda Kuriger was encouraged by her friend Autrey to attend the mini-retreat.
“I wanted to come to meet other ladies, to get away, to regroup, and to do it in a Christian environment,” said Kuriger.
Flessner was pleased to see the number of women who attended the mini-retreat.
“It is easy for women to get ‘out of balance’ in their lives. It is so easy to just go through the motions of our day-to-day lives and forget why we do what we do.”
Flessner said the verses from St. Luke really make that point. The metaphor of a kitchen — “Making Room in Martha’s Kitchen” — makes a modern-day connection with Martha who is so busy in the kitchen with the external tasks of preparing food for Jesus that, unlike Mary, she misses out, she doesn’t make room for the interior, spiritual nourishment offered by Jesus
And on top of that, Martha resents Mary’s time at Jesus’ feet, feeling unfairly burdened by all the work to be done, Flessner said. And so like Martha, women’s lives today can be so cluttered with the exterior — daily tasks and distractions — that the interior — spiritual — is neglected.
Martha, Flessner said, got so caught up in the busyness of feeding Jesus that she forgot just who she was preparing to feed.
Geoghegan said offering the retreats connects with the parish’s mission statement. “We are to help each other grow in faith and in service to others. With these retreats our specific focus is on women nurturing and ministering to other women.”
The metaphor of a kitchen — “Making Room in Martha’s Kitchen” — makes a modern-day connection with Martha who is so busy in the kitchen with the external tasks of preparing food for Jesus that, unlike Mary, she misses out, she doesn’t make room for the interior, spiritual nourishment offered by Jesus