Sabadosa: Giving yourself a timeout

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Carol Conway, presenter, and Jenny Meehan, organizer, at the Vicariate V Ministry Commission’s “Give Yourself a Timeout” on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at St. Barnabas parish. | Supplied Photo

Updated: March 1, 2012 8:07AM

In an effort to fulfill one of my new year’s resolutions to find time in my busy day for personal reflection and spiritual enrichment I seized an opportunity recently to attend a session presented by the Vicariate V Ministry Committee called “Give Yourself a Timeout.”

For those who don’t know, Vicariate V is our local sector of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. The Ministry Commission of Vicariate V offers many programs throughout the year for the purpose of enriching our spiritual lives.

This free session was open to all parishioners of Vicariate V and was held at the convent of St. Barnabas parish, 10160 S. Longwood Drive, in the Beverly area. The presenter was Carol Conway, who is the pastoral associate at St. Germaine parish in Oak Lawn. Jenny Meehan, who is a part of the Vicariate V Ministry Commission and is a pastoral associate at St. Rita parish in Chicago, was responsible for organizing this event.

Billed as an event “for all who need and deserve a few hours away from ministries, jobs, household duties, and whatever saps our energy,” participants joined for a light breakfast, conversation, guided meditation, prayer, and even the opportunity for a chair massage. The licensed massage therapist was Mandy Dillon, who is also a pastoral associate at Our Lady of the Wayside in Arlington Heights.

After the recent snowstorm, the timing of this event was surely right on target. I don’t know about you but January, February and March often seem to be very rough months to get through. Once the celebration of Christmas is past, winter doldrums have a way of taking over. The cold temps and frequent snow in these parts are a challenge to most of us. I was ready for some mental and spiritual refreshment.

The session began with a short reflection on an empty cup. We were asked to think of our spiritual life as this empty cup. As with every cup, we empty it, clean it and then refill it. This session invited us to take time for ourselves to renew, refresh, and refill our spiritual vessel - ourselves. As we were reminded, it is in the simple things that we find God.

During the two hours of this presentation, it became clear that in order to be of value to others in our lives, we all need to practice frequent re-creation. We need to learn to empty ourselves of worry, anxiety, and anticipation (of negative events). We just cannot continue to give without frequent replenishing.

As Mother Teresa once said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”

Women, especially, try to be all things to all people. We often think that unless we achieve perfection in all that we do, we are failures. The message was clear that we need to stop taking ourselves too seriously and to let go of that goal of perfection and value ourselves for all the good we can accomplish.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from my enriching “time out:” You can’t change yesterday, but you can ruin today worrying about tomorrow; Every day may not be good but there is something good in every day; Happiness is a choice. Make it.

For more information about events offered by Vicariate V, check out www.ministrycommisionV5.com.

News From Our Neighbors:

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, located at 8607 S. Narragansett Ave. Burbank will be hosting a dinner and show on Feb. 11. The free play called “The Last Voyage of the SS Gigantic,” begins at 7 p.m. It’s a parody of the movie “Titanic” and is produced by special arrangement with Contemporary Drama Service. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. in Peters Hall, but dinner tickets must be purchased in advance. The cost for dinner is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 5 to 11. Children under 4 are free. Please call the church office at (708)599-4780 by Feb. 5 to purchase dinner tickets.