Letter to God....

I read this article at Yahoo news this morning "Letters to God end up in ocean, unread" and it sparked a memory of a somewhat similar incident that happen to me some years ago.

As a teen attending a Catholic high school, we had a typical day retreat on campus. No classes were held and we spent the whole day under the guidance of a priest whose name I don't remember.

We attended a few lectures and spent a whole-lot-of quiet time in meditation. I remember vaguely the theme of the retreat being something like 'Our relationship with Our Father' or 'Savior' or something like that and I don't remember much of the talks and lectures. However, I do remember the quiet time and the self reflection. For a teen to take time off from the distractions of everyday life like classes, friends...girls and focus on ones relationship with God seemed awkward to me. I remember thinking to myself "Okay, I'm out here alone on the football field...now what I'm I supposed to do?"

The previous lecture instructed us to take a look at ourselves and our relationships and write a letter to ourselves. We could write anything at all..or nothing at all. No one would see the letter.

We all gathered for our final retreat meeting and handed the written letters in a sealed envelope and addressed them to ourselves. The retreat was a good one as far as retreats go, but over the years easily forgotten.

Then, 10 years to the day I received a letter at my parent’s house. At this time, I since married and had 2 of our three children. I picked up the letter during a visit with my parents and I recognized the writing on the envelope as mine, but I couldn't remember what this letter thing was all about. I read the letter to myself...it contained only one sentence.

"It's never too late to change." That was it, nothing else.

My wife and I hadn't been attending mass at all and our prayer life was pretty much non-existent. The change didn't happen over night, but the change in direction was very evident. My wife completed RCIA, we had a mini marriage ceremony in our church chapel to bless our marriage (we were married outside the Catholic Church). My personal relationship with our Savior was like a hidden ember which came to life like a roaring flame. Our lives were changed forever.

Letters from the passed...I wish I could remember the name of that priest.