September 28, 2025

My dear Kirkland Catholics,  

Our combined parish staff had a retreat mid-September. Fr. Val suggested we consider working with a group called Reform Wellness, as he had attended a retreat that they put on for priests in the last couple of years. So, we did.  

Reform Wellness’ basic philosophy is that we all need to reform our lives in various ways; and that there are many different aspects of wellness. The aim of the retreat was to get us to think about small changes we need to make in just a couple of areas of our lives and to take concrete action there.  

Their logo (which you can see on their website) is a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament exposed. The center, where the Eucharistic host is, states the primary pillar: FAITH. And then on the eight tines proceeding out as “rays” on the monstrance are written the eight other pillars: nutrition, sleep, stress management, community, personal growth, space, functional movement and play.  

The working hypothesis (and I am sure they are right) is that one cannot be truly “well” in our wholeness if even one of those pillars is seriously neglected. I wrote a previous bulletin on “grace builds on nature” – the theological concept especially emphasized by Thomas Aquinas – and this dovetails nicely with that. Our nature (our overall wellness: spirit, body and soul) ordinarily has something to say about how well the Lord builds on us (grace’s effectiveness). I recommend taking a look at those nine pillars and identifying an area that might need a bit of attention. Our presenter, Jackie, encouraged us that very often the most obvious area is the one we are afraid to try to tackle, but that often the one that leaps off the page to us is often the needful one to lean into with the grace provided by God.  

One interesting combination of areas approach stood out to me and so will briefly share. Jackie pointed out that it is essential to start with sleep because those not getting enough sleep are likely to be compromised in all the other areas. She said to plan prayer time in the morning (if not already happening), and then determine wake up time based on prayer time, and then back up 8 hours to determine bed time, and to power down screens at least one hour before then (blue light and many other technology factors can murder our ability to sleep soundly), and also to take an adrenal cocktail (non-alcoholic – google it) before bed and have a healthy snack before bed if one is often waking up at 3am. 3am wake ups are because of bad stress management and/or not having enough fuel on board to keep one asleep through the night. One combination approach to consider ….  

In any event, this is a good continuation of my last bulletin column about “balance” – let us stay grounded in the Lord and allow Him to heal us from that which keeps us unwell.  

With love in Christ, Fr. Brad