Where do you feel at home? What is it about that place that makes you feel at home?

This past July my kids and I went to our annual week of Family Camp at Moon Beach in St. Germain, WI which specializes in Outdoor Ministry and summer Family Camps. Our week is one of the weeks that enjoy families with three generations attending! (Up until this past year our week had four generations attending).

It is very hard to describe how a group of people become family when you see most of them only one week out of the year. That is part of the mystery and power of the Spirit at work at Moon Beach. It may be a little easier to describe how Moon Beach is ‘home’ to me. It includes over 30 years of being either a camper or resident which, of course, includes many experiences of people behaving their loving best or their hurtful worst, and me growing through them all. In all of those experiences and relationships, whether they brought me joy and built my soul up, made me mad or broke my heart, the sacredness and holiness of God was always present. It was, and is, the presence of God, The Holy, at Moon Beach that surpasses all of the ‘humanness’ and fills my soul with peace, rest, joy… of ‘Being Home.’ During our time at camp this past summer I can’t count how many times I would just stop, breathe in deeply as I took in my surroundings, smile with my whole being and pray, “It is so good to be home!”

This feeling was very similar to my experience of coming to ‘work’ at St. Anthony’s. Before joining the staff, I had the pleasure of attending overnight work meetings and hosted retreats here. From my very first visit I felt there was something different about St. Anthony’s and knew it was special; it was sacred ground. After accepting the position but before actually arriving, I was excitedly telling my sister about St. Anthony’s: how it makes me feel, the Franciscan roots, the simple beauty of the building and grounds, and especially being able to ‘breathe spiritually’ here and connect my soul to God. One of her responses to me was, ‘It sounds like you’re going home’.

It sounded strange, but she was right. I was going home. While I had visited St. Anthony’s and loved it, I had never felt or thought of it like that. But, it turns out, that is exactly what it was for me: coming home to a place that had never been home to me. I have learned that home, for me, is where my soul becomes alive and fully connected to the Holy. It’s where God’s peace and promise transcend my human experience and I can be my true and authentic self. Ahhhh, St. Anthony’s says, “Welcome Home!”

-Adele DiNatale-Svetnicka