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June 7, 2009

Have a little extra fun this summer

Ever since the first days of elementary school and the promise of summer vacation, many of us look to the summer months with great anticipation. When we were younger, it was a time for seemingly endless play. Trips to the pool or lake. Playing outside with friends.

Now that we’re older, many of us still look forward to summer as a time for vacations and activity. It’s a time to breathe freer. Rest. Relax. Pray. Slow down. Talk to God a little more.

As most of us know, summer goes fast. Faster still as we get older. In light of this, summertime becomes even more important as a time to replenish.

During his vacation at Castel Gandalfo in Italy in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI even mentioned this need for rest.

“In the world in which we live, the need to be physically and mentally replenished has become as it were essential, especially to those who dwell in cities where the often frenzied pace of life leaves little room for silence, reflection and relaxing contact with nature. Moreover, holidays are days on which we can give even more time to prayer, reading and meditation on the profound meaning of life in the peaceful context of our own family and loved ones,” the busy pontiff said in an Angelus address.

So take the family to a parish festival or across town to a unique shrine. This guide to Catholic events this summer offers many options. There is lots of fun to be had in the archdiocese.

Take yourself to the lake or to a spiritual talk. Ride a ride or eat some cotton candy. Wherever you go this summer or whatever you do, don’t forget to take God with you.

— Joyce Duriga