Breakfast with Women: Energizing Spirits was held on March 6, 2025, in Fond du Lac, WI, in downtown's historic Hotel Retlaw.
Watch the video below or scroll down to read more about our speaker, view photos, or print the event handout.
Our Speaker
Doris Klein is a member of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes. She lives in Milwaukee, WI and ministers as a spiritual director, artist, and graphic designer. Her watercolor images reflect on spirituality from an inclusive perspective and the feminine experience of God. In more recent years, she has been exploring digital art and videography.
All of her work includes a reflective description inviting the viewer to engage in their own spiritual journey.
This year's breakfast will include reflections on her piece, “Risk the Sacred Journey,” and practice in the art of “spiritual mirroring.”
Risk the Sacred Journey
Facing the Future
Each of us stands at the gate of tomorrow, facing the future. At times, we have walked in wonder and awe; at other times, we have moved along in the flood of fear. Looking back, we may recognize that amid the joys and the struggles of this journey, we have been companioned by a grace-full Presence that has held us together and led us on. This is not simply a journey through a string of days and years. Rather, this is a sacred journey, one that is held in and surrounded by Mystery. Although we long for someone to translate the risks of this journey into logical explanations, we often find ourselves in the foreign land of faith. We stand on the edge of our hopes and dreams and ask in trust to be led and supported by a Love and Energy much larger than we can imagine. We ask to walk here in courage and integrity, as we attempt to discern the voice of God amid the cacophony of our doubt and fear.
All the five-year plans in the world can't guarantee a predicted unfolding of the future.
As much as we would like to pretend we are in control, we eventually recognize the illusion, and we sense that we stand naked before the unknown. This realization may awaken our deepest fears as we become overwhelmed with the risks of the journey ahead. Questions flood our mind and heart as we struggle with "How?" and "Why?" and "When?" and "Why me?" Our anxiety rises as we wonder if we will have what we need to meet the challenges before us. We consider changing our course, perhaps dismissing our dreams and retreating to the safe patterns of our past. In these moments, the comfortable status quo subtly calls us back, away from the risk of integrity. We doubt our discernment and second guess the song of our soul that has lured us to this edge of action. There, as the winds of change whip around us, we wonder What or Who really calls us into tomorrow.
But the future may also awaken an excitement, an energy full of hopes, visions, and dreams. Fortified with focused fires of determination and commitment, we boldly embrace the challenges of change. An adrenaline-like grace flows through us, and nothing can deter us from our goal. Dauntlessly we engage all of our energies, and those of the companions gathered with us, to effect transformation. Hope is high as we face the obstacles that rise in our path, knowing in faith that we will be led and companioned here.
As we stand on the edge of this sacred journey, the layers of memories and stories become our teachers. We wear a coat of many colors, woven of our days and nights of living and loving. The gifts of faith, trust, and courage intertwine with our doubts and fears as we stand between what we have known and what is yet to be. As our recollections of delight and clarity are layered with memories of barren doubt, confusion, and despair, we turn to the stories of faith that remind us of the gifts we have been given to be faithful. We remember the wisdom mirrored by our guides and mentors as we breathe into the center of our being where we are connected with the Wisdom of Sophia.
To risk the journey and face the future is simply to walk in faith, for there are no linear words that capture the massive Mystery of God. We stand as the figure in this painting, clothed in grace and showered with blessing. At times, we see the flecks of light; at other times, we see only the shadow of the silhouette. But always, both in our knowing and in our unknowing, we are escorted into tomorrow by Love, who gives us everything we need.
Breakfast 2024
What is the central question of your life right now?
Join us in an exploration of your own spirituality and discussion of spiritual resources and journeys that are respectful of all belief systems. Five spiritual directors from the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes guide us in exploring the landscape of spirituality.