Parish Bulletin Article: "Retreat": 2-11-18

After I wrote this article, I spent five days in our Diocesan Priest retreat which was refreshing in my physical and spiritual lives.

                Here are what we were able to do and some of my comments:

·      8:00-9:00am: Breakfast (which meant to me: I got to sleep in until 8:45!)

·      9:15: Morning Prayer (which was one of our five prayers in the Breviary, also called as the Holy Hours that we promised to do every day when we were ordained)

·      9:30-10:30: Conference (this year Fr. Jeff Huard, the spiritual director at St. Paul Seminary.  It was great to see him again as he was our director when I was at St. Paul Seminary.  And, by the way, do you know who was our spiritual director my first year at St. Paul Seminary?  Back then his name was Fr. Paul Sirba!)

·      11:00: Mass (I will be offering your Mass intention)

·      12:00 pm: Lunch

·      2:45-4:15: Opportunity for Personal Conferences (I was able to meet my spiritual director to check in my life.  I also used this time to exercise, read and write.)

·      4:30: Evening Prayer (We did two of our five prayers together).

·      4:45-5:45: The second conference with our director (We listened to Fr. Huard seven times, and he is amazing!)

·      6:00: Dinner

·      7:30: Eucharistic Adoration with the recitation of the Rosary (We used the Eucharistic Adoration for our holy hour, which I do every day.)

·      For the rest of the evening offered me more time to read, write and rest.

I love my yearly retreat, and according to Canon Law, we must do this each year.  (And it is not part of our job, but the time to relax, grow and spend more time with our Lord).  And it was a blast to shut off my phone, internet, media and television.

I hope that each of you can have a personal retreat.  Now, the above may look intense.  What I think you should do is to take small steps to be with our Lord.  Take a mini-retreat each day with simple steps in your life: a quick prayer, reading the Bible, praying the Rosary, take a quiet walk, etc.

Another way to have a small retreat will be our focus in Lent: Eucharistic Adoration.  We are looking for a few people to sign up for an hour, as we need to cover a few openings.  Throughout Lent, you will have a few opportunities to learn how peaceful, quiet and soothing.  It is THE place if you need whether a few minutes or an hour to learn how to be rejuvenated, prayer and relationships with Jesus Christ to grow in your spiritual life.

God Bless!