I praise God for the time to be on a spiritual retreat this week.
It is always great to be in the presence of my brother priests—32 of them—who are at this week to catch up, chat at meals and converse a bit. It will also be enjoyable to listen to our retreat Master, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who was a brilliant teacher at St. Paul Seminary and one of my mentors throughout my four years in major seminary.
I will also be spending some time with Fr. Gene Tiffany, my spiritual director who kicked my butt to grow in discerning towards the priesthood during some difficult times, and we still consider each other wonderful friends, especially as both of us have had a stroke.
Christ of the King Retreat is also a wonderful place, right next to a beautiful lake, fascinating places that is fun to walk around inside, and some lovely places to exercise outside. And it is led with the Oblates (OMI).
Also, it is awesome to shut off my cell phone, internet, television, Netflix, Facebook and beyond. It’s kind of like detoxification from our world and society to come back to more presence of Jesus Christ, my best friend. Most of all, I love having my yearly retreat (which is in Canon Law!) with time to rest, rejuvenate, read, write and spend more time in the presence of God.
I hope that each of you can have time to be on a spiritual retreat—whether it is a few moments, a day, a weekend or even a week. As I have been blessed with a yearly retreat now for 14 years (wow, am I getting old!), I also come back to God’s mission, my family, my life with new intuition, excitement, rejuvenation and ready to be back to the world.
Know of my prayers, and please pray for our Diocesan priests and me!
God Bless!
(Written right before my retreat)
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