Dear Community of Saint Joseph's:

 

This last week the priests of the Diocese of Monterey went away for their annual retreat.  We had communal prayer, listened to spiritual presentations by a retreat director and just spent time together in the quiet, prayerful atmosphere of the Saint Francis Retreat House in San Juan Bautista.  Richard McBrien in his Encyclopedia of Catholicism, writes, "the purpose of a retreat is religious awakening and the deepening of spiritual living.  It is an invitation to prayerful listening and responding to the spirit of God in the contemporary world."  

 

It occurs to me that everyone needs such an experience.   Every person I know needs to break away from the responsibilities of their life and not just relax but reconnect with the presence and meaning of God in their life.  I am not referring to the need for a vacation but rather a concentrated time in which one surrenders to a period of isolation, a time of reflection on the mystical and extraordinary ways in which God is interacting with us on our journey.  

 

I know, I know, your first response is that you do not have time right now.  But when will you have time?  When would you ever have a block of free time to go on a retreat?  And why does intimacy with God always have to be at the bottom of our priority list?  In our diocese alone there are several spectacular retreat houses.  In Santa Cruz there is the Villa Maria del Mar right on the ocean.  People from all over the country save for an entire year to make a private retreat at the Villa - you live ten minutes away!   In Carmel there is the Villa Angelica, also on the ocean, also breathtakingly beautiful.  Up in the mountains, amid the redwood trees there is Saint Clare's Retreat and on top of a cliff face in Big Sur there is the New Camaldoli Hermitage.  Each one of these places provides a multitude of spiritual retreats that would broaden your understanding and feed your soul.  

 

It is possible to spend an overnight or even just a day in a retreat house and come away from whatever amount of time you spend feeling enlightened and purposeful.  If it is simply not possible, for whatever reason, then consider creating your own retreat.  Dedicate a day off to prayer and fasting.  Make a pilgrimage to a nearby church or shrine to offer prayer and thanksgiving.  In retreat we place ourselves in the unique position of being able to listen to the elusive sound of God's voice and contemplate the complexities of our life with God.  This kind of intense communication cannot happen without removing ourselves from the noise and distractions of our existence.  So do something for yourself and your relationship with God:  promise yourself that soon you will retreat from your busy life and set aside some time to spend with God.  

 

God is always waiting to spend time with you -