Post Retreat, He is Still Risen
I know it has been nearly three weeks since I last posted to this blog. I am sorry, but things can just get so busy in the parish. Of course the first week, Easter Week, I was on retreat.
The retreat was held at the Seton Retreat Center, which is at the motherhouse for the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, MD. If you have not been to Emmitsburg it makes a nice trip. Gettysburg is only about 10 miles away, so there is some nice history to see, and the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is attached to the motherhouse. There are some beautiful hills, especially where the Grotto above Mount St. Mary’s University and Seminary is, just down the road.
This retreat was for priests involved with Communion and Liberation. It was my first time on this retreat, and a first time to meet other priests involved with CL (well, I meet with 3 of them in Brooklyn monthly). Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete gave the conferences. He is a very fine theologian, and very funny. He is also kind of incharge of CL in the US. The retreat was just what I needed. It was so uplifting. The major theme was seeing the evidence of the Resurrection in our lives. I think he made a good point, that for too many Catholics the Resurrection is treated as merely an historical event that happened a long time ago. While this is true, it is also an event that has completely changed the world. We have been set free from the Law of Corruption, Sin and Death, and live now a new life. We need to be aware of that, and see the world as different because of the Resurrection. It is in remembering the Lord that we make the Lord present in our lives, and see Him, encounter Him, everyday in the events and people in our daily lives. That is what it means to be a follower of Christ.
When I first encountered CL I was in a place where I was looking for “something.” I was feeling as if my joy and zeal for the priesthood had been robbed from me. The first 18 months as a priest was very challenging, personally. First a few months after being ordained, I was diagnosed with cancer, and while it was easy to treat, it really wiped me out for a long time. Then just as I was getting back to “normal” my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and I moved to a new parish to be closer to him. He then died 11 days after I arrived. The new parish was going through a lot of growing pains. It had just been merged, two parishes were combined, 6 months before I arrived. Understandably many of the people did not like the idea of being merged, and it has taken time to adjust to the new reality. Spiritually I was feeling very down, and a priest friend of mine mentioned this group called Communion and Liberation. I did not know anything about it, so I Googled it (actually I Pro-Life Searched it) and what I read attracted me. I then contacted the local person, and we met for coffee. Something about him, really the joy in him, was what I wanted. So a small group of us, four, started to do “School of Community,” using the book, Why the Church? by Msgr. Luigi Giussani the founder of CL. The book spoke to my experience, of the struggle and frustration I was feeling, my discouragement, and it showed me another way. Of course it is the WAY, Jesus! I still feel like I do not fully understand CL’s way and method, but I am getting there. The key is to encounter the Lord, to recognize Him as the deepest longing of my heart.
Since coming back from the retreat I have noticed that I am more joyful and more zealous for the Lord. Others have noticed it too, and that is the key. While preaching is important, what really draws people is their noticing your joy. Their hearts will say “I want that too,” and they will then want to know what the “something” is that you have. That is when they are ready to have Christ proposed to them.
Well, I have two committals to do, and it is pouring rain, so I should get ready to get wet.
