“God seeks me in prayer and desires me to seek others in prayer.”

As I noted last week, I was away on a silent retreat, taking time in prayer and reflection and doing some hard labor of spiritual renewal. One of the phrases I noted listening to the spiritual director on the retreat was the one given above. It is not profound or new but a reminder of the how and why of the spiritual life and how and why our spiritual life is intertwined with each and every action that we have and do in our lives.
God seeks me in His Word: “Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”” (Lk 9:23) God’s Word is Jesus Christ and Jesus seeks us. From the moment he proclaims the kingdom of Heaven, to the call of each disciple by name and to his final breath on the cross—Jesus seeks us with love and mercy. Our daily prayer in love is the hearing of God’s voice calling to us. We take into our souls the blessings that surround us and discover more fully how God is inviting me into a closer relationship of love. When I do this then I must seek others in God’s Word, Jesus Christ, because love draws us forth into new life. Knowing God seeks us we find Him in the many prayers such as the rosary where praying the mysteries of Jesus’ life we live with him in our journey of salvation.
God seeks me in His community: “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until the destroying storms pass by.” (Ps 57:1) Jesus calls us, his disciples, into a community of love where we find refuge and healing in the great mystery of God’s presence in the community. We know in the family we find a refuge and the family of the Church becomes a greater blessing when we seek to be in the service of our brothers and sisters. As a family in prayer we discover the gifts present with each person and the greater gifts of the community shared and broken. When we begin to see and experience these gifts of blessing and love we naturally seek out the others that surround us as a family of grace and peace. We discover this community in those time when we find ourselves in moments of joy and sorrow. It is the stories we share of a memory of love at a funeral or the joyous blessing of family at the baptism of new life.
God seeks me in His celebrations: “You have stripped off your old behavior with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress toward true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its Creator.” (Col 3:9-10) We are a party people. God calls us to celebrate with joy and blessing. But the party always begins in prayer because we don’t celebrate nothing but we celebrate someone, Jesus Christ, who offers us the very best of food and drink. We don’t celebrate alone because the community infused in the love of God’s Word sees the very best of who we are and invites us to find the very best in the other by celebrations of joy in thanksgiving of God’s great blessings. We find this most perfectly in the sign of peace during the celebration of the Mass. This simple exchange of peace is focused on offering the fullness of who we are in Jesus Christ and receiving this same fullness from the person celebrating at our side.
Thank you for your prayers during my retreat and your continued prayers for your priests.

God Bless
Fr. Mark