So Blogger kind of conked out and wouldn't let me on last weekend. As a result, I was unable to ward you that I would be gone for a week on the Rapid City Diocese's annual retreat for priests. I just got back this afternoon.
It is great fun being with other priests. They energize me, they inspire me, and they encourage me. As a result, a retreat with priests is often a time not just of spiritual renewal, but of fraternity with the brothers. This retreat was a preached retreat, with talks delivered by Fr. Carl Arico from Newark. They were good enough, but I find that a preached retreat seldom does much for me. There is a tension between wanting time to be with the priests and talk to them, and knowing that a silent retreat would be more spiritually fruitful to me.
I concluded the retreat with a deeper sense of God's love, though and a burning desire to apply that love to the wounds of so many of those to whom I minister. Moreover, I end the retreat with a couple of new developments for my own ministry.
1) I am now a Hispanic Minister. I begin celebrating Mass in Spanish in Hill City once per month beginning in September.
2) At the end of this month, our director of High School Faith Formation resigns. We have been unable to hire a suitable applicant. That means my role in that area is also likely to change substantially.
I am intimidated by and excited about both of these new opportunities. I suggested as much to my brothers on retreat. Their only response was "Welcome to the priesthood."
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