Retreat into Renewal

I am now back from the opening retreat of the seminary year, and I am filled with all kinds of reflections on what an amazing experience it was. Our speaker, Bishop Richard Gagnon of Victoria, did an excellent job and somehow what he said has melded in my mind with the books I was reading this week: Jesus of Nazareth, by Pope Benedict, A House United?, by Keith Fournier, and The Gift of Faith, by Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer. Separate posts on each of the books may follow, depending on how my weekend goes, but for the moment, here are the main thoughts that came out of my weekend:

Jesus is the centre and focus of the Church. Seems like a bit of a "duh!" statement, but it's one of those things that needs to be revisited, to be remembered. It's pretty easy to get caught up in the serving of people, the self-improvement, the day-to-day stuff, and forget that the real foundation of Christianity goes beyond that, but is specifically Christ-centric.

Secondly, there's a new clarity regarding sin and God's love. Ironically, given that I've just called it a clarity, I'm not entirely sure how to put it... but basically it comes down to the fact that sin, first and foremost isn't about us--isn't about me, myself, and I, as it often tends to be viewed--but is about God and us, about our relationship with God.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I think, is the idea that holiness can be planned. For me, this is particularly important, given that I'm a planner. All too often, my spiritual life is haphazard in how it works, and it is an important step for me to realise that "okay, even if I probably haven't got the reliability to follow it totally, every day, I should at least PLAN for prayer and personal time with God, above and beyond the demands of seminary routine". Seminary routine is great, but it doesn't require MY self-discipline, just my obedience to the rules. If I am to be a good priest--nay, if I am to be a good Christian--I need to do MORE. I need to make my relationship with God a priority.

That, in a nutshell, is the fundamentals of my retreat. And now it's time to take off for an uncle's birthday.