Catholic priests are required by canon law to make an annual retreat. We took retreats once or twice a year during seminary, and a week long silent retreat leading up to our ordination to the diaconate and to the priesthood. It was on an 8 day silent retreat that I was confirmed in my decision to enter the seminary.
A retreat is exactly that, a withdrawal from the distraction of the world in order to encounter God. Our spiritual director in the seminary would often say that the retreat is closer to heaven than anything else we would experience in seminary. For on retreat, one rests and seeks to be refreshed and enlightened by God’s presence in an intentional and focused way. We become immersed in silence and adoration and meditation on the Word of God and contemplation of God’s presence.
And even more than simply encountering God, we engage in retreat to be filled with God’s very life. St Bernard said that we are to be not simply canals in which the Word of God goes in one ear and out the other, but reservoirs, to be filled with the very life of God.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Anthony of the desert, who himself retreated from the world in order to encounter God. Anthony retreated to the desert because the desert is the place devoid of material attachments and earthly pleasures—those distractions which keep us from seeking God. And there in the desert, Anthony did encounter God.
And yet, like Christ, who himself made a 40 day silent retreat in the desert, Anthony also encountered the devil. The devil would send Anthony great temptations which took great effort and prayer to overcome. The devil would also physically assault Anthony, and beat him to the point of unconsciousness.
But through that spiritual battle, learning to rely on the Word of God to be his armor, to be his light, Anthony grew in holiness to a tremendous degree. Many souls would seek out the advice of the Desert Abbot St. Anthony. St. Athanasius, Anthony’s biographer, even writes how the emperor Constantine, sought out Anthony’s advice on the administration of the Roman Empire.
Anthony wrote back to Constantine, advising him “not to think much of the present, but rather to remember the judgment that is coming, and to know that Christ alone was the true and Eternal King.”
Our seminary spiritual director would often tell us: each of us needs a regular retreat to encounter God—one hour per day, one day per week, one week per year. We ignore this advice to our own peril and the peril of those we are called to serve.
May we take the time we need to focus our minds and hearts on God, to seek that encounter with Christ in the desert, where he is waiting to meet us, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.
For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.
For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may preserve harmony among us.
For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may grant them relief and move Christians to come to the aid of the suffering.
For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, for all monastics and hermits, and that all Christians may seek the perfection for which they were made.
For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.
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