Most of you that a couple of weeks ago I went to California for two weeks for two mission appeals. I also spent time hiking the California mission trail, visiting some of the old California missions from the 18th century and hiking through different part of California on this spiritual pilgrimage. When I am on pilgrimage, I approach as a retreat, with prayer and discernment being a big part of it.
In today’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus going to the mountain to pray to God before he discerns who he is going to choose as his twelve apostles. Indeed, Prayer and discernment are the foundation of our Catholic faith. We should not make a big decision in our lives without prayer and discernment. And it is always helpful to have someone trained in spiritual direction and discernment to help us in the discernment process. In fact, most of you know that we Catholic priests have to attend an annual spiritual retreat each year as dictated by Canon law. We Catholic priests are also called to have a spiritual director to help us discern. What is interesting is that when I asked some Protestant minister friends about retreat obligations for them in their denominations, none of them had that same requirement.
All of us, whether we are lay or ordained, would greatly benefit from an annual retreat or spiritual exercise that will help us discern God’s will on our journey of faith. As in many aspects of our faith, Jesus is a model for us in his words and his actions. May God always be close to our thoughts and our hearts.
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