Back from Retreat

"All candidates for any order are to make a spiritual retreat for at least five days in a place and manner determined by the ordinary. Before the bishop proceeds to ordination, he must be certain that the candidates properly made this retreat."

-Code of Canon Law, canon 1039.

The law of the Church requires that all of us to be ordained make a spiritual retreat, which we have just done. It would be difficult to find a more suitable place for such an exercise than the city of Saints Francis and Clare, that is, Assisi. For six days, we walked about this city, visiting chapels and crypts and the tombs of these great saints, in prayerful silence. Each day included two spiritual conferences led by Father Carola, who adroitly guided us through a condensed version of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The expectation was that we were to spend at least three hours each day in prayer, in addition to our regular praying of the Liturgy of the Hours, rosary, and Mass.

We meditated on various passages from Scripture, and on the different "dynamics" of the Exercises - contrition for sin, sorrow for the Passion of our Lord, and joy at the Resurrection of Jesus. On one occasion, Father asked us to meditate on our personal vocation story - an exercise that many of us found to be very fruitful. Reflections on "the call" included meditations on the life of our Blessed Mother as embodying that mystery.

Here are some shots of the beautiful and inspiring setting of our retreat:


The tomb of Il Poverello, St. Francis of Assisi, in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Francis. This was a favorite place of prayer for many of the men. Here we remembered especially the call to evangelical simplicity as lived by St. Francis, who bore the Wounds of the Master. We also remembered in prayer all Franciscans - especially our own Sr. Katarina Schuth, OSF, of the Saint Paul Seminary.


Exterior view of the Basilica of Saint Francis, in the late afternoon sun.


The Basilica of St. Clare, another favorite place of prayer, a short walk from where we stayed at the Brigidine Sisters.


The famous Crucifix of San Damiano, the icon cross from which Our Lord spoke to Saint Francis in the run-down little Church of San Damiano and inspired him to "rebuild" the universal Church. The crucifix is now housed in its own chapel in the Basilica of St. Clare, above, where we spent many hours in prayer, hoping to be inspired for our mission as priests.



The Church of San Damiano, original location of the Crucifix.

Though in silence and solitude for most of the day, the men gathered for Mass each day celebrated by our retreat director, Fr. Joseph Carola, S.J.:


On his birthday, January 6, Deacon Peter Akudugu (Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga) assists Fr. Carola at Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of Our Lord.

Perhaps we'll offer another post about the retreat with further reflections on this very moving week as we continue to unpack its spiritual import. For now, the deacons enjoy a "free" Sunday - in which many of us will be making day trips in and around Rome. Stay tuned! God Bless You, and thank you for all your prayers while we were on retreat. Know that we remembered you at all these holy places.