A moving and touching experience – “Godspell”. Many thanks and congratulations to all the young folks and especially Jean Degan for making the production of “Godspell” a tremendous summer event. Many people were touched deeply by the play. Thank you to everyone who made this happen.

This week is Vacation Bible School – another great event that has become a summer staple here at St. Joseph. With its many participants, teenage helpers, parents and grandparents Vacation Bible School (VBS) is one of the highlights of the year. This is a fun way to learn more about Jesus and our Catholic faith. Thank you to Kim Donahue and her staff who make this all work.

I will be away this weekend on retreat at Bethany Springs, Kentucky for a contemplative experience with prayer at Gethsemane Abbey. I will keep you in my prayers and ask for yours.

We welcome Fr. Jim Leary back to St. Joseph. He will be helping with weekend Masses while I am away.

May your summer experience be enriching and relaxing.

A priest retreat – the Church requires a 5 day retreat each year for priests. Each priest can decide the format of the retreat. It can be a preached retreat – in which a person, usually a priest, “preaches” or give a series of conferences throughout the day. There are silent retreats - where there is no talking. There are also directed retreats in which there are individual one on one discussion on prayer and God’s activity in one’s life. There are also private retreats in which a priest sets up his own schedule.

This year my retreat took me to Kentucky to do a program on the prayer of contemplation using the writings of the monk Thomas Merton. I stayed at Bethany Springs – a small retreat center one mile from Gethsemani Abbey where Thomas Merton was a monk for over 25 years. He died in 1968.

The program on contemplation went very well. The prayer and quiet time at Gethsemani Abbey was very moving. Over 60 monks gather 7 times a day to pray and sing the psalms. Retreatants are invited to attend all prayer periods. The prayer was peaceful and quite solemn and reverent while being relaxed and easy to be part of.

Retreat is a time to be away from the regular routine of life and be attentive to the movement and presence of God. This year was no different. But I have also noted that God is full of surprises. This year also had its surprises. Everything seemed to be going well and as expected. Then on the last day in the final hours – God’s surprise came. I thought that going on retreat in Kentucky would be a one time event. But now I have a strong sense that I will return there. When and how is the unanswered question. I will have to wait to see what happens.

What a good time these days of retreat were. I remembered you in my prayers at Gethsemani Abbey.