Beginning Anew

"Behold, I make all things new." Each day, our beloved Lord invites us to begin anew. Each day, we are given the opportunity to serve Him more faithfully, to resemble Him more closely.

Occasionally, we are given the opportunity to examine more carefully how we are responding to His daily invitation. One such is our annual retreat. According to our Constitution and Canon Law, we observe periodic days of recollection and an annual period of retreat. In the Gospel of Mark, our Lord invites His disciples, Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. To us He extends the same invitation. In essence, He asks us only one thing: the surrender of our will, for when we give Him our will we truly give Him everything we have and are. . Blessed Henry Suso writes, “It is not God’s will that we should abound in spiritual delights, but that in all things we should submit to his holy will."

During this time of retreat, we pray with the great St. Ignatius of Loyola:

Suscipe

Take, O Lord, and receive
my entire liberty, my memory,
y understanding and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess,
Thou hast given me:
I surrender it all to Thee,
dispose of me according to Thy will.
Grant me only Thy love and Thy grace;
with these I will be rich enough
​and will desire nothing more. Amen.