Dear Friends and Parishioners,
Friendships are very important. And all the priests were reminded of that at our Annual
Priest Retreat in Boise on September 12–15, 2022. The theme was Friendship with Christ, and
our Retreat Master was Fr. Jim Rafferty from the Institute of Priestly Formation in Omaha,
Nebraska.
The first thing he did was make us turn off all our cellphones, iPads and computers, and told us
not to watch TV during the retreat. Admittedly electronic gadgets can be distracting at the least
and make anyone feel overly important because we think the world and our parishes cannot get
along without us. However, Fr. Rafferty missed the mark on Monday evening. The Seahawks and Broncos were playing and as the priests left the building quite a few said – “Sorry, got to watch the
game—Russell Wilson’s back for the Broncos!”
As they say , God does have a sense of humor. The next morning the meditation topic was “Stop
Praying!” Meaning, if we set up such a rigorous schedule for prayer each day and then not fulfill
those plans to pray, the priest can easily become discouraged, overwhelmed, and anxious. This
can give us the idea that prayer is just another thing we must squeeze in at the end of the day/
night.
Throughout the retreat we learned that Friendship with Christ is an awareness of the friend who delights to share his life with us. Prayer can only begin with a bond of friendship. We ended up praying a lot during the retreat. Prayers, morning and night, Mass, Adoration, Reconciliation, and meals with a bit of gossip and tall tales thrown in.
Thanks again for allowing all of us priests to get together and renewing our own friendships and
our friendship with Jesus.
