Text of the week

The gospels give us several accounts of Jesus at prayer, often he prays on his own away from his disciples and the crowds. It would seem therefore that even Jesus needed to take time out from his busy day and spend some quiet time in prayer, reflection and asking God the Father to help him.

This week as I write these thoughts I have come to St Mary´s Monastery in Kinnoull, Perthshire.

We have come on retreat, but what is a retreat you may ask.

A retreat is an opportunity to draw back from our daily routine, usually to some place that is quiet and peaceful.

It provides precious time to forget about the cares and worries of daily life and reconnect with God.

Like Jesus we spend time in prayer, reflecting on our ministry and asking God to help us.

A retreat is a great way for us to recharge our spiritual batteries and return to daily life renewed and re-energised.

However, retreats are not just for priests or ministers, they are necessary for all of us, especially in the busyness of todays world.

Although we can’t all go away on retreat we can still try to retreat from our daily lives for even just a few minutes each day to rest in the Lord and allow him to renew and re-energise our spiritual batteries.

Remember the beautiful words of Jesus in Mathew’s gospel “Come to me, all you that are weary.. and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)

Fr Jamie Boyle,

St Francis Xavier, Falkirk