A retreat is simply an opportunity to step back from our ordinary life and spend time with God.

It can be as long or as short as you wish: taking anything from a few hours carved from your working day to a structured 30-day retreat. There are many types of retreat – silent, directed, those integrated into your daily life, those following spiritual exercises. Locations vary. They may be held in a special retreat house or in a quiet garden! The one that will suit you best probably depends on your personal circumstances. The important thing is that you are setting aside quality time to be with God, and that is always reciprocated and honoured.

For more information, visit the Retreat Association

Vocation and the Journey of Life

What I offer you below is not so much an article as a reflection or meditation. Even though we’re not actually able to share our thoughts together, I do invite you to try and genuinely, and prayerfully, ask yourself the questions I raise. If I use the word ‘vocation’, especially me in my clerical collar, what are you thinking of? What images come immediately to mind? Do you see YOU in any of the images?

So much of all of this ‘vocation business’ hangs on how we see life, how we see God, and how we see ourselves. What ‘lens’ are we using through which to view life, God, self? Think for a moment of the popular Icon of the Holy Trinity – an image of the mystery of God – in which God is seen as the three angels seated around a table. In this we see God not as static, but as dynamic. God is not waiting, unmoving, for us to find him. God is a Trinity of three persons (Father, Son, Spirit), a community of love into who’s life we are called, to join the circle, to live in God. Our Christian faith is in a God who comes, who reaches out, comes into our world, to lead us into life, into the circle. This is the Incarnation. The Holy Spirit poured into our hearts is dynamic, creating and renewing us, and inspiring us to listen and hear the voice of Jesus who himself says: “To hear me is to hear the Father, to see me is to see the Father” [St John].

My life, and yours, don’t need therefore to be static, stuck in a rut. Life can be seen as a journey of discovery, an eternal journey in which the more we come to know God, the more we come to know ourselves as we are known by God [I John].

Nobody on this earth can take my place, nobody can take your place on the journey – we all have our own life, unique and unrepeatable. The heart of the matter is believing that life is a gift from God, a good gift we have received and that naturally and joyfully should lead us to want to give back to the giver of the gift, to God.

If the gift of life is a journey, if life is about moving forward, then we cannot stay where we are except to rest for a short while. Becoming everything God is calling us to be, making this journey, requires us making choices and commitments, reading the signposts– going some way, making that choice, those choices, that move us along the path to becoming the person God calls us to be.

I happen to be a priest and for me being a priest is ‘the path’, the route I’ve chosen to walk with God to get to know Him and who I really am. Being a priest, however, is the route or the path – it’s not the sum total of who I am, and therefore of my vocation which is the deep God given meaning & purpose of my life – there’s always more to be discovered, there’s so much hidden in Christ still to be known.

A Rabbi once wrote these words: “613 Commandments were given by God to Moses. Then King David came and reduced them to 11. Then came Isaiah and reduced them to 6. Then came Micah and reduced them to 3. Then came Amos and reduced them to 1 ‘Seek me, says the Lord, and live’ ” That’s the bottom line of all that can be said about ‘vocation’: at heart it is simply about seeking the Lord and in him finding life!

Loving Father
Thank you for the gifts you have given me,
Life, faith, family and friends. Shine your light so
that I may see the path that leads to you.
Help me to make those choices which respond
To your personal love for me, so that I may
Become more fully the person you call me to be.
Amen

Fr Kevin Dring

Sources for Meditation

Christian Meditation - rosary, centering prayer, the Jesus prayer
Products for sale and a section on Christian meditation
World Community for Christian Meditation
Compass Discernment Programme

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Tel: 020 8458 6017 Registered Charity No: 257239