KNXT Pastoral Message, January 2005

By Bishop John T. Steinbock

My dear people of God,

Immediately after New Year’s Day, each year the Bishops of California gather at a retreat house to spend eight days of quiet and solitude with the Lord.  We have no TV, no newspapers, no radio, no Internet or Email.  We do not even speak to one another during these days.  We support one another in prayer simply by celebrating Mass together each day and praying together morning and evening prayer.

This retreat enables one to really be alone with the Lord.  I can only say what these days mean for me.  It always takes a good three days to simply get the hecticness of the world out of my mind.  But it is then that the Lord can really reach deep into my being and fill me with His love.  Each year I spend the time reflecting on one of the four Gospels, from early morning to late at night.  Each year I sense the Lord reminding me of His tremendous love for me, and guiding me in renewing my love for Him totally and completely, seeking only His will in my life.

As the year goes on, I struggle to continue that total self-giving.  It is only with prayer in my daily life that I am able to keep Jesus at the center of my life and give myself to him in the responsibilities of my state of life as a bishop.

I share this with you because that giving of ourselves totally to the Lord and seeking His will totally and completely, is what the Christian life is all about, whether that person be a bishop or priest, a religious, or lay person, married or single.  And it is in this giving of ourselves to the Lord totally and completely in whatever state of life we are, that we find that inner peace and joy and strength that nothing in this world can take away from us, as we realize that we possess within us the very spirit and power of God Himself.

Not everyone can make a retreat, but everyone can find time to be alone with the Lord each day in one’s life, even if it be only five or ten minutes reflecting on a short passage from the Gospels.  This is the best New Year’s resolution you could make.  You need this time with the Lord especially if you find yourself caught up with the problems of a hectic life, worried and anxious about many things, sliding along in life without a true purpose or inner joy.  You give the Lord the time each day and He will touch your heart and speak of His love in your innermost being, at the time of His choosing.  He is searching and yearning for you, even more than you may be searching and yearning for Him.  As St. Augustine tells us:  “You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”

A happy and blest New Year to all.

(Bishop’s Pastoral Messages can be seen each month on KNXT Ch 49)