The Spiritual Director for the recent annual clergy retreat was Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez from Tegucigalpa (Honduras) set the tone for the retreat with the following reflection:
We are going to focus our Spiritual Exercises on the words that Jesus says to Martha in the Gospel of Luke: “Only one thing is necessary, Mary has chosen the best part.” (Lk 10, 38-42) A spiritual retreat consists in going to the source of our life. Like Martha we could be walking restlessly and nervously with many things and Jesus frees us from that restlessness and invites us to remain in relationship with Him.
Cardinal Maradiaga invited the priests of the diocese to join him in
• Opening ourselves to the inner experience of God and to the mystery of his Presence in our life.
• Giving ourselves time to listen to the His Word, the source of love and life.
• Rediscovering what is the “one thing necessary” that is enough to live.
In this moment in which we live, as Christians, we are invited to open ourselves to the Mystery of God in our life, to the Mystery of his Presence and to make an inner experience of Him.
The Cardinal explored “the one thing necessary” by using the Gospel accounts of Jesus speaking with Martha and Mary, Jesus meeting with Bartimaeus, Jesus calling Matthew (Levi), Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman, the Risen Jesus meeting with Mary Magdalene, with Peter and with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus.
During the retreat, Cardinal Maradiaga expressed his particular thanks to Bishop Michael, the priests and the families throughout the diocese of Meath for their immediate and direct support of parishes in Honduras following the effects of Hurricane Mitch on the region in 1998. The Cardinal looks forward to meeting families from the diocese of Meath when he returns in August to the World Meeting of Families in Dublin!
