Every year, the seminarians of the Diocese gather together for a week long retreat at the St. Alphonsus Liguori retreat house in Long Branch NJ, to experience together fraternity which included prayer, fun, and reflection. This year, our retreat was given to us by Fr. Luis Saldaña, who is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York as well as part-time spiritual director at my seminary, St. Joseph Seminary, in Yonkers NY. In his reflections, Fr. Saldaña talked about the spiritual life and how the Holy Spirit will bring us into a deeper kind of prayer if we allow Him too. What really stood out to me the most was his reflection on our calling to me “intimate with God.” As seminarians, we are called to enter into a spousal relationship with Christ because, as priests, we will act in the persona Christi, that is, the person of Christ, to everyone we encounter. We are supposed to be the means by which Christ manifests Himself to others, especially in regard to the Sacraments. Fr. Saldaña explained that every Sacrament is a sign of what is to come and when we enter into any Sacrament, the divine life of God enters our very being so that we can become more like him. It also foreshadows our life with God in Heaven which we begin on this earth! Because this task of acting in the persona Christ is essential to the life of the Church, a priest must have a spousal relationship with Christ in order to carry this mission out because without it, he will fail in his ministry. Just like a husband and a wife have a deep spousal love, so the priest must have the same with Christ and His Church. This is part of what it means to be “intimate with God.”
“Intimacy with God” is not just a calling for seminarians and priests, it is a calling for everyone, especially those baptized. It is not enough to know things ABOUT God. We need to know WHO God is. When one studies theology, it becomes meaningless if it does not help one enter into a deep relationship with God. The purpose of studying theology is to help one dive deeper into your relationship with God. That is essential definition of prayer. Prayer is getting to know WHO God is. When we get to know him more and more, our friendship becomes deeper. That is the case with anyone we meet. We cannot know who God is if we do not enter into prayer. Prayer is not just saying prayers from the prayer book, even though that is a beautiful habit to get into. Prayer is simply being with Jesus. Prayer becomes more powerful if we pray in front of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration whether exposed or reserved in the Tabernacle. Let us all become “intimate with Christ” through prayer and reflection and let us allow the Holy Spirit to captivate us so we can become the authentic human beings God is calling us to be.
Timothy Mulranen
Latest posts by Timothy Mulranen (see all)
- For He So Loved the World - June 20, 2023
- Witnessing Baptisms at the Easter Vigil - April 25, 2023
- Awareness - January 10, 2023
