Kairos to chronos

Here follows a post I wrote out Monday evening in the midst of the most useless meeting - truly! - I have ever attended.

Last week after returning from the conference on preaching Advent and Christmas at the Liturgical Institute - which yielded many good thoughts and inspirations - I left with our high school seniors for their Kairos retreat.

Kairos is the Greek notion of time where God interrupts, as it were, the usual course of time - chronos - and is encountered in a unique way.

Prior to the retreat, I told the boys who were leading the retreat that one of two things would happen before we returned: either I would kill them (to which they replied, "I think we can take you"), or they would kill me. Our two styles of working and preparing for the retreat were so different that I did not feel prepared for the retreat and we were driving each other crazy. Well, they were driving me crazy; I'm not sure they paid all too much attention to me. All the while, they kept saying to me, "Don't worry about it, Father. We have it all under control." This brought, of course, little comfort to me.

The advice of the boys, however, seems to have been well-founded. The retreat went very well and I am already looking forward to next year's retreat.

Now, some five days [actually nine now] after the retreat's conclusion, I am beginning to feel recovered, both in mind and body.

The energy and exhuberance of the youth is thrilling and even a bit contagious. I hope and pray that their enthusiasm continues to grow and spread. Thanks for your good efforts and work, guys!