Where is the Spirit leading you?

The Holy Spirit, that mysterious Third Person of the Trinity, is the subject of this year’s online Lenten retreat. With Redemptorist Father Joseph Krastel as our retreat master, we’ll reflect on the Spirit’s powerful, but most often quiet, movements that direct our lives.

The Spirit of Lent: Seven Meditations on the Work of the Holy Spirit emphasizes “the work of the Holy Spirit in the divine plan of our redemption.” New reflections will be posted every Wednesday beginning February 13.

As Father Krastel writes:

“Every year, the Holy Spirit, in the quiet ways of God, invites us to join Christ in the desert. Without fanfare, the Spirit urges us to make these forty days special. The Spirit hopes that Easter will find us gaunt and reflective because of the austerity and meditation of Lent. The Spirit wants to breathe into us a new peace, a new dedication to God, a renewed love of our families and authentic self-development in our careers. The Spirit hopes to help us to triumph over the usual temptations by which Satan ensnares us.

“Lent teaches us to notice quiet and obscure signs of God’s activity. As we join Christ praying in the wilderness, we can count on the Spirit to refresh us with his “dewfall.”

We hope you’ll join us as we meditate on the gentle workings of the Spirit of Peace, the beauty and power of the Mass, the healing that comes with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and our need to spend some time studying the “wisdom of the cross.”

Let us pray for each other in this holy season as we listen for what plans the Holy Spirit holds for us on our journey toward Easter.

About our Retreat Master

A native of Baltimore, MD, Father Joseph Krastel professed vows as a Redemptorist and was ordained to the priesthood in 1964. He spent 10 years in Redemptorist seminaries. In 1983 he was appointed to preach missions in the Washington, D.C. area, and in 1987 was named Redemptorist rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Mission Church) in Boston. In 1993, Father Krastel was assigned to the Redemptorists’ English-speaking Region of the Caribbean where he served in parishes in Dominica and St. Lucia, and preached missions and retreats in South America and throughout the Caribbean. He has been associate pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Annapolis, MD since 2010.