We recharge our laptops and our cell phones. Sometimes our spiritual lives need recharging too. We religious have the luxury of making a week-long retreat every year. This is a time to withdraw from the busyness of ministry and world events and concentrate on deepening our relationship with God. Its a time to ask big questions, such as What am I doing with my life? What needs to change? Who is God for me? Anyone can make a retreat.
Retreat houses as well as parishes offer opportunities for solitude, silence, prayer, and reflection. These range from thirty-day retreats to half-days of recollection. Usually they are conducted by a retreat director. But private retreats are also an option. My community has the practice of making a morning retreat on one Sunday each month. Family and work commitments can make it difficult to get away for a formal retreat. But those who take their spiritual life seriously can carve out a few hours now and then to spend time with the Lord. I heard of one woman who drives to a quiet street, parks her car, and enjoys free time there praying.
A retreat may lead us to God through the wonders of creation. This past week God touched me through a running stream with thousands of darting tadpoles, thirteen soaring chicken hawks, and a fiery red sunset. God spoke through the Bible I read in my room and the readings at Mass. He spoke through the director, who presented Jesus as a rule-breaker who followed his heart. And God showed me a new way to pray.
God tells us in a psalm, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). In the gospel Jesus invites, “Come apart and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31). A wit pointed out that if we don’t come apart and rest awhile, we may just come apart!
Has a retreat ever made a difference in your life? How?
