Why in the world did I sign up for such a long retreat? This is exactly what I lamented a couple of weeks ago as the retreat I registered for many months ago loomed and interrupted my summer plans and activities. Eight days is a huge chunk of time and energy away from home, family and my precious to-do list.
But my mind was hungry to learn. My heart needed refreshed. My spirit parched. And God called.
I am so grateful for the time away with God. My mind has been stretched, encompassing new thoughts. My heart nourished and my spirit drenched.
The retreat was presented by Louis Savary, a former Jesuit and author who shared ideas from his latest book, The New Spiritual Exercises – In the Spirit of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
The format of the retreat was a wonderful mixture of time learning, time of private pondering, journaling and prayer and time to share in a small group. Louis rarely talked more than 30 minutes on an idea, gave us ideas for something to work on, and made himself aailable for questions throughout the week. We met twice a day in small groups for sharing and exploring together but the reminder of the time we were silent. What a balanced mingling of learning, listening and calming quiet. The perfect cocktail for spiritual growth.
Why do I intentionally seek and attend retreats one or twice a year? Here are five reasons I reflected on as I drove home Sunday from this event with overwhelming gratitude that I said yes to “such a long retreat.”
- Sustained – Spending time with God clearly tells me who I am – his loved child. I crawl into his lap and listen to his heartbeat. I shed the mask that the world mostly sees and remember how much God loves me, all of us. I renew my commitment to tell others his good news and continue to learn to love as God loves. That is our primary mission here on earth – to learn to love like God loves. I needed to be reminded of that.
- Strengthened – I am always amazed to hear at retreats just the right words/inspiration I need. Often the message may not be what I expect or even want to hear – but I know truth when it rings in my soul and soothes a hurting spirit. I faced my trembling fear of the growing complexity of the life when God reminded me he is with me, he will never leave me and all these amazing intricacies add beauty and richness and depth to the world. I embraced and am empowered by God’s daring optimism – He will win – the only action the devil can do is delay or temporarily disturb his plans. God is victorious.
- Stretched – I am far from an expert in Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (I still have trouble even pronouncing his name) and my knowledge and application of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises is minimal. But I am enriched by knowing a little more, have some tidbits to guide me deeper and as I walked with them, experienced a wider perspective on spirituality and life. I am challenged now on learning how to live day by day, in our consumer-oriented world and with my ego barking longings. How do we combat this ever-expanding social sin? I can’t just stay silent and do nothing. What is my role, God?
- Shaped – At retreat I am reminded once again we ARE on a journey and we are still a work in progress. I am not the finished product, all wrapped up, done with my calling and able to sit doing nothing. The people around me are also still being completed. This time with God opened my heart to wonder – what is my unique contribution to the kingdom of God? I experienced a shift, a change in direction to my calling. I have a personal mission statement, a purpose for this blog and my writing, a rule for life. Yet I am invited to revisit those words once again and am discovering they too need revised and set loose to grow in God’s ways. This will be an ongoing process for me. The work of a retreat continues on long after we come home.
- Surprised – God never fails to give me unexpected gifts on retreat. I am always surprised, amazed and thankful. I delighted in new insights into familiar Bible readings this past week. I learned new ways to hear his lessons through what Aramaic words meant, the gift of imagination, and sharing among new friends, walking through the same scenes from the Bible. I loved when Louis Savary offered clear examples of complicated concepts. For example he shared he sees the Trinity as God, the lover, Jesus, the beloved and the Holy Spirit as the love flowing between them as a divine energy.
I realized that every time at retreats, a new prayer bubbles up between God and me, a priceless gift from God. This is the blessing I heard last week:
Let my peace be on the tip of your tongue.
Let my healing be in your every touch.
And let my love radiate from your eyes and heart.
May this blessing be on each of you too.
Do you practice going on retreats? How does it transform you?
Jean, I have not visited for quite a while and when I finally do, you write about retreats and I just got home from one last week!! Went to a monastery for 4 days with hubby. Love this post. God bless!
So good to hear form you Colleen. I wish I lived closer to a monastery and to attend with your hubby. What a blessing. You do know all the benefits about taking time away with the Lord. So enriching and uplifting and often life changing.
Haven’t been on retreat yet. Everyone that I have known to go has always been dramatically transformed. Sounds like a very worthwhile venture. God wants to retreat with you too. How lovely. ♡
I first went on a silent retreat as part of my requirements for my spiritual director training. Learned that nuns are encouraged to go on one once a year. interesting intentional practice. What I have noticed now is when I don’t go at least once a year – I am more restless, seeking but not hearing. I have learned this practice is essential for me. This is the first year though I attended two in relatively a short period of time. so beneficial though. Blessings
Love those five verbs you chose to describe the impact of the retreat on your spirit. They’d make a thoughtful journal prompt: How has God sustained, strengthened, stretched, shaped, and surprised you in the last week/month/ year? I have never attended a retreat where long periods of silence were part of the schedule. It sounds like a wonderful, uplifting experience!
Yes a wonderful journal prompt. Glad you mentioned that. I was surprised on how quickly the week flew by too. 8 days at first seemed long but ohhh, so worth it. Blessings!
So glad your time away with the Lord was a blessing to you. And now to us! I always love hearing what you heard. I receive your prayer of blessing.
There is an 8-day silent prayer retreat offered near me at least once a year, but I have yet to sign up for it. It seems like such a long time to be away from everyone, but I know it would be a tremendous time alone with God. Maybe one day. In the meantime, I do hope to do a weekend retreat like this every year or so. It’s always enriching.
Usually the silent retreat I go on annually starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday – more reasonable time periods. This one was long but surprisingly seemed to be over in a flash. I have wondered what it would be like to go on that full 30 day retreat. Not sure I could handle that long. LOL
Hi Jean! Your retreat sounds so wonderful, I’m glad you enjoyed it and gave yourself the gift of time away. That’s so hard for me to do, I completely understand how you would have been second-guessing your decision.
When you give away so much of yourself, you run the risk of getting ‘tapped out’. I think retreats are a great way to fill the tank, and be renewed. Who wants to wake up on ’empty’? I’m sure you are brimming with peace, and Spirit-inspired words!
Welcome back 🙂
Ceil
Welcome back to you too, Ceil. Yes retreats do refill the well but I learn so much more and hear God in such deeper ways when I am on retreat. That gives me enough inner work to do more many months afterwards. I contacted a new spiritual director – one who was on the retreat and may be soon meeting with her. Thought that would be a good way to further process all i heard and experienced. Blessings!
Sounds like you had a very rewarding time. So glad you enjoyed a refill! 😀
Refiling with the Lord is always refreshing! Good use of that word, Lynn.
Jean,
What a great blessing and prayer…sounds like it was a very rich time…glad you got to go 🙂
I too am grateful that I could go. I have such a supportive hubby who doesn’t mind me disappearing for a week. It is also very nice to come home too. Thanks for stopping by, Dolly. Blessings on your week
Jean, the only spiritual retreat I’ve ever attended was Walk to Emmaus. It blew my mind, my heart and my soul! Your last retreat described here sounds amazing – I can sense the peace you found there in your writing. And what a beautiful prayer! I prayed it with you, my friend. Blessings!
I love the Walk To Emmaus. Certainly set my spirit on fire. I missed the silence and solitude when I don’t go on retreat so have learned to be intentionally about that practice at least once a year. Thank you for praying with me. Those words felt like they fell into my heart like a refreshing spring rain. Blessings on you too, Martha!
We studied Teilhard a little bit in my school for spiritual direction, and I was blown away by what I learned. I’m gratefulyou were able to do this, and thank you for writing about it. I need to be more intentional about personal retreats myself, so this is exactly what I needed to read.
We didn’t study Teilhard in my spiritual direction training but I know they use Savary’s book now for those classes. I have found going on retreat one of my beneficial spiritual practices. I really miss them if I go too long without that silence and time with God. Thanks for stopping by today.