A "Good" Retreat6/18/2024 Tuesday of the 11th Week in OT
I expected that I would be asked the question “Did you have a good retreat?” at some point today, either by other retreatants or the Jesuits with whom I live. It’s a standard question after a retreat. Unlike the question, “How was your retreat” which is more open-ended, the first question presumes that the retreat was “good.” If you asked someone that question and they responded it was really “bad,” I imagine you’d be startled. Yes, I know, that some people have “bad” retreats in that they didn’t connect with their director, didn’t like the food, the liturgies, the weather…. But most retreatants at a beautiful and peaceful place like Gonzaga EPRH, have a “good” retreat. And what is it that makes it “good.” I reflected on that this morning since the first words I heard from one of the directors was “Did you have a good retreat? If you’ve been reading my reflections this week, culminating in the poem “Weathervane” you know that I had a “good” retreat. In addition to the beautiful sunrises, including the “waterspout” one, the boat trip circumnavigating Cape Ann, and the exquisite peace and silence here at EP, what made it “good” for me was that it was “good for me.” It is what I needed. I especially needed to finish that poem! But, most of all, I felt that God was listening. How good it is to be heard! It’s really good for the soul! When we go through times in our lives when we feel that our prayers fall on deaf ears, it’s good to have those times when we do feel that someone is listening. And I felt that Jesus was present in a way that I have been longing for and have not experienced in some time. For years my criteria for a “good” retreat was if I felt recharged and looking forward to a return to engaging in ministry. My retreat was the battery that kept me going through all the challenges of full-time ministry. Since I’m not returning to full-time ministry, I have the time to deepen the prayer experience of these days and see where the Spirit leads. This morning the sun was blocked by a cloud bank so there wasn't much to see, but after it had risen, there were some beautiful images of light filtering through the clouds as you can see from the photos above and below.
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