what happens to patria on her religious retreat?
Perhaps y'all have heard Catholics mention that they take attended a spiritual retreat at one fourth dimension or another. Perhaps yous have, yourself, been invited to nourish 1 and have hesitated to accept the invitation as y'all do not know what to expect during spiritual retreats. What, exactly, happens during spiritual retreats?
I, personally, aim to attend a spiritual retreat once a year and have benefited a lot from this practice. Two of my friends, Abbie and Raffy, have attended spiritual retreats likewise. Like me, they detect the feel rewarding and are happy to share their experiences and insights near it with Ignitum Today readers. We hope that past sharing our experiences, we could help demystify this Catholic tradition and possibly encourage readers to effort attending retreats on their own.
A Time-Onetime Catholic Practice
This yr, Abbie spent her birthday alone with God in a Carmelite retreat firm.
"It has been very busy and stressful the by couple of years of my life," she said. "I was turning xl years quondam and wanted to gloat my birthday with merely God. 'God alone is plenty,' has been a recurring theme in my life for a while, likewise. A retreat, I thought, would be a perfect reminder of that."
Concluding year, to prepare for "leveling up" his membership in the Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix (a public association under the Franciscans of the Immaculate), Raffy spent three days in retreat at the Divine Word Seminary.
Abbie and Raffy are just a few amid many Catholics who occasionally take time out to nourish spiritual retreats. A retreat is a time-old Catholic do where ane withdraws from the world for a few days, spending those days talking with God and examining oneself on how to improve 1's human relationship with Him. The idea behind a retreat is that the soul, like the torso, needs a vacation to reinvigorate itself in its daily struggle and that the human relationship with God, similar whatsoever other relationship, needs quality sectional fourth dimension to continue it alive. As St. Josemaria Escriva succinctly put information technology in The Furrow, "Days on retreat. Recollection in order to know God, to know yourself and thus to make progress. A necessary time for discovering where and how you should change your life. What should I exercise? What should I avoid?"
Various But Substantially the Same
There are many kinds of retreats to suit a wide range of personal preferences.
Abbie spent hers in an unstructured mode, with no retreat master – a first fourth dimension for her, since she usually attended group retreats every year. This time, guided solely by a book which she found in the retreat house, she spent a lot of time praying, reflecting, singing songs of praise to God, and, in her own words, "allowing myself to exist silent in the Lord's presence."
Photograph credit: photos.ecatholic.com
Raffy's retreat consisted of praying Lauds, Vespers, the Rosary, the Fashion of the Cross, likewise equally doing strolling meditations. On his spiritual mentor's communication, he also spent time reading The Imitation of Christ and the Mass readings. "My construction of the retreat which, is mainly free-flowing, is based upon our spiritual mentor'south communication to non to focus on intellectual matters during retreat, but rather permit the retreat be complimentary-flowing and let God speak to your heart spontaneously."
I personally attend the retreats organized by Opus Dei, which feature guided prayer sessions, talks, daily Mass, and group devotions (like spiritual reading, the Rosary, and the Style of the Cross) interspersed with time for individual prayer and opportunities for the Sacrament of Confession and personal spiritual direction. The talks and guided prayer sessions are normally about the creation and autumn of man, the Last Things, and the life of Christ, as well as pointers on how ordinary Catholics living in the world can practise the lessons from these topics.
Amidst these differences, however, the common threads of all retreats are silence, prayer, and assuasive oneself to exist led past the Holy Spirit. Equally the priest said in one retreat I attended, "What matters is non what you practice but what you lot allow God to practise to you."
The Price and the Rewards
Attending a retreat entails sacrifices. For Abbie, it required taking a go out from work just when she had to spend more than time in the function to prepare for her maternity exit. She as well had to bulldoze a long way to the retreat house, which is no joke for someone who is almost eight months pregnant. In improver, she says, "At that place is e'er harassment from the Evil One when you lot're in pursuit of being 1 with God."
Raffy, too, had to fit in his retreat into his balance days, given how hard it is to file for leaves at the business concern procedure outsourcing (BPO) house he works for, peculiarly when it is near Christmas. Being used to night shift work meant his body clock had to re-adjust during the retreat, and so, after the retreat, he had to go dorsum to work later having had little sleep. But he went on the retreat anyway. "In that retreat, I learned that fifty-fifty though I am having irregular schedules due to my nature of work as a night worker in a BPO visitor, if you actually want to have a retreat, there is always a mode," he says.
The sacrifices pay off. For case, according to Abbie, "The retreat gave me the much needed break my body, and more especially my spirit, needed. I was able to 'hear' the Lord's bulletin to me, loud and articulate. I left the retreat firm feeling refreshed and renewed; ready to face life'southward challenges caput-on."
Raffy, for his part, says, "It relaxes your listen and soul, reconnects yourself to God, and makes you feel at peace with nature. Information technology also rekindles your want to exist a more than faithful Cosmic. It also reminds you that life is too short to spend in worldly things and focuses you more on eternity."
As if these are not reasons enough to attend a retreat, a retreat provides many opportunities to earn indulgences. According to the Enchiridion of Indulgences (the official manual of the Catholic Church virtually granting indulgences), a plenary indulgence is granted to the true-blue who spend at least iii whole days in the spiritual exercises of a retreat. Fifty-fifty if one's retreat does not last three whole days, still, a retreat usually provides opportunities to exercise other works to which indulgences are attached (such as prayer earlier the Blessed Sacrament for half an hour or praying the Way of the Cross) besides as to fulfill the conditions needed to proceeds indulgences (such equally sacramental confession, Communion, and a prayer for the Pope a few days before or subsequently doing the works to which indulgences are fastened).
Raffy stresses the importance of going to sacramental confession before or during the retreat. "A retreat is a wonderful opportunity to re-examine your life and strive to be holier," he says.
Final Thoughts
Both Raffy and Abbie promise to be able to continue retreats again in the future. Abbie, in particular, encourages others to try attending retreats as well. When asked almost anything she would similar to tell readers nearly attending retreats, Abbie enthusiastically replied, "Go! Attend one! Do it! MAKE the fourth dimension for it. Just when your schedule is then booked and it seems so impossible to pause and 'waste' time, THAT'Southward when y'all need to pause, regroup, and focus on what…no, WHO really matters."
Source: https://ignitumtoday.com/2015/10/29/spiritual-retreat-expect-go-one/
0 Response to "what happens to patria on her religious retreat?"
Post a Comment