XIX: Retreats
by ironiccatholic ~ June 9th, 2008. Filed under: Traditions.
Protestants have revivals. Catholics, being the more “I prefer experiencing the Spirit kneeling in silence under the stars, thanks” type, have retreats. And oh, do we like them. Ignatian exercises, high school senior retreats, engagement encounter, marriage encounter, Quo Vadis?, Cursillo, TEC, etc….Frankly, the creative Catholic with some cash could spend his whole life on retreat. An intervention is sometimes needed and can get ugly. So I’ve heard.
The first retreat began with John the Baptist. Needing to get away from it all to hear fully God’s voice, he headed off into the desert, living on locusts and wild honey. This diet didn’t appeal to the majority of stressed-out Israelites at the time, so the full retreat series didn’t really catch on. But the “let go, let God” exercise, which he called baptism, transcended the meager menu, so people reportedly came in droves for day trips.
His most prominent retreatant, Jesus of Nazareth, was so taken with John’s retreat format that he immediately went for forty days of testing by Satan in the wilderness. While being tempted by the devil doesn’t really “sell the experience” on a tri-fold brochure (although that was one heck of an impressive mountain view Satan used to encourage Jesus to toss himself off of), Jesus found the 40 day wilderness retreat to be a formative discernment experience, and the style has caught on in certain circles.
The desert fathers and mothers three centuries later did battle with their passions in the desert in a life-long retreat from society, but people were beginning to find the very cheek of their vocation so very attractive, they were seeking these holy men and women out and bugging them for “a word.” Despite responses so obscure that any retreat leader today would be asked for a refund, they kept returning, and returning, and returning to beg insight from these poor hermits. Hence Benedict of Nursia’s appeal for every monastery to have a place of hospitality for strangers. No Holiday Inns out in the wilderness.
For the record, there is no history of drum-making as spiritual act in Christian retreats.
Fast forward to the present day. We still have retreats, in the equivalent of a desert in our modern society: that is, any place with green space and no TV. Most retreatants today are more tempted by turning on the cell phone than the Evil One in the desert, but perhaps that is our own burden of which we try to let go in a retreat: our comfort, our control, our arsenal of distractions at the ready. Catholics like retreats because as Christians, we know we need a spiritual discipline to turn off the noise to hear the still, small whisper in the wind that is God’s voice. And while we see and know God in relationship with each other, there is nothing like turning into that gentle blowing, listening to God call you by name.
(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
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June 9th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Some pals claim that an hour on a labyrinth is worth a three day retreat? Did they have labyrinths in the olden days?
I’ve sought them, but have never been able to find one? Do you suppose my guardian angel is hiding them from me?
June 9th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
LABYRINTHS - eeeek - be afraid - very afraid as they are applied in “new age” spirituality. offering gifts of burning sage to the 4 corners and mother and father god.
Now granted, elsewhere in the world - other than the West Coast - there may be more prayerful uses of a labyrinth. Having been there and done that - don’t think it is any way comparable to a retreat!
June 9th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Ray, my opinion about the labyrinth is it is all about how it is used. I mean, there’s one at the Chartres Cathedral, it can be a very Christian meditation. Some people love the pacing, the peace and quiet, the deliberateness of it all. It honestly doesn’t do anything for me as a form…If I want to go on a prayer walk, I want to really walk and get a good stride going.
June 10th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Love the post, IC, especially your second paragraph about the origins of and biblical evidence for retreats. Cells phones as Evil One…LOL.
Re: labyrinths. Being a kinesthetic learner, I’ve found them an extraordinary means for contemplation and have been moved to unexpected tears by the experience…which did not include burning sage and other rites expropriated from Native Americans! Jesus weeps.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am
The Labyrinth is based upon the pattern on the floor of the Cathedral at Chartre and was intended to take the place of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land during the Crusades when travel there was dangerous. When one uses the experience as an ever deepening movement toward the heart of God (true contemplation) there is nothing new age at all about them.
You might be able to find one at a local Unitarian Center if you are really interested. They have coopted the Labyrinth.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I go on a yearly retreat. I use it as a check up/check in time to make sure that God and I are on the same page. I wouldn’t give it up for the world. My husband and kids always know when it is about time for my yearly retreat and are very happy when I go.
It is beneficial to all of us for me to go away and get it all in order, metaphysicallly speaking. Or they just need to get me out of the house for a few days.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Actually, the first retreat was that of Elijah. You know, the one where he hides in the cave waiting for the “still, small voice…”
June 21st, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I actually have a friend who left his hectic life as a lawyer and spent about three yers on retreats and pilgrimages. He’s now a missionary in Uganda, so watch out!