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Last weekend I attended a retreat, organized by my parish, dedicated to the figure of Saint Paul. Here I share with you some ideas that are floating around in me.
Although its duration is one day and coins, like the one I attended between last Saturday, August 24 and Sunday, August 25, the first obstacle that one faces in a retreat is an essential requirement for its realization: silence. Since we have become, we have become unaccustomed to him. And believe me, several hours of silence – no matter how much they are broken by the sound of prayers or the person speaking – can be thunderous, dangerous. Because naturally we do not end up listening to God’s voice but, worse, our own. That, free of the firewalls that we put in place on a daily basis, begins to tell us what in the world we are silencing or leaving to attend to later.
Another risk that can be taken is to go with the purpose of learning – in my case about Saint Paul – or attracted by the speaker on duty – in this retreat Father Carlos Ponza -. Since the true, best purpose of a retreat is to give ourselves a good time for an encounter with God. The person who animates the retreat, the proposed readings, the celebrations, are tools that help us achieve that goal. There is a reason why Jesus said “it is enough that you believe”. That is to say, and, paraphrasing the Son of Man, to be with God, it will be enough for us to stop on our way and be silent.
A third danger we face is remaining enchanted, nostalgic, for that time in which we retreated from the world to meditate. We could call it Mount Tabor syndrome. But, unless I have read or been told about other Holy Scriptures, in The Bible it is reported that Jesus retired to pray but always returned to action. This is what he did in his final hour: first pray in the Garden of Olives. Then put the body and life on the cross.
In short, let’s do like the Master: a little spiritual retreat; another bit of action in the world.
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