August Silent Retreat

The mighty roar of yet another train pierced through the mid-afternoon haze and I suppressed a sigh. "This retreat is probably a very special one," I thought, as Sr. Mary Brigid put the van in park and put her head down on the wheel. I have always found that the more spiritually beneficial an event is, the more obstacles and irritations pile up around it. So far in coming from Grand Rapids to host a retreat for three young women, we had been told that our Sunday plans to go to the Carmelite Shrine in Munster were not going to work, had forgotten the house keys, and run in to all sorts of little delays. I fervently hoped that the trains were the last one. Everyone perked up though, once we reached the Seberger House, unpacked the car and started the August 11-14th retreat.

The silence is the most important part of making a retreat, but this time we had the benefit of an extra day. That meant Saturday morning, the day Fr. Jerry did not come, we led a "Carmelite study" and an afternoon discussion of the documentary "The Nun." Perhaps the retreatants were impressed by what they learned, but we sisters were far more impressed by their grasp of the spiritual life, and their zeal on behalf of the Lord. We spoke about the purpose of Carmel, investigated its roots in Holy Scripture, talked about prayer, and later on about discernment.

In the end, everything out so well. We were able to go to the Shrine on Sunday with our picnic lunch. We had good weather even though there was a soft, very pleasant rain, and we didn't have to drive through it. One of the high points was at the end of adoration on Saturday night. We all sang our "Goodnight" song to Jesus and closed the tabernacle, then peacefully went our separate ways.

It was commented that the world had their eyes on the bitter, dissatisfied young people in England, turning to violent crime just because there is no one to stop them. While a short distance away in Madrid, Spain, a million young people were celebrating their faith in Christ at World Youth Day. This retreat was a similar experience. These young people were so happy, they couldn't stop smiling. And they are not people who "have it all," but are, on the contrary, quite ordinary people who are considering giving up the little they have to follow the Lord Jesus. I wish the whole world might have participated in their happines.