Worship and Evangelization Outreach / Georgene Beiriger

Retreats in spiritual formation

St. Francis says to preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary, use words. Our actions, the words we speak, the way we respond to life events—all speak to our spirituality.

While what we learn about our faith when we are catechized gives us knowledge and vocabulary, it is but one lens through which we must look. The other lens is our experience of God in our everyday lives. Experience informs knowledge and vice versa.

In looking through both lenses—experience and knowledge—we come to a fullness of understanding, thereby growing in holiness and wisdom. Both lenses are essential in spiritual formation. Using the language of faith, we are able to name our experiences of God and come to understand who God is to us.

Our spirituality is our response to the gifts of love and life we receive from God. Our relationship with God needs to be deliberately tended to and given dedicated time to deepen.

In our own relationships, time set aside for family and friends is imperative if we are to remain close. I cannot build a relationship with someone by reading their biography. I may learn some things about the person, but I have to spend quality time with them to know their mind and their heart. It’s my experience of the other that builds the relationship. The same is true for our relationship with God.

We encounter God’s love constantly in our lives. Many times are obvious, such as when during Mass we are uncharacteristically moved when we receive Christ in the Eucharist, or when a repeated prayer is suddenly answered, or even a clear message received when reading Scripture. Other experiences may require some deep reflection to uncover any insight. This discernment requires time in contemplation and prayer and a retreat from the busyness of life.

We retreat more often than we realize. When we walk into the church for Mass, we enter into a sacred space, leaving the world outside. We pray individually and together as community—the Body of Christ. We lift up our hearts to the Lord, and we receive the Eucharist as spiritual nourishment for our souls. Having received our Lord and opened ourselves to inner conversion, we are dismissed to go out to serve in the world renewed, refreshed and more peaceful than before.

We engage in other “mini-retreats” while doing our daily devotions. We learn to appreciate the gift of God’s creation on nature walks or gardening. All these are wonderful and give us short respite from the busyness of our lives. We can learn from Jesus, however, that, while daily prayer is necessary, on occasion we need to retreat longer.

St. Luke tells us of Jesus, “In those days, he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God” (Lk 6:12). While 40 days may be a bit long, certainly a day or two can offer the time needed to contemplate our life and relationships, and to open ourselves to the inner transformation that God yearns to work in us.

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” (Mk 6:30), Jesus says to us. He wants quality time with us so that we can get to know him personally.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, patron saint of retreats, and others took it seriously and regularly engaged in retreats. Together, knowledge and experience complete our understanding of our faith in God and God’s work in our lives.
 

(Georgene Beiriger is director of Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis. For more information on Fatima and program opportunities or to donate to support its ministry, go to www.archindy.org/fatima, or call 317‑545-7681.) †