My Brain, on Retreat

I’ve got retreat on the brain. Here’s why:

• Around 10 of our students attended the TCU Awakening this weekend. Some of them are likely sitting next to you at the FIVE right now. Ask them how it went. They may not be able to say much more than “It was amazing!” before they start urging you to go next semester. Take their word for it.

• I spent most of my weekend at a camp outside of St. Louis observing how Washington University puts on their version of the Awakening. Why Wash U.? Their campus culture is much like our own: urban, affluent, ambitious. I’m looking to steal their ideas. Our goal is to offer the first-ever Mustang Awakening next Fall. And after all, it was a transformative experience for our own Erin Duffy, a Wash U. alumna. Get to know her and you’ll know what I mean.

• Then there’s our new library in the Upper Room at the Catholic Center which is stocked with books with titles like, “A Retreat with Catherine of Siena, Living the Truth in Love” or “A Retreat with Patrick, Discovering God in All” just to name two of the dozen or so books like these that combine writings from the lives of spiritual guides and saints, biographical information, prayers and questions to ponder.  Each book is broken up in to chapters designed to be easy to read each day in less than 20 minutes. Check one out.

    When I hear “retreat” it often conjures up negative images of icebreakers at 8th grade lock-ins or smoky campfires and musty bunk beds. Or even worse: someone asking me to talk about my feelings.  More than anything, restless soul that I am, I resist the idea of “retreating” altogether. Why should I retreat, back down, surrender when I want to move forward, advance, get ahead? In our go-go-go culture, the idea of getting away on a retreat seems downright ancient.
    And that might be the point. It is ancient because God has wired each of us up with the inherent desire for the Good Life. The problem is that our idea of the Good Life is up for grabs. There are plenty of conflicting opinions on what makes the Good Life so good and even more theories on how to get it.  What can make a retreat so powerful is its ability to help us hit the reset button in our lives, clear out the competing images and inclinations. When we take the time to hear each others’ personal stories, open up to someone new, experience the true freedom that comes from letting go we catch a glimpse of the Good Life the way God intends it. A retreat helps by giving us a tiny sample, a hint of what could be. It gets us into a new rhythm, even if just for a brief time. But that rhythm is meant to be played with others back in the Real World, not left and longed for in the retreat world. Getting away helps us find it, getting together helps us keep it.