Going on retreat!

I''m about to leave for an 8 day retreat at Eastern Point Retreat House, on the coast in Gloucester, MA.  Over the years I've made many retreats here, the first being 51 years ago, my ordination retreat in 1973. 

 

I'll be making a directed retreat which means the 8 days will be spent in silence, broken only by a daily conversation with my retreat director and with prayer and song at Mass each day.  The house rule for the rest of the time is silence, including meal times in the dining room.

 

People often ask if I find the silence difficult to handle: not at all!  I find the quiet to be a peaceful stillness that restores my soul and refreshes my prayer and my relationship with Jesus.

 

What does one do with all that silent time on a directed retreat?  It's time to slow down, rest, pray, renew, read, reflect, pray, ponder, remember, wonder, pray - and to see a little more clearly, a little more deeply, how the Lord is moving and wants to move in my life...  I need and look forward to all of that!

While I'm on retreat I'll post here as the Spirit moves me - but I'm fairly certainly the Spirit won't nudge me more than once a day!

Here's an old photo I took of the chapel in the main house at Eastern Point.  (That's the tabernacle in the center; the windows overlook the rocks and the ocean; and there are chairs all around the perimeter of the room.)  I'll be praying for you in this simple beautiful chapel and would be grateful for your prayers for me in return.

 

Chapel at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester

 

 

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