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PUBLISHER: Bishop James P. Powers EDITOR/REPORTER: Anita Draper REPORTER: Jenny Snarski ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR/ OFFICE MANAGER: Marcy Kasper The Diocese of Superior Catholic Herald is the official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Superior. It was established as The Catholic Herald Cit- izen by Bishop Albert G. Meyer in 1953. According to diocesan policy, all registered parishioners are to receive the Superior Catholic Herald. To sub- scribe, contact your parish. Those not registered in a parish may subscribe by sending $33 to the Superior Catholic Herald, P.O. Box 969, Superior, WI 54880. All correspondence should be mailed to this address. SUBSCRIBERS : When submitting a change of address, allow 10 days for processing. Send both old and new address and computer number locat- ed on address label. Diocese of Superior Catholic Herald (USPS 012744) is published bi-week- ly by Wisconsin Catholic Media Apostolate, 3501 S. Lake Dr., Milwaukee, WI 53235-0913. Periodical postage paid at Milwaukee, WI and additional offices. POSTMASTER : Send address changes to the Diocese of Superior Catholic Herald, P.O. Box 070913, Milwaukee, WI 53207-0913
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efore you start reading this column, Id like to ask you to grab some paper and something to write with. Were going to do a short exercise. In fact, exercise is where were going to start. What concepts and feelings does the word exercise conjure up? Positive or negative? Some- thing you want more or less of? Pain or possibility? The word itself has multiple definitions, both as a noun and verb. What strikes me is that in both forms it is directed towards something - realizing an action, carrying something out, move- ment and development and an element of training. Now lets take the word retreat and do the same. Note down the images, descriptors, feelings and understanding you have of that concept. Retreat is also both noun and verb, and while the dic- tionary definitions center on withdrawing and pulling back, in the spiritual sense it is definitely a synonym of exercise. In its fullest sense - and here its military meaning is particu- larly apt - retreat is a regroup- ing, a pulling back in order to push forward more effectively. To retreat is not a sign of defeat, but an acknowledgment that we need to withdraw from one battle with hopes of still winning the war. And if we do not or cannot recognize that we are in fact en- gaged in battles - in our spirits, in our minds, in our families, with our morals and against societal ills - then go ahead and put your pen down and walk away from this column. If you are engaged in this sense of retreat and exercise, congratulations on acknowl- edging reality and truth and wanting more out of this life and the next. Now take a deep breath and lets get planning the next move. One. If you have never at- tended or participated in a spir- itual retreat of any form, then your first step is just that. Make some sort, any sort, of retreat. Experience taking that step away from daily life for renewal and inspiration and explore just what possibilities might await you. Most typically a retreat is a gathering of like-minded people receiving presentations and preaching around a certain sub- ject or topic. There are retreats focused more on spirituality and prayer, but others can center on development and growth. They can involve a time commitment of just a few hours up to a week- end in most cases. Two. If getting away for any length of time from your daily life and responsibilities is really not possible, then please, please reassess what in your life and responsibilities you truly cannot set aside for even a few hours. (Parents - yes, you will need to ask for help but think about how glad you are at times to be able to help others. Give some- one or some few that chance. Be simple and ask for some help with your family duties.) Three. If no in-person retreats are available in your area, look for a self-directed, book-style retreat or something online. Especially in the last two years, many options have popped up for a long-distance experience. Both offer flexibility amid busy schedules. From personal experience, nothing can replace the gather- ing to retreat with others where there is sharing and relation- ship-building. If a format from home is your only option, invite a friend or a small group to share the experience. Four. If you have attended a directed retreat, I invite you to seek the opportunity to make a silent retreat. A silent retreat - most traditionally an Igna- tian-style spiritual exercises - doesnt mean absolute silence. It means that among the partici- pants there is less verbal inter- action, but the retreat director preaches talks and meditations. I promise youll be surprised at how exterior silence leads to rich interior conversations, with God and ourselves. That prom- ise is made from having had the blessing of multiple weekend spiritual exercises and a handful of eight-day silent retreats. Five. For those of you who have trained at that level, what next? What further development and growth, regrouping and regeneration can be discovered? What I have explored in re- cent years are personal retreats in solitude. A getaway alone to a simple cabin with a book or on- line format as a backdrop. Even without much more than hiking shoes, a Bible and a book, a few days of solitude with God can open up new worlds we never knew existed - inside ourselves and realms of possibility in our relationship with God. Purposeful solitude provides space for listening, being led, reflecting on God's action in our life, interior healing, insight into why, where and how we retreat (in the waving-our-white-flag sense) - the same pulling back to retreat in order to re-engage with the graces and growth Providence puts on our path. Well end with one last paper-and-pen exercise. Take the words grace and growth, repeat the initial steps we made with exercise and retreat. Life doesnt stand still. Every day we face challenges, fall and get up again, cry tears of pain and joy. Grace and growth can be our constant companions. In fact, they are gifts God longs for us to receive. Retreat exercises are a solid program of strength and condi- tioning, both for the uninitiated and the seasoned retreatants. Any good retreat will ensure that participants leave with reso- lutions for action. Imagine a belt full of tools or a large receptacle that one fills during a retreat, a quiver full of experience that can be drawn on and used in daily life. However, tools wear out and sometimes break. Water (or wine) runs out, gets stale so the last exercise here is to write down a date for (and maybe with) yourself. You likely cannot schedule your next retreat this very moment, but add it to your pending list. Encountering each of us in a personal way is No. 1 on Gods daily to-dos. If we can make some time and space for him to break through into our routines, theres no telling what grace and growth await us.
Grace and growth: The exercise of retreats
Together on the Journey
Jenny Snarski
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Go to page 12 for a listing of local retreats
Feb. 17, 2022
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