Retreat Reflections

Dear Parishioners,

I went on my annual retreat recently.  Every year priests are required by canon law to take at least four days of retreat. I do not see it as an obligation but as something to look forward to. I like a longer retreat (this year was only 5 days) and I like a silent retreat. I left the busy life here at Sacred Heart to do nothing but listen to the Lord and speak to him about my challenges.

I needed a change of scenery. I have always had a strange idea of how to relax and rejuvenate myself. Most people enjoy traveling to exotic places or going on pilgrimages halfway around the world. I prefer taking another type of journey, a journey within. It is a short trip from head to heart or from heart to head but in many ways, it is the longest journey of all.

I always wondered what the Creighton Retreat Center would be like. I received a spirituality degree in the 1990’s from Creighton but I never went to their retreat center, in Griswold, Iowa. I was responsible to feed myself and to keep a loose schedule. I had a spiritual director who I spoke to once a day for about an hour after Mass. The rest of the time was spent in prayerful reflection. I also read and slept a lot.

The retreat center turned out to be a converted Boy Scout Camp. If you want to find Griswold, go nowhere and then go about ten miles beyond that. The hermitage I stayed in was comfortable but certainly not plush. There was a nice chapel looking out into the woods that completely surrounded the retreat center.

I wondered what the week would be like. I then met my director, Fr. Bob Dufford S.J. If you ever have sung “Be Not Afraid,” he composed it. He is a very talented man. He is a very intelligent man. But most importantly, he is a holy man. He is in his 80’s now. My time in the woods was uplifting. He helped me get my bearings and adjust my spiritual eyesight. We talked about the things that were within me and we conversed heart to heart. We shared our experiences of ministry. It was a wonderful journey.

I found out, once again, that the biggest treasures are not made of silver or gold, or chips and plastic, but are made of flesh and blood and soul and spirit. I thank the Lord that I was taught that lesson one more time. I trust your summer has offered a similar experience of rest and rejuvenation. Fall is on the way.

Blessings,

Fr. Mark