Four Catholic priests shared their reflections in response to a simple but very important question for religious life: why go on a spiritual retreat?
Father Antonio Domenech Guillén, a priest in the Diocese of Cuenca, Spain, said: “Retreats are always valuable, especially during Lent and Easter, which are intense times that help us draw our hearts closer to the Lord.” Ta.
“We always need it,” he said.
“Jesus says in the Gospel, “The healthy do not need a doctor, only the sick.” If we recognize that we are sick, the Lord will heal us every day. He will heal you, and a good way is to go to a retreat.”Just as people go to the hospital and see the doctor, they seek to be healed.
“If you give your time to God, He will multiply it like any other spiritual possession.
“The material things we give up are divided.
“If you divide firewood in half with your neighbors, you will get half the firewood. If you divide your inheritance with your siblings, your inheritance will be reduced.”
But, he said, “In all spiritual things, such as faith, hope, and love, the more you give, the more you receive.”
“And if we give time to the Lord, He will make it bear fruit, because He does not allow us to be defeated in generosity,” he said.
Father Guillermo Serra, a lecturer and author, expressed similar thoughts.
“A retreat is a moment of personal, uninterrupted encounter with God and in God with oneself over an extended period of time,” he told CNA’s Spanish-language news partner ACI Plensa. There is,” he explained.
“We live very hurried and sometimes superficial lives,” he said.
“There are so many external demands and expectations that prevent us from hearing God’s voice and our own inner voice.
“Setting time for retreat allows us to hear God’s voice and see more clearly how He wants to be known, loved, and owned.”
Father Serra also emphasized the importance of silence during spiritual retreats, saying, “Silence is fundamental as the condition of the possibility of this encounter with the love of our life, our Creator and Savior. ” he said.
Retreats “fill us with life, and we return to our world with a sense of peace and transcendence, a greater generosity toward others,” he said.
For Father Francisco Javier “Pazzi” Broncharo, a priest and author from the Diocese of Getafe in Spain, the “desert” experience is important.
“Going to a retreat is about going into that desert with God and with yourself and seeing what life is like in the light of God’s Word,” he said.
“We often hurt ourselves when we see how our lives are going through our own eyes or through the eyes of others.”
On the other hand, at a retreat, “we put God in our lives so that our faith matures, we grow deeper in our faith, and we hear what the Lord is saying to us in the concrete events that we experience.” “You can see what’s going on,” he said.
“Participating in a retreat means falling apart,” said Father Juan Solana, founder and director of the Magdalene Center, which is currently offering virtual retreats in the Holy Land.
“…You don’t fall apart to escape the world, to escape the world.
“On the contrary, the concept of a retreat in the Christian life is to step away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and devote yourself more intensely to prayer and an encounter with God.
“It’s like when you climb a mountain and see a complete panorama of everything. From above, you can see clearly, but when you’re walking down the valley, you lose perspective of a lot of things.”
He pointed out that in addition to encountering God, during the retreat “we also encounter ourselves,” since we often live our lives out of touch with ourselves.
