My first retreat
When I was asked to share my thoughts and experiences of retreats, very limited though they are, I almost ran from the invitation. Not that I've been forced in any way to share, just I would not be confident of the fact that it was a religious enough experience to share.
To start with, I didn't go completely independently, my mother suggested I go, I agreed, if with a little scepticism, it was the weekend after one of the most stressful weeks in work and a room to myself with warm meals sounded too good to pass up! Anyway, to continue, the drive up from work to Lismullen consisted of a lot of self-talk, mainly what am I after signing myself up for? By the time the journey ended and I'd reached my destination I'd talked myself into at least going to one Mass and avoiding the Holy-Joes at all costs, to avoid awkward, I thought, indoctrination attempting conversation. How misled was I?
At the door I received the warmest of welcomes, they knew my name because they'd known my mother for years, now that being said, there was a lot of "I haven't seen you since you were a baby" (I was 24 at the time!!), but nothing religion related. I was shown my bedroom and I was told that the timetable for the retreat would be given out during a little chat at 9pm. I went to that, it was informative, we were provided with the names of some texts we might want to read during our free times, given prints out of the schedule and then we were free to do as we wished. So far, so good!
The following day, there were talks to attend, Benediction and Mass. I found the talks interesting, at points I struggled not to make a comment during them, but at the time I wasn’t aware of how welcome conversation is in Lismullin. I found the first day somewhat difficult to navigate, I like to talk, I enjoy very little else more than opening up a conversation with others about topics of interest. But, after a while you get used talking less, being in your own head, reading and informing yourself on the topics of the retreat and just taking some relaxation time. For any among you who, like me, enjoy an aul cupán tae like seven million times during the day, the facilities are there for those also.
During my first retreat, surprisingly, I found enormous comfort in that silence and the challenges that this silence provided for me. I found that being provided with reading materials relevant to the theme of the retreat was very beneficial and thought provoking. So much so, I decided to inform myself more on the Catholic faith and what it means to others as I watched people engrossed in their love of their Faith, unwavering and I was interested in seeing how to go about getting it.
My over all experience of my first retreat is something that will stay with me. And what I think really helped it to be so productive is the open(-ish) mind I went in with. My advice for people who are coming on the 21-23rd of February is to not put pressure on yourself, be it your first retreat or your hundredth and first, do not put pressure on yourself to come out the other side feeling anything other than relaxed and a little bit more informed on the topic of the retreat. I promise that this is the best way! When you get through the door and have spent time in contemplation having participated in however much of the materials you wish to, then, a bit of excellent advice that was given to me, write down three ACHIEVABLE targets for you in your faith journey. I emphasise achievable for you, make sure you won’t become overwhelmed and lose hope and interest. After that I suggest to ask as many questions as you need to, we will all be there together to help and discuss whatever you need, there will be a priest available too should you require his assistance.