Archive for March, 2007

Are nine retreats in one year enough?

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

As I sit down to write this latest installment, I am in the midst of preparations for the last of nine different retreats I am responsible for coordinating and sometimes personally leading (as in the case this week). In case you have not read some of my previous ramblings in the blog, I am the Campus Minister of a Catholic high school so each of these retreats not only involves a rowdy bunch of teenagers but also a captive group- that is they MUST go on the retreat. Fortunately, the response is overwhelmingly very positive and our programs have a strong reputation, but every retreat is a challenge, an adventure, and a marathon.

Having played a leadership role in so many retreats I have learned a bit about what it means to retreat and how this message can make sense even to a doubtful teen.

My favorite image to give teens is that of a battlefield. When someone retreats from battle, they are NOT giving up! They are stepping back bit, battered and bruised perhaps, but preparing to make a return. So it is on a religious retreat. The struggles of our life can leave us a little beat-up and weak, in need of”retreat”.

This paradigm of retreat gains deeper meaning from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 6:10-17 :

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Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

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As retreat leader, I cannot”make” them stronger and better prepared for life. However, I hope to show them this”armor”, the protection from evil and the power of the Truth.

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