Tagged: Retreat

I am finally getting what prayer is. On a recent weekend retreat to the beautiful Gonzaga Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Massachusetts, I spent a lot of time in adoration in the lovely chapels.

 

One evening as I sat with the Lord, I tried to quiet the turmoil within me.  God does not need a lot of words, I told myself.  He already knows what’s in your heart and what your needs are.   I remembered the advice of a wonderful retreat leader from several years back.   He said just tell God you love him and thank him.   So instead of reciting learned prayers and a list of petitions, I said, “I love you,” and then added “thank you.”  I concluded with “I’m sorry.”  I sat quietly for a while and then imagined God’s response to my prayer.   “I love you, too”, and “you’re welcome,” he replied. And he ended with words that soothed my soul: “you’re forgiven.”

 

I knew I must have been on to something because I felt immediate peace.  Not the “flooding of peace” that you sometimes hear about when people say they have had an encounter with God, but a restful peace.  It was release and relief, a let go of some of the hurt within me.  Tears came—a lot of tears.  I remember the wetness as they flowed down my cheeks and onto my neck.  I did not feel the need to wipe them away, nor did I feel any embarrassment that others in the chapel would notice.  Something special had happened and the tears were a testimony. 

 

A little while later I went into Mary’s Chapel in the next room.  I pulled out my journal and wrote down my prayer.  Could it be that simple I wondered?  Yes.  Yes, it was that simple.  I did not always have to go into a lot of detail when I spoke with God.  Sometimes you may want or need to be specific but other times you are tired and your lists are too long and you worry about forgetting things.