Journeys of a Catholic Poster Girl

(First in a series)

I hate the song “I Enjoy Being A Girl.” As far as musical theater songs go, it may be one of the most insipid.

I do, however, enjoy being a woman. And after spending the weekend with 30 faith-filled women in silent retreat, I think I enjoy it even more.

Long time readers may remember my first silent retreat, back in 2007. I cannot believe it’s been four years, especially when I consider how grace-filled the experience is!

So that’s my first piece of advice: If you have the opportunity to take a retreat, especially a silent one, do it. Really! This is not just something for young single women. The youngest person in our group was in high school, and the oldest was a grandmother of 17! We had one woman who was pregnant with her first child, a woman who has been married for a year, women from Dayton and Zanesville and Chillicothe (all about an hour away from Columbus). For one weekend–from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon–your family can handle themselves. And the rewards you reap will give back to you–and them–100 fold!

The theme of the retreat was The Dignity and Vocation of Women, using John Paul II’s Mulieris Dignitatem (The Dignity and Vocation of Women). Go on and read it…I’ll wait here.

(more after the jump )

That document is so rich, no? So much is there for us to pray upon and ponder! We did that all weekend, and we barely touched the surface of the Pope’s wise and rich letter. Print out a copy and pray on it during your prayer time.

Our retreat was led by two Dominican friars, one of whom led the retreat in 2007. Since I now attend a parish that is served by Dominican Friars, I knew we’d be in for a rewarding time of prayer and study. The Dominicans are the “Order of Preachers”, and boy can they preach! Study is also another part of the Dominican charism, so they had prepared extensively for the five conferences they would give us.  To receive that much insight and learning was a real pleasure. I’ll be pulling from my notes, my journal entries, and my experiences throughout this journal series. Today I’ll take you up to the first conference on Friday evening.

I arrived at the retreat house around 4:45–check in began at 5:30, but when I got home I just couldn’t wait to get there! I registered, received my room assignment and my program for the weekend. We would have five conferences, given by the retreat leaders, plus daily Mass, group recitation of the rosary and Divine Mercy chapelet, morning and evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours (what a great treat for me, to know that my saying of the office would be in community. I love doing it in community. And what a treat for the women who had never said the Liturgy of the Hours! It’s a wonderful, rich prayer.)

But the highlight would be Eucharistic Adoration on Saturday evening, into Sunday morning. We would adore communally for an hour, and then there were one hour slots throughout the night. I know that I do my best prayer–and hear God the clearest–in adoration.

But it was not all scheduled–we had plenty of time for silent, individual prayer. St. Therese’s is set among beautiful grounds, and the center itself is rather large, so there were plenty of places to go and be alone.

After settling into my room, I went out to the main conference room and began to read one of the books I’d brought (Going on Retreat, by Margaret Silf– A great book for beginning retreatants.) Silence didn’t begin until after dinner, so there was some talking going on, and a beautiful sacred hymns CD was playing in the background. Hearing tantum ego really sets up a prayerful atmosphere.

At 6:00 we were greeted by Nancy M., the president of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) who was putting on this retreat. It’s something they do annually in April, so if you’re a member of our diocese, write a reminder to attend next year! Maria H. was the retreat director, and she followed Nancy with an outline of the program as well as a few housekeeping rules. Silence was to be kept in the house and the chapel; if we wished to talk, we could use the blue lounge by the dining room, or go outside. She also said that there would be time for confessions and conferences with the brothers in the chapel.

Dinner was wonderful, as usual. If you need more reason to attend a retreat—the food is great. Homebaked bread was a staple of every meal, as well as vegetables and dessert. Dinner that night was pot roast and the best mashed potatoes I’d ever had, plus a lemon meringue cake to die for. Coffee, tea and water were available to drink–no soda or junk food until Saturday’s social!

After dinner, silence began, and Fr. Jordan, the retreat director, led the first conference in the main conference room.

Next: Notes from the first conference, Night prayer and Mass.

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