Rest and Retreat

Chapter seven of The Monastery of the Heart is “Retreat and Reflection.” This, in essence, is what our little prayer group that meets on Wednesday nights is doing—retreating to reflect together on where we are versus where we want to be. As Chittister puts it,

This requires the cultivation

of a reflective soul

and a disciplined mind

that goes regularly into “retreat”—

into that space where we look,

first of all, at what we set out to be,

and then look consciously

at what we are now doing

to get there.

There is value in doing this together. There may be even more value in doing it alone. Both are necessary. Christian traditions of all kinds (not to mention other faiths) have always included a sort of “soul inspection,” often at the end of the day. All too often, this has become a self-flagellating catalogue of sins. Mind you, it’s important to look our sins squarely in the face. To confess them to ourselves, then to God, then to the person or persons we have harmed. But the inspection doesn’t end there.

In fact, perhaps it shouldn’t begin there. In the family book Making Heart Bread, authors Matthew Linn and Sheila Fabricant Linn speak of looking back at each day and asking what one is most grateful for first, letting the heart fill with that gratitude and love. Then, they say, one feels safer and is now ready to look at what one was least grateful for, or most troubled about, and care for those feelings.

In the context of soul-searching, if I look at the moments when my soul did follow the Holy Spirit to the best of its ability first, then of course I will be filled with joy and gratitude, because I know those moments were of God, not of me! Now, if I am also aware of moments when I failed to follow the Spirit, I can feel the regret and remorse without feeling overwhelmed or shamed or blamed, which is far more helpful in determining how to make restitution, if possible, and how to do better next time.

Retreat time is the flagship piece of the year

that sets the standard

for a rhythm of life that moves seamlessly

between contemplation and action,

between work and Sabbath,

between a regular retreat

and reflection days

throughout the year.

The Creator designed a life that would have these retreats built in: daily at morning and evening worship time, weekly on the seventh day, and several times a year during fasts and feasts. Why would we rob ourselves of these healing times?