Thursday, March 17, 2011

Hermione Granger on retreat?

So what does will your retreat schedule look like? ..asked my non Catholic friend.

Here is a day.

7.30 am Divine Office of Matins and Lauds
8.00.     Breakfast
9.15.     Conference then Offices of Prime and Terce
10.45.    Mass in the Extraordinary Form
12.30 pm Lunch
4.30.      Confession
5.00.      Sermon and Divine Offices of Sext and None then the Angelus
6.00.      Dinner
7.15.      Vespers, Holy Hour, private prayer, confession, Benediction
8.45.      Compline

And we observe the rule of silence. 

"Wisdom enters through love, silence, and mortification . It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others," St John of the Cross

Time to pray, rest, walk, read, think, reflect, connect and write. Because it is in writing that I think and reflect.

And we are praying through and working through some of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola.

Yes, even me, the  "late" retreatant.

"Each one must probe the depths of his heart to feel what it is that prevents him from finding God in peace - that is from going straight to Him and cleaving wholly to Him." The spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius...The Three Classes of Man.

And I am resisting the urge to bring my To Do List Mentality to this retreat. Because  it is so easy for me to plan my time and my prayer and my walk/exercise and my spiritual journaling and my good resolutions, and write them in my book, and cross off what I have "achieved"... When what I really want to do is listen to Our Lord. That interior mortification.

High achiever, list oriented, organized Hermione Granger twin meets God. On His terms. Not hers.

2 comments:

Sue Elvis said...

Can I show my ignorance and ask who Hermione Granger is? Perhaps I won't as I might look silly.

Where are you going for the retreat, Leonie? I haven't been on a retreat for ages (except for family retreats). Last time I went on a mothers' retreat I took a 12 month old baby along with me. It was a silent retreat and Fr warned me that my baby would need to be silent too. I was so relieved to come home after 3 days of trying to stop my daughter from babbling at the top of her voice! Enjoy your listening time.

Cindy said...

Hi Leonie,

So glad you are on retreat. I savor mine and I will pray your heart is happy and relaxed and open to all the graces!