The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on September 21st, 2022 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
Anyone who has received the gift of going on retreat recognizes how the practice of going to “a place apart” from regular life feels like a luxury.
Before I had children, eight-day retreats were more feasible. What a life! Slowing down; eating meals prepared for me by others; not worrying about what needs to get done each day; forgetting what time, or even day, it is. These are all part of the luxury of prayer on retreat.
Then, there are the fruits of retreat: finding my own rhythm and voice again, hearing the voice of God in new ways, feeling inspired about my place in the world, and seeing clearly again how I can serve. What abundance!
Indeed, coming away on retreat is a luxury. Yet, it seems that it is an essential luxury. When I taste the fruits of prayer while on retreat, I realize that this is how the whole of life should be, at least in fragments.
The real luxury of retreat is that it provides a container, or a lens of perspective, on the “whole picture.” Really, even amidst the fits and flux of daily life, there are small tastes of retreat in real life, albeit in smaller doses. Being on a retreat offers a big enough bite that I realize I am hungry for those fruits in all of life.
The luxury of the retreat experience reflects the essentials of good living. While I may not manage to experience all of the good life, all of the time, tasting the essentials through the luxury of prayer gives me permission to keep insisting on these essentials as the foundations of a good life.
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