The continuing importance of going on retreat is examined by

two writers, the first (left), a clergyman who prefers to be anonymous
Decisions on priorities
AFTER many years, I recently went on retreat again. The experience surprised me as, for a variety of reasons, I was not prepared for what I found and had I had a better idea about the form of retreat (or of course, seen the timetable!) the experience would have been a lot more valuable than it was.
I am deliberately not saying where or with whom the retreat took place, except to say that it was with a religious community, and that it had a specific theme.
The conductor of the retreat was a man of great spiritual depth and experience; the talks he gave were interesting, challenging and conducive to spiritual growth. So why complain?
The problem was that I did not really know what to expect. I was not prepared for the lack of guidance about how to use the retreat and, in particular, I was not prepared for the amount of free time, or "space" as it was called. My idea of going on the retreat was to increase and deepen my spiritual life, and to practice prayer (especially mental prayer) and meditation.
So, unprepared as I was, I made my first mistake (if it was a mistake) by meeting and chatting to the other retreatments.
The following day there was only one talk between breakfast at 8 am and Mass at noon and 1 found it difficult to "escape" from the people I had met the previous night.
After Mass came lunch followed by another short meditation and then we were free until 5.30 pm, although there was opportunity for confession and counselling. In the evening there was supper followed by a talk and then the bar was open again and the Friday night pattern was repeated. So far as Sunday was concerned we had one scheduled address and one short unscheduled talk (by request) followed by Mass.
Obviously, my complaint about "space" and lack of direction could easily be equated with my own weakness and lack of resolve to use the retreat properly. While I am prepared to accept that criticism I think it important that retreateants, especially those going on retreat for the first time, should know something beforehand about the pattern of the retreat they are going to attend.