I just had my annual closed retreat some days ago. It's always a very special time when one can afford to savor the joy and beauty of silence and the spirit of recollection, reflection, and discernment.
Silence helps one to see the basic structure of his mind, heart, and the objects to which they get oriented. This is where he sees whether these human powers are in their proper condition and are properly used.
They are supposed to be locked on God always, immersed in him even as we grapple with our earthly affairs. But if one does not take pains, they can dare to detach themselves from God and work on their own, an anomaly gripping many of us today.
Silence also facilitates internalizing things, attuning our senses and faculties to their proper object. It also merges us with the stream of time, allowing us to run from the present to the past and then to the future, rectifying and refocusing things along the way, until we reach the doorsteps of eternity and infinity itself.
The need for the spirit recollection during the retreat simply indicates that our life consists of different aspects and levels that we have to orchestrate to be able to reach our final end. We just cannot go about reacting spontaneously to things, depending solely on instincts and feelings. We are meant for something much, much more than these.
It's amazing that there are things that one can only see when one closes his eyes rather than when one's eyes are open. There are things that one can only feel and realize more vividly when one is kind of isolated rather than when one is the middle of people and things.
The days of closed retreat provide one with the occasion to see more closely and from different angles and in God's presence at one's inner life and the different aspects that it possesses. The content and workings of one's thoughts and desires become more palpable. The movements of one's heart get more felt.
Even when one has already developed a degree of contemplative life where one can readily discern God's will and ways in the different circumstances of one's daily life, one still can discover many other things and can enter and explore the more mysterious parts of life when one is in some spiritual retreat.
In a retreat, one's perception and understanding of things in general tend to get deeper and more extensive. Fresh, new insights come pouring in like rain. The finer points of what usually are taken for granted on ordinary days get more pronounced.
Especially these days when the pace of developments is increasingly fast, and more things are bombarded on us. Circumstances and situations can become more complex and complicated, the retreat provides a good time for one to sort out things with leisure, rooting them on a deeper source, and relating them to a higher purpose.
It's where one can regain his proper bearings emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. It's also where one can update himself with the new developments and monitor better the signs of the times and the evolving ethos.
The funny thing about the retreat is that while one is kind of removed from one's usual environment, one actually enjoys a greater sense of communion within himself, with others, with nature and with God ultimately. A stronger sense of intimacy is achieved.
His consciousness expands more widely somehow. His soul soars and flies. He never feels alone. In fact, he feels well accompanied, quite absorbed in a sort of spiritual adventure. One signa person is making a bad retreat is when he gets bored instead of excited.
The good thing about the retreat is that he gets another global review of the basic doctrine of the Christian faith. He gets to consider the many possible implications and consequences of that faith, thereby enriching his understanding of things.
With its essential feature of self-examination, one gets to see what he needs to do to improve and to grow in the virtues like faith, hope, charity, humility, patience, fortitude, prudence, and temperance.