Why go on retreat? And, Lent comes to and end

Friends, my latest article is up at Catholic Stand, Why go on retreat? It contains my own reflections on the experience of being on retreat, specifically contemplative prayer retreats, and why going on retreat is not just for religious people. Have a read!

I will be joining the Morning Air show this Tuesday, 4/4 at 7:10 am eastern, though topic to be determined. You can listen here.

And, Lent is drawing close to its end, which will be next Thursday - Holy Thursday. How was your Lent? Do you even know, yet?

I took a different approach this year and ended up focusing much more on love than on penance. I began it with a retreat about the writings of Julian of Norwich, and she focused on the incomprehensible nature of God’s love. And I thought - that’s what’s going to bring me closer to God this Lent, not an inordinate amount of fasting. And, it did. It is strange to have someone speaking to you through the ages, through her writings written while living in a sealed cell, in another time and place, yet so relevant and real for today.

Lent is different for each person. The ways in which we draw close to God, and he draws us close to him, will differ not only person to person, but year to year. Perhaps next year I will want to be more penitential. So it goes. And perhaps you did something small, and your neighbor did something big. Good! God takes all we give Him - in love.

May you have a fruitful and deep Holy Week.