My Retreat

I look forward to going on a retreat each year.  According to our Franciscan Rule of Life, making a retreat is a six-day silent one.  A retreat for me is a time ‘to rest in the Lord’, a kind of lengthened Sabbath.   In June, I decided on a Jesuit retreat center in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  It was a good place; thirty-seven acres of peace and quiet.  It takes me one day to enter into the spirit of the retreat. A typical day offers two conferences, celebration of the liturgy, a devotional practice and other optional things, such as a visit with the retreat director and/or reconciliation.  In the evenings, I like to read a book.

My book companion for my retreat was: John Henry Newman, His Inner Life by Dr. Zeno.  What made me wish to learn more about Newman is that he stood for the supremacy of conscience.  I present this class of conscience formation to the RCIA.  The Catholic Catechism makes reference to his prophetic voice.

John Henry Newman was born in London, England in 1801, the eldest son of six children. The family was raised in the Anglican Church with the Bible, catechism and Sunday services. At the age of twenty-four, he was ordained an Anglican priest at Trinity College in Oxford.  He performed his duties as a parish priest with great zeal. His famous sermons reawakened the religious spirit of the time and changed the atmosphere of Oxford. Newman studied the Fathers of the Church that taught him the great value of oral Tradition.  In 1839, it became clear to him that the Church of Rome was the Church of the Apostles.

The inner Voice became louder and louder. In the evening of October 9, 1845, John Henry Newman professed his faith in the Roman Catholic Church. Throughout his life, he continued to write about the Church. When he reached his seventy-eight birthday, he traveled to Rome to receive the Cardinal’s hat.  The beatification of Cardinal John Newman is imminent.

In reading his biography, I was struck by the intense awareness of the invisible world in the life of Newman. He had a great love for Christ and rejoiced in the God’s Providence and the Communion of Saints.  He suffered many trials and the loss of Anglican friends. You may be familiar with the poem that John Henry Newman wrote of his unconditional surrender to God.   What line speaks to you?

Lead Kindly Light
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark and I am far from home –
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet: I do not ask to see
The distant scene-one step enough for me.

Sister Ellen Cmiel, osf

Published in Bulletin: August 1st, 2010