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CAREY, Ohio — More than 20 women gathered at the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation the first weekend of March for the sixth annual women’s retreat, sponsored by St. Mary Parish in Marblehead, Ohio, and directed by Father Marek Visnovsky, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Cleveland.
The retreat included prayer and liturgical services, interspersed with didactic sessions and quiet time for private prayer, reflection, and the sacrament of confession.
The focus of the retreat, titled “Good Thoughts and Internal Peace,” was silence.
The retreat master posed many questions to participants, including: What must I remove from my life, so that I am able to approach God? Am I able to remove the noise within me or the noise that surrounds me, so I can fill the silence with God? Do I practice the silence of my senses, especially of my eyes and ears? Do I cultivate “good thoughts” amid the noise of the world, so I am “one thought” away from God? Do I pray invoking the name of Jesus, especially the Jesus Prayer, so that I am able to calm my thoughts? When I pray, do I simply return to prayer when distracted or do I wonder why I was distracted and succumb to the “evil one?” Do I avail myself to that which the church offers to “quench” my “spiritual thirst,” in particular Eucharist and confession? Am I a “minimalist” doing only that which the church requires during Lent?
The questions led participants to deeper, sometimes soul-searching reflections. Retreatants received the book “The Power of Silence,” by Cardinal Robert Sarah.
Caption: Father Marek Visnovsky (center) poses with participants at the women’s retreat. (Photo: Michele Gallagher)
As published in Horizons, May 6, 2018.
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