Retreat

It was great, but a casual observer would probably raise his eyebrows over my descriptions. Everyone except Louise and I knew each other. They all come from the same region: PA, NY, NJ and Conn. They hadn't seen each other since last year, so they had a lot of catching up to do. Louise and I were new, so we had a lot of getting acquainted to do. IOW, forget the "silent" in this silent retreat. Each day ended with a social, which meant a lot of wine drinking. I couldn't believe the bottles of wine they polished off!
Praying was intense. I guess you could say they played hard and prayed hard. Saturday we prayed all four mysteries of the Rosary, by the end of the day. LOH was prayed, and of course Mass. There was time for Adoration, and Confession, too.
The retreat Master was Fr. Lawrence Donohoo, O.P. His theme was "Knowing and Loving" God. He is in the process of writing a book on his 21 ways of loving God -- or something like that. I could relate to his theme because as my eye is healing, I am seeing more and more, which I likened to knowing God's creation more and more, leading me to loving Him more and more.
Coming home, Louise and I were assessing our feelings about the retreat. We concluded that never mind the spiritual aspect, the community aspect gave us such a shot in the arm that our spirituality was deepened, our vocation was rejuvenated, and our faith was deepened. What more do you want?