I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my husband was at the National Eucharistic Congress, and one of many people deeply moved by what they saw as a mighty move of God in that week. I was moved even viewing and praying online! In the meantime, I was home with our kids, and working and praying through the Congress.

He came back, and I left to have my own planned time away: I drove to a 48 hour silent retreat at New Melleray Abbey in Northeast Iowa.

A little different from the Congress…it was short about 49,970 people.

Can you hear the silence?

I knew I needed a retreat to transition from my full time work as Director of Missionary Discipleship to my full time work as Executive Director of The Mark 5:19 Project. Rest was part of it, but more importantly, it was God. Nothing but God. Who alone is enough.

Strip the social media, the news, the to-do list, the interruptions. Scrap the air conditioning (mild yikes here), the meal preferences, the little treats of the day, the lure of entertainment. 

Replace it with the Church’s prayer at set times each day, birdsong, quiet, a chair, a bed, and all eyes around you on GOD.

I tell you, silence is a teacher. Silence teaches us how we distract ourselves to avoid eye contact with God. And this is why I think everyone should do a silent retreat at least once, to find out.

But most importantly, taking time for retreat in a sacred space (whether is it at a monastery once a year, or an hour a week at your Church) brings you face to face with God.

We need this, badly. We live in a culture that rewards outrage, distraction, and entertainment. None of these are good for us as a constant diet. They cannot fill us. They can become idols.

Maybe this is why, when we get plunged into holy silence, we struggle to meet God’s loving gaze.

Yet it becomes clear–God alone is enough.

I re-read Fr. Jacques Phillippe’s Searching for and Maintaining Peace, a true spiritual classic. We live in a culture and constantly tempts us to lose our peace. While there are circumstances where the inclination to “lose peace” is natural (illness of a loved one, suffering violence), it is still a temptation to live outside of the peace of Christ, which he offers us continually. Peace is where we find God’s love for us and others. 

I suspect we will be tempted greatly in the next few months to abandon our supernatural peace for the thin gruel of breaking news, busyness, and outrage. We can start by anchoring ourselves in that peace daily through prayer. As excited as I am about the year of mission of the Eucharistic Revival, this year of mission MUST be anchored in peace. It is one of the greatest gifts we can communicate with others. Being an ambassador of Christ means living in and communicating his peace to all. That peace attracts and converts. But we need to live in it and pray for it.

God alone is the source of our peace. And it is easiest to discover that he has been waiting for you when you choose to live in the silence.