Retreat Revisited

OK, I think it's been long enough for me to pull my thoughts together and share with you what I learned on my Cursillio retreat. This Thanksgiving weekend reminded me how thankful I am to have experienced such a beautiful time away with the Lord. A person should really participate in a retreat every year to simply be still and be reminded that God is God. I have to honestly say that I went into the retreat with fairly low expectations and selfish motives. I had done many SEARCH retreats in high school which follow a very similar format to the Cursillo retreats, so I thought that I knew all the “surprises” to expect. I also felt that I already had an intimate relationship with Jesus, so I was mainly attending the retreat to “escape” from my motherhood routine and responsibilities for a few days (is that so wrong?).

Well, I have to say that I truly was surprised by what God whispered in my heart over the weekend. He exceeded my expectations in ways I did not expect. He showed me that I still have a lot to learn about loving Him and the depth of His love for me. He showed me many souls who were completely broken when they came on the retreat and who were healed with His love and grace by the end of the weekend. He also showed me that He wants me to be His hands and reach out to those broken souls too. He showed me that I am His bride when I come to the altar to receive Him in the Eucharist. He showed me that He is truly present in the consecrated Host and that he wants me to consecrate my life to Him daily. He showed me how intensely my husband loves me and convicted me to be more thankful for him in my life. He showed me that my children can survive just fine without me and that I need to let them feel their daddy’s love by getting out of the way more often. :) He also showed me that I need to get out of the way in my marriage and let my husband be the spiritual head that God has called him to be. I am in awe by what God is doing in my heart and in my husband heart because of our Cursillo retreats. I am so thankful that Paul and I both said “yes” to the Cursillo experience so that we can share the fruits of it together. God is good. How refreshing to be reminded of that in such a real way. A couple of weeks have gone by since my retreat, and I can already feel Satan trying to steal away my joy. Please help me pray that I can continue to live out what I have learned and share the joy of the Lord with the world!