Spiritual Retreat


12: “Spiritual Retreat”
Taking time to simply turn inward can be transformative, especially if we, as teachers, help students to make this a habit. (photo P. Smith)

                This is one of the longer “articles” included in De Sales’ book. Indeed, he does call spiritual retreat “one of the most certain means to spiritual advancement.” If we are serious about pursuing the devout life, we must be engaged in the practice of retreat. At first, we may think he is referring to a multi-day retreat to a cabin somewhere to practice spiritual exercises, but De Sales is actually referring to an inward retreat. He tells us that when we learn to go into our hearts to consider the presence and the Love of Jesus, we can dive more deeply into the devout life.  He tells us  “to retire at various times into the solitude of your own heart”. That means that retreat can occur anywhere at any time, and “our tasks are seldom so important as to keep us” from retreating into the presence of Jesus in our heart. AS teachers, perhaps the best thing we can do for our students is to help them develop the habit of “withdraw[ing] your spirit from time to time into your heart…”.

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