Many years ago, I was on a retreat with a pastoral council. In the evening, someone put in the movie, “Into Great Silence”. It was filmed in the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery nestled deep in the French Alps. For approximately six months, the filmmaker immersed himself in the daily rituals, prayers and tasks performed by the Carthusian monks, considered to be among the most ascetic of all orders. The majority of their lives and the film was silent. Most people on the retreat couldn’t watch the full movie. However, I was enthralled by it. Today I talked with a woman who recently made a 5-day silent retreat. She said she usually does a silent retreat for 8 days. I couldn’t even imagine. Her retreat was led by her spiritual director via the Internet. She did actually speak to him a couple of times as a check in. She said her time was spent Jesus. She was in Eucharist Adoration for several hours. Some time was spent walking, but even then she was praying. She said by the time dinner finished, she was exhausted. So she did some light reading, which was about Catholicism and the New Testament. But, she said she loved every minute of her time away with Jesus. She highly recommended I take one. Perhaps some day I will.

I Found God today in a woman’s faith.