GERMANY, Matthias Hülfenhaus •
Take yourself out of the stress of your everyday working life. Find time for yourself and for God, and to receive nourishment for mind and soul: that was the offer of the silent retreat for leaders that took place from 1-5 December 2019 in the House of the Family, in Memholz, with seven participants. —
The beneficial basic structure of the days consisted in Morning Prayer, times of silence, Mass and Eucharistic Adoration. In the mornings and afternoons Fr Michael Hagan ISch gave impulses for our personal reflection. The meadows, woods and mountains of the Allgäu invited us to walk and relax; the peace and the good catering in the House of the Family saw to the necessary framework.
Inner experiences of the soul
Fr Michael led the participants away from the outward stresses to the inner experiences of the soul that were awake and alive at that moment: away from confusion about the self to discovery of the self. – acceptance and formation. How does conscious living with God succeed in the hectic pace of an everyday leader’s life? What Weltanschauung (philosophy or outlook on life and the world) and what picture of leadership does Fr Kentenich’s pedagogy offer for a God-oriented culture of leadership? There were a number of suggestions for answers to this and other questions on offer for our personal growth and deepening of our relationship with God.
At the end one of the participants hit the nail on the head when he said: “These five days here are more valuable to me than five weeks of vacation in the Caribbean!”
The date for the next silent retreat for leaders was immediately agreed on: 29 November – 3 December 2020, again in Memholz.
Photos: Matthias Hülfenhaus
Original: German. Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, UK
