My Tagaytay Retreat
Once,
Beethoven met a blind girl. He wanted to describe to her how the moon looks
like. Using music, the language he knew best, he composed the Moonlight Sonata.
Thanks to that desire, the blind girl, together with the entire world, can now
appreciate the beauty, the mystery and the soothing effect of the moon even
without using their sense of sight. I
also wish to describe a beautiful experience I recently had. But I cannot claim
mastery in any language, so I hope you bear with me as I attempt to describe my
experience with words. I had discovered a long time ago that I love writing but
I am still trying to convince writing to love me
Yearly,
I go on a retreat to pause and do an overhaul of my soul and also my body. In
this fast paced and frenzied world that we live in, I need this respite to see what
has been happening in my life – both seen and unseen by others, the past year.
This way, I understand myself more and get to synchronize my choices and
decisions with the path that my Creator and Lord has called me to take.
To
make a good retreat, one cannot just take care of the spirit. The body has to
be in it too. Ah, how I cherish those days when I had the luxury of an
eight-hour sleep! Moving about in Metro Manila 24/7, if I’m not so organized
(and I’m often not so organized),
hardly gives me a six-hours sleep daily. So I welcomed the long nights and the
cool temperature in Tagaytay. Oh, how I always looked forward to burrow and
dream under the thick blanket each night! The right amount and quality of sleep
kept me awake and alert during the day; enough to allow me to have a leisurely
conversation with my God about my frustrations and hurts and doubts and dreams
and loves. But it is not enough that I talk and talk and talk. I need a lot of
listening too. An adequate sleep may not be enough to do that. So the other measure
I took is to drink Batangas brewed coffee for breakfast and lunch together with
the healthy and interesting meals served to us. I also took advantage of having
a 30 minute jog every morning to facilitate better circulation of my usually languid
anemic blood.
Jogging
everyday is a taste of heaven. What with the fresh air and the relaxing
environment. While jogging along the paved running lane, I was welcomed by the
scent of the freshly cut grass on my first day. Also, I observed that the
formerly baby pine trees I appreciated the last time I was in Tagaytay have grown
tall enough to offer one some shade from the sun. Daily, my eyes also relished
the different shades of the mayana plant, the Australian bush and the violet,
pink, white, red and yellow colors of the tiny flowers along the way that
breaks the different hues of green that dominates the huge garden. It was very enjoyable
to jog while being kissed by the pleasant heat of the sun and end it with a flushed
face and a skin shining with perspiration without smelling like Grade one
pupils after their play.
With
lots of water and physical exercises, I had a good cleansing of my body. The
general confession I made on my first day of the retreat, on the other hand, cleansed
my spirit. All throughout, I also did a lot of spiritual exercises – daily Mass,
Holy Rosary, meditations, spiritual reading, listening to talks, contemplating
Christ’s Passion and Death during the Way of the Cross and a more prodding
during the examination of my conscience. These spiritual exercises left my
spirit looking forward to the challenges of the coming year. I still have the
same concerns at work, the same body to discipline everyday and the same swings
of emotions on certain moments but the retreat brought with it new hope, new
drive to struggle, and a renewed love for life.
Care
for a retreat too?
