Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 7 THE LAYMEN’S RETREAT -WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU. The first retreat for laymen in the history of the Diocese of Savannah will be held at St. Stanislaus College, Macon, Ga., from Thursday evening, July 7, to Sunday morning, July 10. The retreat will be given by Rev. J. J. McCreary, S. J., president of Immaculate Conception College, New Orleans, La., and one of the most eloquent of the Jesuit Fathers in the South. This will be the only retreat there this summer. Through the courtesy of the Jesuit Fathers, who have done everything possible to assist the Catholic Laymen s Association in arranging- the event, it will not be necessary to give more than one retreat to accommodate the men of the state. All applications for reservations must be in the hands of the Catholic Laymen’s Association by July BY A Beginning this month and continuing through the summer, Laymen’s Retreats will be conducted in va- rious parts of the country and thousands of men and women will withdraw for a time from the busy and distracting world to devote three or four days to the systematic practice of spiritual exercises. The object of these exercises is to help the retreatant to purify his heart, strengthen his soul and set his life m order, and every Catholic should welcome an op portunity to take stock of himself in this way, under the direction of an experienced and skillful instruc tor. j S m -foolish notion in the minds of many, and the devil is always eager to encourage its taK- mg root, that going into spiritual retreat smacks of the effeminate and, while it may be a good thing for pnests and nuns, and for little children making their first Holy Communion, perhaps for women and old men, a real grown-up man or a woman of affairs has no time” for such things. It is another phase of the old, old story,—Martha busy about the house hold, and Mary conversing at the feet of Jesus. Often, we hear such “strong-minded” persons ask ing: is the annual mission not enough? But a mis sion is no substitute for a retreat. Special drill exercises occasionally are not a substitute for a stated period in camp, when the atmosphere of army life can be imbibed and the spirit of the soldier be quickened.. No amount of training given in the midst of civil life, with all its distracting surround ings, can be considered sufficient to make a good soldier. And it is much the same with regard to the spiritual soldier. A mission is excellent; but it is nothing like a retreat. A mission sows the seed with abundance, but some fall among rocks and some among thorns and branches where some fall on good ground. A retreat prepares the ground. It does not merely bring new forces into the soul to contend with the forces of the world; it puts the world away. It puts the family and friends and society and busi ness and household cares and problems, apart. No mail to open, no newspapers to read, no telephones to answer, nobody to entertain, no markets to think of, no politics to argue about, no business in mind,— the whole world goes wagging on as if you were dead, and you order your life for a few days as if there were only you and God. This is a retreat. The Mission and the Retreat. The difference in results is the difference between a lively spurt of flame drenched with cold from all sides, and the glow of a slow fire in a warm dry room; the difference between a sickly green blade springing in the shadow of a great rock, and a robust plant spreading its branches under the open sun. In a mission, there is half an hour of earnest effort to fix attention on spiritual things, while the last half hour’s cares cling to the soul like barnacles, and the next half hour’s worries crowd up in the 1. Several have already been sent in, but about forty more are needed. A great deal depends on this, the first retreat. It must be a success. It is up to you to help us to make it a success—the men of the state by attending it, and the women by urging their men folks to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity for a spiritual taking of stock. That great son of Geor gia, Admiral Benson is a regular retreatant, and no one has ever accused him of being anything but a two-fisted, red-blooded man. T1 ?e writer of the following article had the honor ot attending the first laymen’s retreat ever conducted in America, held some years ago at St. Mary’s Col- iege, Kansas. Read what he has to say, and then sit down and write out your application. Don’t put it oft. r LAYMAN. mind clamoring to be soothed to rest. In a retreat, the hours succeed one another in silence. There is no rattling of trains, no hooting of cars, no buzz of business There are no engagements to be kept; no articles to purchase on the way home; no hurry to be on time for dinner. The mind is free. The soul moves in tranquility. The conscience grows search ing and powerful. The beauty and sweetness of things as God made them begin to appear. It dawns on J j® neart that order is indeed nature’s first law and disorder is ugliness and sin. The first day passes and night falls upon a soul that for the first time a l0 M g month is calm and serene. In the stiff deeper silence of sleep that follows, not only is ody res ted but the soul is refreshed,—because it has gone through one whole day without having constantly to defend itself against the world. But the soul is never idle. In its nature contemp lative and fruitful of thought, the freer it is the more fruitful it becomes. The second day of a re- treat finds it surveying itself apart from the world, when it begins to feel humble and ashamed. Up to this time everything is perfectly natural, merely the application of intelligent methods to the business of saving the soul instead of the business of gaining 1 the world. But now the soul has become “good ground, where the seed of divine grace quickly takes root. Were the retreat to end here, this pre- cious new life m the soul would be almost as quickly choked out. The retreat continues for at least an other day, perhaps two or three days, and the tender fiower is^watered and given sunshine, and nourish- ii S i e( !ito its r . 0 °ts, through prayer, meditation and Holy Communion, till it is a strong, vigorous plant, that sends out its little fibres through all parts ot ones being and makes its presence felt in all one docs; mmI ,Coffer of it being then smothered by the thorns and thistles of the rank-growing world is very much less indeed.