By: Jason Labrador (TEC of Central Texas)
At the time of this writing, I am a 30-year-old Catholic man who studied for 16 years in a Jesuit school. I am no stranger to retreats. TEC 23, however, was my first more-than-one-day retreat in almost a decade. Let me tell you my experience.
A few weekends ago, I went on a 3-day long TEC retreat where we (by my estimate) slept at 11-ish and woke up before 7 for all 3 days.
I couldn’t tell for sure because we gave up our watches, phones, and anything tech we brought and learned to “not anticipate, just participate.” No clue what the agenda was or what came next. As a certified project management professional, letting go of a schedule or a plan was soooo disarming.
It was awesome.
There were people from all age groups and all genders. We shared, let ourselves be vulnerable, and participated all in God’s glory. I mean, there literally was a baby and retirees in the group. Haha!
I came in literally almost lost because it was a new place and a long drive from home. I didn’t think I would be sharing anything at all during the retreat; that I would be more of a silent participant since there were basically kids almost half my age there. Kids the same age as those I interacted with in one of my ministries called Life Teen.
But boy was I wrong. The community and the experience in faith, which was heavily based on the Paschal Mystery, just invokes so much from you.
I was so humbled by the teenagers and 20-sumtin’s over there who showed so much maturity in their faith. Every single participant committed and participated voluntarily; the beautiful part is that everybody wanted to share with each of our realities, our paradigms. And the kicker? Everyone understood and we were all moved.
I really needed this.
For my fellow Catholics who haven’t gone for a while, try it again. The fee, if there is one, is totally worth it. You have no idea how much your soul has been hungry and thirsty for His voice, for His love.
And what’s funny is that in these retreats, you find your fellow retreat folks going through the same exact feelings and enlightenment.
Didn’t matter if we were kids, teenagers going through school, people getting married soon, retired people going through life, single folks just searching for the next step, parents bringing their children, or what have you. CEOs, veterans, machinists, office workers, lawyers, students, or floaters. We were all leveled in that moment and we shared in God’s love.
That was the only common thing: His love for us and His joy in bringing us all together.
If anything else, those are just really good people, whom I’ve formed bonds with and intend to keep in touch with.
Those are some of the most irrevocably moving moments I feel so dang proud to be a Catholic man.
