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30-DAY RETREAT IN DAILY LIFE:

A PARISH EXPERIENCE

Prayer is an important tool for a Christian life. It is in fact indispensable. Father David Cullen of Kabwata parish in this article talks about guided retreats in daily life based on a course he had on guided retreats in Wales and how they have been trying to put the lessons of that course into practice.

Before I returned to Zambia in 1997, after 6 years in formation work in England, I was fortunate enough to find a place on the two month course given at St. Beuno's, in Wales, on the theory and practice of individually guided retreats.

I had asked to follow this course because of what one of my fellow Missionaries of Africa had launched in a shanty town in Nairobi some years earlier, the conducting of guided retreats in daily life, training and using lay people as prayer guides. Why not try the same thing in Lusaka?

BEGINNINGS

Here, in Kabwata parish, we began by inviting parishioners for six day guided retreats during the advent season of 1997. It is difficult to explain in the necessarily short notices at Mass what kind of retreat this was to be. But nevertheless had sufficient numbers for we six prayer guides, religious and priests who were willing to accompany people, interviewing them either in the afternoon or evening from Monday to Friday.

At the initial meeting on Sunday afternoon, participants were assigned to their guides and given a first initiation into praying with Scripture, plus a few start-off texts for the first day. Retreatants were asked to give at least half an hour a day to praying with Scripture and to spend up to half an hour a day with their prayer guide.

In fact many gave much more than half an hour a day to prayer. The remarkable generosity they showed in often getting up early in the morning to have time for prayer was truly edifying in the strict sense, a challenge and a ''building-up'' for me and the other prayer guides. So also was the quality of the sharing with us, with the realisation it brought us as to just how much the cost was for people to keep their trust in the Lord strong with all the problems they faced. The evaluation, at the end of this first experience showed how valuable the participants had found it. ''Why has it taken so long for us to be shown the riches of praying with Scripture?'', one participant asked.

One immediate reaction from the participants was: could not some of us be trained to be prayer guides so that we could share the same experience with others? That was exactly what we had in mind, but it was far more reassuring to have it coming spontaneously from the group.

As a follow-up, it was decided that those who wanted would meet every Saturday morning for an hour to share what was happening in their prayer. They also would receive an occasional input from one of the prayer guides.

RETREATS

Since that first experience we tried in the parish to have at least two such retreats annually, usually in Advent and Lent. Last year we in fact had two retreats in Lent, such was the demand. Quite a number of the applicants had already done one such retreat.

It has sometimes been difficult to decide whether preference be given to those who had not as yet had a chance to be part of a retreat or allow those who had already done one or more to deepen their relationship with the Lord and their facility in contemplative prayer.

Last year we decided that, based on the evident profit that participants in these six day guided retreats were finding, both for their actual way of praying as also the impact their prayer was having on their daily lives, we would offer to those with already some experience in praying in this way, the possibility of a six month 30 day retreat in daily life.

Twenty-eight parishioners asked to be allowed to make the experience. This would require an hour and a half of their time on Saturday morning, half of it in sharing in small groups what had been happening in their prayer over the last week.

One of us prayer guides would lead the session, sitting in on the group sharing to get the feel of what was happening. Then we would give an input, with a hand-out giving indications for the next step in the retreat, together with relevant texts.

Our pillar person in all this was Sister Elaine Thaden, of the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia, who prepared all the inputs. She has been a tower of strength from the start of the whole process of the guided retreats.

SOME DRAWBACKS

Evident drawbacks were that it was impossible to accompany the retreatants individually. We depended even more heavily than usual on the Holy Spirit to enable the members of the sharing groups to guide one another as also to keep them at more or less the same level of experience so that the dynamic of the spiritual exercises could be maintained.

Other drawbacks were that, speaking for myself anyhow, in normal circumstances I would have had much more training in guiding retreatants in a thirty-day retreat than I have had. There was a problem of language. Some of the guides were not familiar with a local language, and not all participants were completely at ease with English.

The retreat began in January and lasted until the end of July. Two of the original 28 dropped out, one who, from the start, seemed not to be ready for it, and the other through sickness. The rest showed remarkable perseverance, both in fidelity to the daily prayer, as also to the Saturday morning sessions.

There were problems: funerals, sickness, duties that could not be dropped, occasional journeys, late arrival for the session. 0r we might have been at odds with the choices made, for instance a meeting of one of the parish groups or a charismatic prayer session being given preference to presence for this perhaps once in a lifetime experience. Nevertheless the majority, usually the vast majority, were there.

Foreseeing that there would be a problem of attendance at times on Saturday mornings, there was a back-up in the form of myself, being the one on the spot. I kept my Wednesday evening free, in so far as I could, so that those who had missed the Saturday morning session could come then for a sharing session. They also could be introduced to the next stage in the exercises and be given the hand-out. Not all did or could take advantage of this opportunity, but many did. For me at least it was an enriching experience.

CONSEQUENCES

On the final day of the retreat, we closed with Mass and a get-together. This included a sharing of what participants had got from it and also suggestions as to how to carry on the experience. Then, as through the retreat, what impressed me most was the impact that it was having on the daily lives of the participants, the changes in their attitudes to people, to work, to their contribution in the parish, even to animals and the rest of creation!

From the written evaluations of the impact of the retreat, these are some examples: ''I discovered how real the love of God for me is; how he is always with me''; ''I have learned to talk to God''; ''I have learned, with the help of God, how to cope with all the problems I face daily in my life''; ''I have learned how to make every moment of the day a prayer-time''; ''I have learned that, whatever I do in my life, as a mother, a wife, a leader, I should put God first''; ''I thank God that I have discovered that, however sinful I am, I remain his much-loved child''.

We have in fact decided to reserve the final Saturday of the month for a coming together, to share in the same groups as during the actual retreat, and also to receive some input from one of the prayer guides involved. This is not taking off at quite the pace planned, but we have had one session and another is planned.

Another consequence was that the ending coincided with the start of a programme, under the leadership of Sister Elaine, for the training of spiritual directors. Though the women participants in the retreat outnumbered the men three to one, in fact it was three of the men who particularly wanted to join the new programme. They have attended the initial ten day session where discernment was made about the suitability of those who had come for the training programme for the further formation.

Others in the retreat group I would regard as highly suitable for this training, but unfortunately as yet they are working or are the indispensable breadwinner of the family. Maybe another formula can later be found to accommodate them or they may in future be freer for another such programme.

Still another positive consequence is that those who followed the retreat share something of what they experienced with their Small Christian Communities, particularly when it comes to the actual Bible sharing part of the meeting.

PRISON PRAYER

As one involved with the prisons in the parish, I have begun an occasional session of praying with Scripture for those interested. Since I cannot go every week, have asked two of the men who followed the retreat to offer their services with me. One has already begun in one of the prisons and the other accompanied me for an initiation in the other prison.

The prisoners seem also to find this kind of prayer a very valuable and helpful experience. With all the background noises, the total absence of what would be regarded as a suitable prayer room, the lack of Bibles for all the participants, conditions are anything but ideal. Nevertheless the Spirit is at work. In the remand prison, where we went for the first time, one of the inmates expressed his delight at discovering a way of praying that he had not thought possible.

May the Spirit continue to guide us as to what more he wants to achieve in and with those he seems to prefer to choose, we imperfect instruments.

David Cullen, M.Afr.

Kabwata Parish

Lusaka

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