Our staple retreat here is a three day event called "Antioch". It's a typical three day conversion type of retreat that Catholics have been doing since the early to mid eighties. In some ways, the weekend is fairly predictable and the results are pretty good.
What surprises me each year is not that something drastically new happened. It's the connections that are made. People whose faith is drifting decide to start up again. People who need a reason to darken the church find one. It is a truly joyous time to see it happen. And it's always inspiring to me to hear college students talk about their own faith struggles and successes. I see the college students find a connection with someone their own age and see a college student who has been struggling with what message he or she wants to convey finding the voice they didn't know they had. I'm glad that this is moving into being a permanent part of my ministry here at St. Thomas.
I generally get sleep deprived, however, on these weekends so that, by Sunday, I'm a little silly. And the title to this post just cracked me up when I said it on Sunday while explaining where I was. I think they call it being "punch drunk". I just thought it was hilarious. I mean, what were the Christians before they were Christians? What would we be called if Antioch never happened?
