Our world promotes the need to be happy. In TV and magazine ads, billboards and social media feeds, award shows and shop windows, everything is geared toward the same goal: convincing us that if only we had this thing, looked this way, owned this (fill-in-the-blank), we would finally have the happiness we’ve been seeking. But we all know that’s a fool’s errand. Because once we get the thing or go to the place, there is always another thing, another goal right behind it. The grass is always greener, right? Except it’s not. The grass is green right where we’re standing; it’s just that we’re always so busy looking over at our neighbor’s yard that we don’t notice our own little patch of beauty.
When we begin to focus instead on joy —that inner feeling and inner knowing that makes us glad from the inside out — the hunger for surface happiness fades, and we are left with a life that feels full, abundant, and blessed even when things on the surface aren’t perfect. The good news is that the path to joy is waiting for us!
Finding true joy begins with refocusing our internal lens, and that’s what we’ll do over the course of this weekend retreat. We will take St. Paul at his word: “Make my joy complete” (Phil 2:1) and learn to plant seeds of joy through a series of practical measures that we can take back to our day-to-day life. In addition to formal presentations, this retreat will include gratitude practice, journaling, dialogue, music, movement, and more. A period of silence will be observed in the early mornings and through breakfast. Optional yoga classes will be offered. There will be a limited number of spiritual direction appointments available for those interested.
Check-in begins at 4pm. There will be a brief welcome session at 5:30pm, followed by dinner at 6pm. The retreat begins after dinner at 7pm on Friday and concludes before lunch on Sunday. Mass will be celebrated in the Chapel on Sunday morning for those who would like to attend.
Mary DeTurris Poust is a writer, retreat leader, yoga teacher, and spiritual director. She is the author of six books on Catholic spirituality and six books of seasonal reflections. Mary writes about the spiritual journey in her award-winning monthly column, Life Lines, and hosts a podcast by the same name. She is also a frequent contributor to Give Us This Day. She and her husband, Dennis, have three adult children and live in upstate New York. Visit her website at NotStrictlySpiritual.com.