On the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, Oct. 4, a group of 13 senior girls from Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores headed to San Damiano, the diocesan retreat center in Frederick County, for their annual weekend retreat.
San Damiano was originally a monastery, named after the chapel in Italy, that St. Francis of Assisi rebuilt after he heard the voice of God calling out to him saying, “Rebuild My Church.” St. Francis, assuming that the Lord was referring to the physical church, labored tirelessly to recreate the beautiful place of prayer. However, God was referring to how the formation of the Franciscan order would rebuild the church in the hearts of the people of God. Nonetheless, the chapel holds great significance as a sign of the fruits of working joyfully for the Kingdom of God, and the joy and love with which St. Francis built the chapel of San Damiano in Italy is clearly reflected in the retreat center in the Arlington diocese.
In keeping with the monastic tradition of silence, as frequently practiced by the monks who used to reside in the monastery-turned-spiritual center, the girls spent much of the time in silent prayer with God. Silence is something difficult to find in a world filled with commotion and distraction, and yet it is so critical to hearing the voice of God. Father Christopher Tipton, chaplain at Saint John Paul the Great, led the retreat. He described the four voices of God as being one, good, true and beautiful. In each of these ways, God works to bring about great peace in our lives, a gift that many of the girls on the retreat felt very deeply.
Rachel Gemperline, a senior who attended the retreat, said, “The senior ladies retreat helped me understand myself and my relationship with God better. And it also gave me a sense (of) peace that I have really needed.”
In daily life, we are often too busy with work, school and commitments, often failing to carve out time for our spiritual well-being. In a life of distraction, we forget about silence, and in a life of work, we forget about community. Although silence is important, community time is also vital to a healthy relationship with God, oneself and others. The girls enjoyed time spent together doing karaoke, making bracelets and just spending time talking. As Christ says in Matthew 8:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
All in all, the senior girls were blessed to experience a weekend of peace at San Damiano, going out to meet the Lord in a place of peace and beauty.
