If my senior year has taught me anything, it’s how to live with uncertainty. My friends and I have spent months discerning what the next four years — and, in a larger sense, the rest of our lives — should look like.
If I’m being honest, these decisions, coupled with the challenges of academics, athletics and friendships, left me feeling burnt out halfway through the year. Personally, I wanted to find a way to relax that went beyond sleeping in on weekends or scrolling on my phone, and I found exactly that in this year’s Bethany retreat, held at Concord Retreat Center in Yellow Spring, W.Va.
I initially signed up for the Bethany retreat without much thought, but as the weekend approached, I found myself genuinely looking forward to it. Students from all grade levels across the four diocesan high schools were invited, and I was excited for the chance to socialize with my peers. They also made it clear that we would not have our phones for the duration of the retreat, but I was able to bring a digital camera to document the weekend. Not having my phone was one of the biggest blessings of the retreat, as it forced me to consider if my phone is a necessity or a distraction.
As someone who likes to know the plan, I was surprised to see how packed the schedule for the weekend was. Nearly every minute of the day was dedicated to talks from various speakers, small groups and daily Mass, but the quality of each activity was superb and led to the weekend feeling shorter and more relaxing than it was. There were eight guest speakers, and they covered topics such as maximizing your time at Mass, getting to know your confirmation saint and listening for God’s voice in silence. The last talk led to an activity where we were told to disperse around the retreat center and simply sit in silence, which is an experience that I still think about now and do my best to replicate every day.
One last highlight had to have been the holy hours, which carried their own blessing that I wasn’t expecting: my godmother was a member of the praise and worship group they had hired to lead us. It was amazing to see her and catch up, and she told me something that reinforced what I had been hearing all weekend: “Don’t let what you have to do tomorrow be a burden today.”
The Bethany retreat not only gave me a much-needed chance to reset but showed me what I need to do to get my faith life college-ready. I am extremely grateful to the staff — especially the cooks — who worked hard to make this retreat memorable and peaceful, and I sincerely hope that any high schooler looking to improve their prayer life considers this retreat.
