The multiplier effect of a retreat is startling. A major effect of a retreat is an increased appreciation for friendship and the need to be a better, more loyal friend. St. Josemaria stresses this in Furrow:
You cannot just be passive. You have to become a real friend of your friends. You can help them first with the example of your behaviour and then with your advice and with the influence that a close friendship provides. Furrow 731
Copper Ridge will be life-altering precisely because its activities will transform the vision of one’s life. We all have the tendency to think only of our own small “backyard,” so to speak: our daily routine, the challenges and difficulties we are facing, and the numbing rhythm of life. Three days in silence and contemplation at Copper Ridge will change all that. People will emerge refreshed and renewed, with a youthful zest for life and the desire to reach out to everyone around them.
I can’t resist quoting another point from Furrow that captures this vision eloquently:
You understood the meaning of friendship when you began to feel that you were like the shepherd of a little flock which you had left abandoned, but were now trying to gather together again, taking it upon yourself to serve each one of them. Furrow 730
Speaking about the multiplier effect of a retreat, the example par excellence are the retreats that Jesus conducted off in a quiet place with his twelve apostles. Just as they were inspired to go out into the whole world to spread the Good News, so will we after our retreats with Jesus at Copper Ridge.
