This religious immersion not only strengthened my faith, but gave me a sense of total inner peace. More than that, I discovered that coming closer to God also brought me closer to my true self and what my purpose is in this life. It was a feeling and clarity I had been searching for all my life. Increased interest in retreats, he says, is evidenced by an increase in the use of his site. Hits have gone from a few hundred per day when he launched in 1997 to about 2,300 per day currently.
Hard numbers are impossible to come by, since most retreats are run by small spiritual communities.
Most of the growth, she says, is coming from non-Catholic denominations. While my own experience was intensely Catholic, I spoke with others who have experience with other types of spiritual retreats. Mass. The monastery is home to a group of Episcopalian monks and a spiritual retreat center. This is quite a different and deeply important experience as an adult because it comes as the result of one's own conscious and committed choice. It gave me time to really focus on my life and contemplate what I was going to confess.