Personal Reflection: Retreat to Cedarbrake for quiet, solitude, down-time
Catholic Spirit, June 2010, Good News
By Annie Spade
Guest Columnist
It’s almost July, and I’m beginning to savor it. One day soon, I will load the car with my favorite comfortable clothes, nourishing food to last four days, my little leather-bound Bible and a journal. As early as possible the next morning, I will drive one hour north of Austin –– and leave my very busy life behind. The driveway into my destination is long and narrow –– like a keyhole. As I drive my car through “the lock,” the door will open wide in quiet, unmistakable welcome. For me, these four summer days each year are like an extended New Year’s Eve. I know that when I emerge and make my way south again, it will mark the beginning of a new year for me.
Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center in Belton is a precious gem in the resources of this diocese. I’ve been making retreats all my life –– from Washington D.C. to Pecos, NM and from Chicago to South Texas. But this local retreat center is like no other I have ever visited. It has every desirable feature I’ve enjoyed in these far-flung places, plus more –– and, it is so close to home (just 3 miles west of Interstate-35 and 3 miles north of Belton).
Because of its location in a semi-rural area, Cedarbrake Retreat Center offers retreatants a satisfying smorgasbord of wilderness. While one does encounter mowed grass and trimmed shrubbery at Cedarbrake, the simple beauty of the undisturbed natural world is abundant everywhere and within ready reach. A leisurely walk on the one-mile loop that winds and dips across a mostly-dry creek bed, accompanied by the verses of Psalm 100 displayed on small wooden signposts, is a truly peaceful meditation.
The outdoor labyrinth at Cedarbrake is beautiful in a way that almost takes away one’s breath. Laid out in white limestone and embedded in a stand of mature trees, its great size invites a wide perspective on life. Past and future are ready companions, yet the continual close meetings with trees keep one ever-focused on the present. Cedarbrake also has outdoor Stations of the Cross and a new Stations of the Light prayer path, a lovely chapel, a delightful outdoor pond and a waterfall. Each room has two twin beds, a private restroom and a picture window that invites you to always view the outdoors from the comfort of an air-conditioned room.
It is Cedarbrake’s suitability for a private retreat, for time spent at one’s own pace, in quiet, undisturbed recollection that keeps me returning year after year. Last summer I had the opportunity to sample two other retreat centers –– one urban, the other rural –– both new to me. I thought these might in some way substitute for my annual retreat at Cedarbrake. Turns out, this was wishful thinking. After two years away, I can hardly wait for this summer to arrive. I invite everyone to prayerfully consider coming to Cedarbrake. I can personally guarantee retreatants will leave renewed and refreshed!
For more information about Cedarbrake, call (254) 780-2436 or e-mail cedarbrake@austindiocese.org.