When Fr In-young Albert Cho SJ came up with the idea of taking retreats to the people, he chose to use Twitter, which make sense in Korea with its high use of the Internet and mobile phone.
Now his Street Retreat is expanding into print.From September, the Catholic Times in Koreawill bepublishing the weekly tweets of the Street Retreat in its print edition. The tweets will be printed along one of the edges of the newspaper so that readers can tear them off to carry them around with them.
Fr In-young is very pleased with this development.
“The Street Retreat is not only for those who use high-tech gadgets but also those who are more familiar with analogue culture,” he said.
Since launching the Street Retreat in September 2010, Fr In-young has posted a tweet every Monday morning for retreatants.
The tweet is in of two parts, “WORD”, which offers a phrase of Scripture, and “WALK”, which provides a simple guide or hint for prayer. The tweets are in Korean but below are a couple of examples translated into English.
/WORD/ The nearer you go to God, the nearer he will come to you. (JAMES 4:8) /WALK/ Once I make one step to God, He makes TWO STEPS to me!
/WORD/ “It is accomplished”; and bowing his head the gave up his spirit. (JOHN 19:30) /WALK/ Jesus has accomplished ______ for me and died.
The “Street Retreat” participants have to commit to spending an hour a week on prayer, based on the tweet. They are free to choose their places and times.
Fr In-young also encourages them to take photographs during their retreat because these can help them return to the experience of the retreat. If they wish, participants can share their reflections on the Street Retreat website (http://jesuits.kr/gilpi)or on their own blogs or Facebook pages.
“The only condition is to make an hour and to stay with the Word of God,” said Fr In-young who studied spirituality and theology in Ireland.
The Street Retreat is not just online. Once a month, Street Retreatants meet together for what Fr In-young calls “a big silence in the street”. The place for the retreat can be a palace, the subway and even the cemetery.
In June, this was held at the Chang-Kyung Palace in Seoul. At the beginning of the retreat, Fr In-young distributed selected tweets and the 25 participants spread out over the palace for two hours of silent reflection. There was no immediate sharing after the retreat. Instead, Fr In-young explained to them how they could further reflect on the two-hour retreat at home.
“That evening, I found some beautiful reflections with photos taken during the retreat on the Street Retreat” Website and their Facebook pages,” said Fr In-young.
“All these activities are focused on making the Word of God mobilefor people whoever they are and wherever they go. By doing so, I hope that the retreat can help more and more people to Find God in All Things,” said Fr In-young.