Friday, March 19, 2010

The Heart of the Hunter


Today I am beginning my Hunter’s Retreat at our monastery center. I offer it as a retreat for hunters: hunters of God, hunters of the deep self, hunters of meaning and mystery. I call it THE HEART OF THE HUNTER because the tool we are using for the our hunt is the heart. We will be praying with our aboriginal hearts, our seeking hearts, our undivided hearts, our broken and compassionate hearts. There will be space also for the joyful heart.

I love this retreat. I think it is because I am a bit nomadic by nature and probably belong to the hunters. That’s my tribe! (as opposed to the gatherers who settle into one place, tend the crops and wait for the harvest). Belonging to the Hunter Tribe fits me quite well spiritually; for I am always on the move: searching, seeking, reaching beyond what I can see with my visible eye. My hunt is for spiritual food and deep meanings. My hunt is for The Great Mystery. Jesus, the Christ, is my guide. I feed on eternal questions. In spite of being a hunter I long for solitude and have even taken a vow of stability of life which may not seem to fit with a hunter’s heart. Yet even hunters are called into solitude and quiet. As we wait for our prey we learn to keep vigil in the deep forest of our lives. The Hound of Heaven is also tracking us. And yet, to be hunted by God is not to die but to fall in love.

This evening, then, as I attempt to lead the retreatants (the hunters) into the deep forest of themselves to wait in silence for the mystery to be revealed I, too, will journey with them tracking the Mystery. May you, whoever you are, have faith in your aborginal heart!

6 comments:

  1. I hadn't thought of it in terms of being a hunter, but you are so right! I've called myself a seeker, which amounts to the same thing I think. Have a wonderful retreat!

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  2. Your retreat sounds wonderful. Prayers for you and all the other hunters.

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  3. Hello. This is my first time to your blog. I am a seeker of the mystery. "The Hound of Heaven" is an honest account of being hunted by the Holy Spirit. This concept still makes people uneasy though I find. I have a song I just wrote that I believe to have turned my audience off - "Jesus is Haunting Me." Why is this so hard to swallow?

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  4. I am delighed to have found your site, thanks to the note with your excellent contribution today in Living Faith. I want to recommend your blog to my readers.
    Armiger Jagoe,editor of The Joyful Catholic
    http://thejoyfulcatholic.wordpress.com/

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  5. Macrina, For so long, it seems, I have been a hunter. Hungry and thirsty. Always moving on to the next thing. And now, I am still. So strange. I don't have any where to go. Now, I only identify with being the prey and I am longing to be caught. : )

    Blessings on your retreat and your very blessed retreatants.

    Love...

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  6. Janis Chalmers BartlettMarch 23, 2010 at 10:54 PM

    I hope I am a hunter... gathering is so dull and then you have to figure out what to do with all the stuff you have gathered. I so enjoy your writings and retreats. I attended your silent retreat last fall... what a reprieve and I learned so much from you. I do wish you were on Facebook though - it would be easier to follow.

    Blessings and prayers for you.

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