Cedric Pisegna - Treat Yourself to a Retreat (01/24/2026)
Welcome to «Live with Passion»! I’m Father Cedric Pisegna. So glad that you tuned into the program. I wanna talk about treat yourself to a retreat. This comes from Mark chapter 6. «The apostles returned to Jesus; told Him all they had done and taught. He said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest for a while.' (For many were coming and going, they had no leisure even to eat.)» Most people go away on a vacation every year. Maybe they go to the mountains, or you go to the ocean, could go on a rafting trip, or whatever it is. But I wanna talk to you about not so much a vacation for your body, but a vacation for your soul. It’s called a retreat. Treat yourself to a retreat. That’s exactly what was going on in the gospel. Jesus and his disciples were busy, people were coming and going, and that’s the great affliction of modern-day society.
People are coming and going, and people are busy and tired and worn out, and need something, so they go away on a vacation, and sometimes it makes it even worse. And Jesus said to them, «Come aside, come apart. Rest for a while». «Man wasn’t made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for man». In other words, the Sabbath is a time for us to rest, time for us to seek God. And Jesus knew the value of rest. I like what Pierre de Chardin said. He said that we’re not physical people having a spiritual experience. We’re spiritual people having a physical experience. At our heart we are spiritual, and at our heart what we need is rest, spiritually, because at times we can get burdened and we can feel overwhelmed and we can have doubts and confusion and not quite sure what’s going on in our life. We need a time to take a spiritual vacation. It’s good for the body and the soul. In the Catholic tradition, this is called a retreat.
A retreat is a time to have an extended focus, an extended concentration. If you know, when you read and pray a little bit, maybe for an hour, even, you feel better and feel connected. One of my episodes had to do with being reconnected and abiding, letting that sap flow. Imagine what will happen if you spend some concentrated focus time, say, for a day, or maybe two days, a retreat sometimes is a week, there are extended retreats that even go 40 days, but what if you just spend a whole day on a retreat? Wow, what could happen? Concentrate and focus and watch God work in your life. It’s a time to focus and get centered and a time to really vacation with God. I like to use the word «oasis».
It’s an oasis. I have lived at retreat centers for most of my priesthood. One in Sacramento, now I live at a retreat center in Houston. Our founder, the founder of the Passionist community, his name was Saint Paul of the Cross. He founded, not monasteries, but he called them retreats because he wanted people to retreat from the world, not to escape, but to get strengthened and reinvigorated and rejuvenated and have the anointing of God, to rest in the bosom of God, and then go back to the world strong. And that’s exactly what Jesus was doing. He’s saying, «Come aside,» because the apostles were ministering and working hard and people were coming and going. Jesus knew the value of rest and he said, «Come aside and rest for a while, and then we can go back even stronger».
I don’t apologize for taking retreats. In fact, it’s in canon law that a priest has to take a retreat every year. And I don’t apologize for that because I’m not escaping from anything. And I’m not being lazy, I’m spending time with God so that I can get rejuvenated. Go to the bosom of God so that I can go out even stronger, be inspired. That’s exactly the rhythm of our life as a Passionist. We go out, we minister, we come back to the bosom of God, we retreat. Then we get strengthened, rejuvenated, we go out again. And that’s exactly why Paul called our places retreats, because we invite lay people to come with us to have retreats, to get rested, to get reinvigorated.
We have different focuses on our retreats. Our retreat, people come from all over Texas and Louisiana, other states, to our retreat center in Houston, Texas. It’s called Holy Name Retreat Center. And again, the Passionist specialize in retreats. Other religious communities like the Franciscans, Redemptorists, they specialize, Jesuits, specialize in retreats. But we have retreat centers all around the country, sprinkled all around the world, really, 64 countries, and we specialize in retreats.
There are Catholic retreats, there are married couple retreats, alcoholics anonymous retreats, other addiction retreats, various retreats for Protestant groups that we have. And usually, retreat centers, our retreat center is about 10 acres. It’s a quiet place, so you can meditate. We have speakers, or you can go on a private retreat where you can just get quiet. And it’s a time to relax, get renewed, read the Bible, read spiritual books, hear talks, time of prayer and solitude, and a time of community. If you go on a retreat with your parish community, you spend time eating together and talking together, walking together. And that’s another thing about a retreat. You can spend time in spiritual direction, spend time with a consular, go to Confession. There are times to unburden your soul and rest.
Something interesting happened to me one time. I go on retreats to various places, sometimes to California, Louisiana, sometimes in Texas. And the retreat center that I normally went to was occupied at that time, so I was in a dilemma. I wanted to go on a retreat and there was nowhere that I could find that I could go on a retreat, because I usually take about a week or so, so I did something very novel and something very interesting. I decided to make a retreat right in my own home. I said, «Maybe I can do this,» but there’s a lot of temptation because there’s TV and there’s music and there’s things that I normally do to distract me. I turned off the TV, turned off the music, got some good books, and I retreated right in my own home.
And I found out something: That you don’t necessarily have to go away to do a retreat. You can do it right in your own home. And then the other thing is, at the end of the retreat I was able to incorporate the way God touched me and what I learned in the retreat right into my everyday life because I was already home. Again, you don’t have to go away for a retreat. I hope you will, but you don’t have to. You can do it right in your own home, and then you incorporate it right into your daily life. And that’s why I wanna talk to you about making a retreat right now as you’re watching this program and by getting my book, «A Retreat with Father Cedric». This book will help you to make a retreat right where you are and incorporate it into the rest of your life. I’ll talk to you in a minute about the benefits of a retreat. And this book will help you to make a retreat right where you are.
Again, it’s called, «A Retreat with Father Cedric». You can make a retreat by going away, and I hope you will, because I want you to have an extended, concentrated time with God, and you can make a retreat right at home. It’s a both «and,» not an either/or. But the bottom line is, is that we all need time to rest. Jesus knew the value. We have Sabbath. Everybody’s busy. It’s life in the fast lane, like the Eagles song. People are in a hurry, people are tired and worn out, and we need some rest. Jesus was not telling them to escape from the world, I want to make that point, when he said, «Come aside and rest for a while».
And usually it’s a come aside thing. Get rid of all the distractions and come aside. Get to a place where you can be quiet. He wasn’t telling them to escape. He was telling them to come aside to get invigorated, to get strengthened, to have this inner power so that they could go back even stronger. That’s why I don’t apologize about going on retreats, so that I can do what God is calling me to do and minister even stronger and have energy and have passion. Because at times we run out of gas. We need refueling, we need that shot in the arm, if you will. When I drive, sometimes I drive from Houston to other places, other states, up to Dallas, different places, and they can be long drives. And every once in a while I’ll see a sign, it’ll say «Rest stop ahead».
Yes, it’s time for, and even my car has this little signal, it’ll say «time for a rest,» «time for a stop,» and I agree. It’s wonderful just to stop the car, go to the bathroom real quick, have a little snack, and just stretch your legs and walk a little bit. And then you can get back in the car and then you can go and you feel stronger, you don’t feel so dizzy, and it’s good to drive. The same way in life, as we’re driving, we’re journeying, we have the pilgrimage of life, things can get overwhelming, get doubts at times. Sometimes you can even doubt your salvation, wonder what God is doing, you need some perspective. It’s time to just pull over for a minute, stretch, take a little walk, take some deep breaths, take a little meal, and get perspective. That’s what retreats are all about. What are the benefits of a retreat? Number one, you get rejuvenated, strengthened.
I love Isaiah 40:31. It’s a great promise of supernatural renewed strength. «They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; walk, and not faint». And I love that, we get this symbol of the eagle. And right before this we read, «God gives power to the faint; and the one with no might He increases strength». When you retreat, you patiently wait upon God with expectation. You read his Word, you listen to talks, you take a walk, you get rejuvenated, but most of all, you pray. We get the symbol of an eagle. The symbol of the United States, of course, is the bald eagle, our national bird. But an interesting fact, eagles don’t run from storms, trials, tribulations. What eagles do is when the storm comes, it uses the storm to lift it up, to raise it up higher.
Right as I was creating these scripts for television, this particular series about kingdom living, we had what’s called a derecho storm hit us in Houston. Knocked out power to a million people, eight people got killed, we lost power at our retreat center for five days and it got pretty hot. We had flooding, even in my bathroom and my bedroom and that whole area. Right now, at this very moment, as I’m filming, they are working on our residence because a big tree fell and there was all kinds of problems, they’re reconstructing it, and I’m living in a different building. Needless to stay, there was a lot of storms and it was a hardship in all of our lives. And as I said, people lost their life. And I was creating these talks, these talks became a refuge for me.
As I was reading about being rejuvenated and how God helps us in the storm, I began rising higher. And I want you to think about that right now. As you are going through the trials and the difficulties of storms of life, realize that he will renew your strength like that of an eagle. Meaning, the storm is gonna lift you higher. You can rise up. One time when I was a seminarian, discerning becoming a priest, I went away on a retreat, and the retreat place that I went to is the University of Steubenville in Ohio. Very charismatic university and they have summer retreats and a thousand people will come. And I needed some reinvigoration because I was going through some trials and tribulations of storm in my life, particularly with a formation director who… he and I were in conflict with.
So I went away on a retreat because I wasn’t sure if God was calling me to priesthood, and I was thinking about leaving. I had doubts and confusion. While I was at that retreat, there was a cardinal there who came to speak to us about some spiritual matters on retreat, Cardinal Danneels of Belgium, and I’ll never forget the talk he gave us. It was just to the seminarians. There were only a few seminarians, there were mostly deacons and priests on the retreat, and we all gathered around the table with him and he spoke to us in a very intimate way and he said, «Young men, Satan is gonna be out to get you». And I thought to myself, well, I don’t really hear much about Satan and here’s this cardinal of the church talking about the the devil. He said, «Yeah, Satan’s gonna be out to get you and he’s not so much gonna try to get you by women or money, but rather the way he’s gonna try to take the wind out of your sails and cut the legs out from beneath you is by discouragement».
And it was like a boxing glove punched me right in the nose because at that time of my life I was so discouraged, because I was in conflict with my formation director and I wasn’t sure if God was calling me to the priesthood and I felt like I was wasting my time and then he put things into perspective for me. He made me understand what Ephesians 6 teaches but sometimes we forget, that we are in a spiritual battle and we’re battling not so much about flesh and blood, against flesh and blood, but against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places who work through people and oppress us and come against us, and they were working through my formation director at that time.
And I was so discouraged and ready to give up and leave, and something rejuvenated me. I know someone rejuvenated me: the Holy Spirit. Then we had all that music and the worship and it was beautiful, and I left that retreat reinvigorated, with a new perspective, realizing that evil was trying to stop me before I got started. And I didn’t quit, and I’m so glad I didn’t because I look back in retrospect now and I understand that God had called me to priesthood, and the devil tried to stop me before I got started. That’s what a retreat can do for you. It can give you a new perspective on life. And by the way, let me just say that if you are discouraged right now and going through a hard time and you feel oppressed, this is a time of refreshment for you.
Remember what I said. This is a time of retreat for you through this episode. I hope you get the DVD and the CD of this series, it will help raise you up. And most of all, I hope you will get my book, «A Retreat with Father Cedric,» because that’ll help you to make a retreat right in your own home. But you’re experiencing a retreat right now through this episode. And if you’re discouraged, may God renew your strength like that of an eagle, may the storm lift you higher and you get new perspective. That’s one of the main things that a retreat can do for your life: give you a new perspective, rejuvenate you.
In Southern California we have a retreat center, it’s called Mater Dolorosa, «Our Lady of Sorrows». It’s a very beautiful place. It’s on the side of a hill, overlooks Los Angeles, the valley there. And it’s up so high, you look down on things. One of the sayings that we have there is «the world looks different from here, get a new perspective». Retreats offer us a time, and that’s what this program is trying to do, just step back for a minute and take a look at the wider context of your life. It’s a time to retreat, it’s an oasis. It’s a time to get insights and perspective about your life. Try to plug into God in a deeper way, get meaning and purpose. We sang a song on that retreat that I went to in Steubenville. It was called, «Rise Up, O Men of God».
That’s what retreats do. It helps us to rise up, give us perspective, rejuvenate us, and give us rest. Retreats help us to receive new strength, gain perspective, and the third thing that a retreat does is gives us a look at ourselves, holds a mirror up. Where do we need to change? Every time I go on a retreat I usually get the love of God touching me and some peace and perspective, and then it’s like I get challenged about my own sinfulness, about where I fall short, about my bad habits. And that’s not such a bad thing to have God confront you. The Holy Spirit doesn’t condemn, the Holy Spirit convicts, convicts us about where we need to change, and that’s what happens on a retreat.
Usually during a retreat I will examine my conscience, see what’s awry, my bad habits, as I said, my character flaws, and I will confess my sins. You can do that independent of a retreat, of course, but a retreat is a beautiful time to do that, and I hope that this program will help you to take a good look within and to go to Confession, if you’re Catholic. If not, go right to God, confess your sins. And I’ll celebrate Reconciliation, I’ll face my issues, and I can change, and you can change, too, but you have to be rigorously honest with yourself and not deny what’s going on.
One of the reasons why sometimes you might feel far from God is because you’re not dealing with your sins and you’re not dealing with your issues. And when you go on a retreat and you’re apart and you are free from the distractions, that’s when God can really speak to your soul. And if today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your heart. Again, God will not condemn, but he will convict, just to bring you higher. Another reason why we go on retreat, I’ve talked about rejuvenation, I’ve talked about gaining perspective, making good decisions, we’ll talk about that. You may need to make a good decision about your future and which way you wanna go, you get a spiritual director on a retreat, that’s really important.
And then, of course, going to Confession, trying to get all the sin out of your life so that there’s no hindrance, no blocking you and God. Most of all, we go on a retreat, and that’s what this program is about, to deepen our relationship with God. That’s the core, that’s the heart. You pray, take walks, spend time in silence, you look at your life with gratitude, you slow down, soak in the love. God is there for us and he’s closer to us than we are to ourselves. For a little while, we retreat from the problems and the difficulties and the hardships and the worries and we simply go to the bosom of God.
In John chapter 1, we read that Jesus was in the bosom of God. That’s the heart of God, the intimate, close place with God. Then, he went and ministered and returned to the bosom. In the same way, in a retreat we go to the bosom of God, then we come back stronger, touched by God’s love. Amy Grant, one of my favorite singers, sings a song and it’s called «Arms of Love». And what she sings is, «I have found a place where I can hide. It’s safe inside your arms of love. Like a child who’s helped throughout a storm, you keep me warm in your arms of love».
You see, God’s arms are strong and protective and waiting for you. Jesus said, «Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, I’ll give you rest». Lay your burdens down, soak in God’s love. That’s the core of a retreat. Yes, there’s perspective, we wanna make good decisions, we wanna be rejuvenated, we wanna understand the context of our life, most of all, God’s love. I love Psalm 131, says that «I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul».
When a child is weaning, it goes to its mother for food; but after it’s been weaned, it goes to his mother for love. Still your soul like a weaned child. Go to God for his love and he will embrace you in his arms of love. Hear the heartbeat of God as you lay your head at his bosom. A retreat is a time to gain perspective, retreat is a time to make good decisions, face your issues. But most of all, get rejuvenated and spend time with God. Man wasn’t made for the Sabbath, Sabbath was made for man and women in order to rest, relax, and be rejuvenated. Treat yourself to a retreat and don’t just live, live with passion.