Spiritual Retreat

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” Jesus says it to his disciples after a day so busy they hadn’t had time to eat. Two thousand years later, the invitation still stands, and people still take it up: a weekend in an abbey, a week in a retreat house, sometimes a whole month. A retreat emoji would at least explain to your group chat why you’ve suddenly gone quiet.

In the sixteenth century, Saint Ignatius of Loyola built his Spiritual Exercises around four weeks of silence. Much earlier, the Rule of Saint Benedict asked monasteries to welcome every guest “as Christ.” Monks have kept that promise ever since: you join the Divine Office, eat meals without a word while one brother reads aloud, and discover a silence that, after the first awkward day, turns out to be surprisingly restful.

The hardest part is usually the phone. Hence a rather tempting emoji idea: a smartphone asleep in a drawer. Or a bench facing a cloister, an abbey door left ajar, a small bell 🔔 ringing for Vespers. Send us the sign that will tell your loved ones you’re unreachable for the best of reasons.