What do I do on a directed retreat?
The pace of the day unfolds quietly and simply. There is ample time for rest and some reading or writing if you want, but the primary focus of the retreat is prayer and praying.
During directed retreats you are invited to pray several prayer periods a day on your own and meet with a spiritual companion daily. Your conversations with your companion will explore what is happening in prayer and where it is intersecting with life. Your spiritual companion may have some suggestions for prayer, or you may recognize an invitation from the Lord you want to explore with your companion.
Celebration of the Eucharist is offered daily, and communal liturgies for reconciliation and healing are also offered during your time on retreat.
Why silence?
Master Ignatius even in his day recognized the importance of silence. It is a gift to one who desires to grow in faith, hope, and love. In silence we are able to say hello to our own stories and listen. Silence allows questions to emerge, sometimes questions we did not even know we had. Silence provides space to know who we are, how we are, and where we are. On retreat, silence helps me come to know who God is to me and who I am to God. And that locates another important aspect of silence. Silence gives rise not only to my story and our story but also THE story, God's story breaking into our lives and loves.
Every person has an interior life, some know it. On retreat, we share a silence among us honoring what the Holy Spirit is doing in and for and with each person. We also come to an interior quiet when the factory closes, all the committee meetings are dismissed, phones turned off, emails parked, texts wait so we can go into that interior space where my God dwells and where I can discover my own self being created momently.
The silence of the retreat is not a rule enforced rather a gift given. It comes to each person who generously enters the retreat with head, heart, and hands open to God.