Silent Retreat

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Mariawald. Located at the sisters of the most precious blood convent in Pennsylvania. The Jesuit Center in wernersville, PA.
 
White House Retreat, St. Louis, MO run by the Jesuits

It’s my piece of heaven when I go away for a week. Truly love it! 😉
 
TimothyH said:
I was there for a vocations retreat and the novice director (Fr. Elias?) mentioned his good friendship with a buddhist monk. I don’t think the Monastery of the Holy Spirit offers silent retreats per se, but there is an amazing sense of peace and quiet there.
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I don’t see anything wrong with having a buddhist monk for a friend.

But that’s not the same as inviting buddhist monks into a Catholic church to pray their pagan prayers.

Buddhism offends Our Lord. It should offend you too.
 
PattiDay said:
I am new to Ignatian Spirituality. I have found the Daily Examen to be a wonderful resource to find God in the everyday. Jim Manney produced six of these Daily Examens for Lent and they are still on the www.ignatianspirituality.org website. If you haven’t checked them out already, give a listen. They are so calming and inspirational. Enjoy your hometime and if you do attend a 30-day, please start a thread when you return.
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Interesting. Here is the “Examen” from ignatianspirituality.org :
  1. Become aware of God’s presence.
  2. Review the day with gratitude.
  3. Pay attention to your emotions.
  4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
  5. Look toward tomorrow.
And here is the “Examination of Conscience” practiced by St. Ignatius himself:
(books.google.com/books?id=C_ECAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA259)

METHOD OF THE GENERAL EXAMINATION TO BE MADE EVERY DAY.
  • The first point is an act of thanksgiving to the Lord for the benefits we have received.
  • The second is a prayer to know our faults, and to correct them.
  • The third is an exact discussion and examination of the sins we have committed during the day. We must demand a rigorous account from our souls of what we have thought, said, and done hour by hour. The same order and method must be followed as has been already given for the particular examen.
  • The fourth consists in asking pardon of God for the sins into which we have fallen.
Seems like the Jesuits have deviated just slightly from the practices of St. Ignatius…
 
Opus Dei offers outstanding silent retreats. The closest locations to you would be outside of Boston, MA at Arnold Hall and outside of DC at Longlea, which doesn’t seem to have a webpage, but does have a phone number listed here.

I just made my annual retreat last weekend at the San Francisco area center, Trumbull Manor. It was just wonderful.

Hope this helps,

Margaret
 
God willing I will make it on a silent retreat sometime soon…
 
Will_S said:
Interesting. Here is the “Examen” from ignatianspirituality.org :
  1. Become aware of God’s presence.
  2. Review the day with gratitude.
  3. Pay attention to your emotions.
  4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
  5. Look toward tomorrow.
And here is the “Examination of Conscience” practiced by St. Ignatius himself:
(books.google.com/books?id=C_ECAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA259)

METHOD OF THE GENERAL EXAMINATION TO BE MADE EVERY DAY.
  • The first point is an act of thanksgiving to the Lord for the benefits we have received.
  • The second is a prayer to know our faults, and to correct them.
  • The third is an exact discussion and examination of the sins we have committed during the day. We must demand a rigorous account from our souls of what we have thought, said, and done hour by hour. The same order and method must be followed as has been already given for the particular examen.
  • The fourth consists in asking pardon of God for the sins into which we have fallen.
Seems like the Jesuits have deviated just slightly from the practices of St. Ignatius…
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Please do not forget that Examen is a prayer and it is not examination of conscience, rather examination of conciousness. So every individual prays examen in his own way. If you are interested in praying examen, I would suggest the book Examen Prayer by Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.
 
a 30-day silent retreat is not as easy as it sounds. It requires the would-be retreatant to undergo preparations with spiritual direction for weeks or months before the retreat, e.g. a series of recollection and/or 3-5 day silent retreats. I’ve seen unprepared retreatants lose their minds during the lengthy retreat. :eek
 
asnate said:
Please do not forget that Examen is a prayer and it is not examination of conscience, rather examination of conciousness. So every individual prays examen in his own way. If you are interested in praying examen, I would suggest the book Examen Prayer by Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.
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I second this! 👍

Fr. Gallagher’s books are awesome! 😃
 
choliks said:
a 30-day silent retreat is not as easy as it sounds. It requires the would-be retreatant to undergo preparations with spiritual direction for weeks or months before the retreat, e.g. a series of recollection and/or 3-5 day silent retreats. I’ve seen unprepared retreatants lose their minds during the lengthy retreat. :eek
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I was going to do one for my 50th birthday but I had the opportunity to go on a two week pilgrimage to Assisi. Maybe I’ll get it in for my 60th. Yes there is a lot of preparation and from what I know about it the retreat can be very difficult, draining and a lot of work. It is not just listening to talks as most people experience retreats.

I prepare myself by making 8 day completely silent retreats, without talks or really any interaction except at communal prayer and Mass. I try to go to Benedictine abbeys since they all have guest houses and only ask for a donation. Since I am an oblate this is a good choice for me but anyone can go. I meet with my director before the retreat and upon arriving home. The rest is up to me and the HOly Spirit.
 
choliks said:
a 30-day silent retreat is not as easy as it sounds. It requires the would-be retreatant to undergo preparations with spiritual direction for weeks or months before the retreat, e.g. a series of recollection and/or 3-5 day silent retreats. I’ve seen unprepared retreatants lose their minds during the lengthy retreat. :eek
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It has been a long time since I have been on retreat. All silent retreats have been weekend retreats. There is a big difference between going on retreat for a weekend, and going on retreat for a month. The silent retreats at St. Anthony’s (in WI) were guided with talks given throughout the day. Music played during meals.
Time spent at Holy Spirit Monastery, on the other hand, would be unguided.
The very first retreat I attended was an Easter retreat, during a time of crisis. I met daily with a spiritual director who gave me Biblical readings specific to my situation. It was a private retreat.
I would not be able to go on a 30 day retreat this year anyway. A retreat is a time of recollection, a time of preparation for whatever a person may be facing in life. Regardless of the type of retreat, or any mountain top experience, the person who goes on retreat must return to the valley, back to life in the world. A retreat is not meant to be used to run away from personal responsibilities.
 
asnate said:
Please do not forget that Examen is a prayer and it is not examination of conscience, rather examination of conciousness. So every individual prays examen in his own way. If you are interested in praying examen, I would suggest the book Examen Prayer by Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.
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This is the “slight deviation” of which I was speaking.

St. Ignatius proposed the “Examination on Conscience” for the purpose of rooting out vice and installing virtue, but that’s not popular among people who aren’t fans of the concept of personal sin, so what St. Ignatius (and many other saints, such as St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori) recommended was modified to fit the new theology which suggests you “pay attention to your emotions”.
 
Will_S said:
This is the “slight deviation” of which I was speaking.

St. Ignatius proposed the “Examination on Conscience” for the purpose of rooting out vice and installing virtue, but that’s not popular among people who aren’t fans of the concept of personal sin, so what St. Ignatius (and many other saints, such as St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori) recommended was modified to fit the new theology which suggests you “pay attention to your emotions”.
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WOW, so now you know exactly what was in the heart & mind of St. Ignatius?! 🤷

I am very Ignatian in my spirituality, a budding Ignatian scholar, and have completed the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises, and a couple of week-long retreats.

Emotions played a very big part in Ignatius’ conversion, and he wanted people to be aware of them and how they (emotions) played a part in human behavior.

The Pricipal & Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises (my emphasis added)
***Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created. From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it. ***For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which we are created.
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Jesuit spirituality is about finding God in all things. What works for one may not work for someone else, but that does not mean it is bad/wrong.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
WOW, so now you know exactly what was in the heart & mind of St. Ignatius?! 🤷
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It is not difficult to read St. Ignatius directly yourself: books.google.com/books?id=C_ECAAAAQAAJ (for example)

Here’s St. Ignatius’ spiritual exercise on hell (abridged)

EXERCISE ON HELL.
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. Represent to yourself in imagination the length, the width, the depth of hell.
Second prelude. Ask of God a lively fear of the pains of hell, so that if ever you have the misfortune to lose the feeling of Divine love, at least the fear of torments may deter you from sin.

CONSIDERATIONS.
  1. The habitation of the damned. It is hell. But what is hell? The Holy Ghost calls it the place of torment; a region of misery and darkness, where disorder dwells; the lake of the anger of God; a burning furnace; the depths of the abyss; the winepress of the fury of the Almighty, under which God will trample and crush His enemies.
  2. The society of the damned. In hell, a triple society will form the torment of the damned soul.
  • The society of his body, which will unite to the infectious corruption of a corpse all the sensibility of a living body, and of which all the members have their torment and their pain.
  • The company of devils, whose sole occupation is to torture the damned; who, not being able to revenge themselves on God for their reprobation, revenge themselves on man, His image, and pursue Him in the condemned with all the fury that can enter the heart of a demon.
  • The society of an infinite number of reprobates like himself. Represent to yourself this assembly, so hideous that nothing like it can be found in the dungeons and galleys of human justice; represent to yourself these miserable creatures bound together like a bundle of thorns, or like a heap of tow thrown into the flames, accusing, cursing themselves, tearing one another.
  1. The torment of the damned in the powers of his soul.
  • His imagination, which represents to him with irresistible clearness the delights of his past life on earth; the horror of his present sufferings in hell ; the eternity of his future sufferings; the happiness of the elect, of which he might have partaken, and which he has lost for ever.
  • His memory, which recalls all his sins, all the graces he received in time, all the warnings that were given him during his life.
  • His understanding, which incessantly shows him the deformity of sin, the greatness and beauty of God, the justice of the punishments of hell.
  • His will, torn at the same time by regret, remorse, jealousy, desire, hatred of God and of himself.
  1. The torment of the damned in all his senses.
  • Torment of sight: the flames, the devils, the damned his companions in torture, the cross of Jesus Christ imprinted on the roof of hell.
  • Torment of hearing: blasphemies, imprecations, reproaches, cries of rage calling on death and annihilation.
  • Torment of the smell: the infection exhaled from so many bodies, which preserve in hell all the corruption of the tomb.
  • Torment of taste: a maddening hunger, the violence of which will force the damned to devour his own flesh; a devouring thirst, and for refreshment wormwood and gall.
  • Torment of the touch: this fire, which surrounds the damned like a vestment, and penetrates all his members,— fire lighted by the breath of God Himself; fire which preserves its victim, and at the same time every moment exhausts and renews his sensibility, so as to render his pain eternal; fire armed with all the attributes of God to avenge them on the damned; fire which identifies itself with the damned, which boils in his veins, escapes and enters at every pore, which makes his body but one burning coal in the midst of the furnaces of hell.
  1. The torment of eternity. “Always,” “Never.” Always regrets and despair, always the company of devils, always flames; never any end, never any interruption, never any remission of the pains and tortures. “Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Is. xxiii. 14.)
COLLOQUY.
Address yourself to Jesus Christ; recall at His feet, that the causes for which these men are damned is either for having refused to believe in His coming or for not having obeyed His precepts. It is the crime of men damned before His coming on earth, of those who lived in His time, and of those who came into the world after Him. Then attach yourself to Him for ever in mind and heart, that He may save you from eternal death. Finish by returning Him the most lively thanks that He has not permitted you to fall into this terrible abyss, but that He pursues you even to this day, not by His vengeance, but by His immense goodness and infinite mercy.
Pater. Ave.
 
Will S.

I do not know if you have ever attempted the Spiritual Exercises, but it is not a good idea to take anything out of it’s context.

What you quote is but one exercise, that needs to build on the ones before it and after it.
Even Ignatius said that his exercises where not meant to be practiced to the letter, but to be used as the Principal and Foundation suggest.

I humbly ask that you please stop misrepresenting what the exercises teach.
 
Will_S said:
I provided the context. The link to the book is above. Check it out.
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As I said, the Exercises are meant to be practiced, not read.

I have done them.
May I ask, have you?
Or are you just quoting from some book?
 
St. Ignatius’ First Exercise on Sin (abridged)
books.google.com/books?id=C_ECAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA300

FIRST EXERCISE ON SIN.
MEDITATION OR EXERCISE OF THE THREE POWERS OF THE SOUL ON THREE DIFFERENT SINS: THAT OF THE FALLEN ANGELS, THAT OF OUR FIRST PARENTS, THAT OF A CHILD OF ADAM CONDEMNED FOR A PERSONAL SIN.

Preparatory Prayer.
Ask of God the grace to refer to His glory and service all the powers and operations of your soul.
First prelude. Represent to yourself, during the first pomt, Lucifer falling from the heights of heaven to the depths of the abyss; in the second, Adam cast out of the terrestrial Paradise into this vale of tears; in the third, a lost soul in the midst of the flames of hell.
Second prelude. Ask of God feelings of shame and repentance at the sight of so many souls expiating by eternal suffering the sin you have committed so frequently.

FIRST POINT: The sin of the rebel angels.
Consider—

  1. *]The angels before their sin. The excellence of their being; the light of their intelligence; the rectitude and innocence of their will; their dwelling, which is heaven, where, without yet seeing the Lord face to face, they have no other life than thinking of Him and loving Him; the happiness of their destiny — that is, a few moments of trial, and then the sight and possession of God for.all eternity.
    *]The sin of the angels. These noble spirits were masters of their liberty, and it proved their ruin; God gave it to them that they might merit, and they abused it to destroy themselves. Lucifer, the highest of all, dared to refuse to God the obedience due to Him; and he drew a third of the angels into his rebellion. Meditate attentively on the circumstances of this sin, and see if you do not find them in great part in your own sins: a sin committed in heaven; a sin committed with great lights; a sin committed after great benefits from Divine grace; a sin of scandal.
    *]The punishment of the rebel angels. The justice of God falls on them like lightning. They are cast into the depths of hell, and in the midst of flames they suffer in an eternity of torment the sin of a moment. Meditate well on this terrible vengeance of God, which regards neither the multitude of the culprits, nor the dignity of the victims; neither the rank of the angels, nor the high place which they occupied in His friendship; neither the service these angels if repentant and restored to grace might render Him, nor the nature of their sin; it is their first sin, and the sin of a moment. “Who shall not fear Thee, O King of nations?” (Jer.x.7.) “How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways!” (Rom.xi.33.)

    SECOND POINT: The sin of Adam.
    Consider—

    1. *]Adam before his sin. The excellence of his being; made in the image of God; the reign of truth in his intellect, of justice in his heart; his empire over his passions and his senses; the profound peace of his soul; the delights of the terrestrial Paradise where God had placed him.
      *]Adam’s sin. God had forbidden him to touch the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam did not obey. Tempted by the serpent, Eve tempts her husband, who by a fatal complaisance becomes a sinner. Meditate on the characteristics of this sin — imprudence, sensuality, cowardice, blindness, contempt of God. In the fall of our first father do you not recognise all your past falls?
      *]The punishment of Adam after his sin. The loss of original justice and grace; disorder in all his being, in his intellect, in his heart, in his senses; change in nature, — inclemency of the seasons, barrenness of the earth, the revolt of the animals; tribulations of Adam during his whole life — labour, sickness, desolation at the death of Abel, all the troubles of his mind and heart; and, after 900 years of penitence, death. Finally, consider the anger of God avenging this first sin on all the descendants of the first sinner: pestilence, war, famine, desolation of the earth; so many disasters, so many violent deaths, so many tears shed, so many crimes committed, so many children for ever deprived of the sight of God, so many souls cast into hell. What consequences and what chastisements for one single sin!

      End by recalling your own state, and comparing Adam’s sin with your own personal sins.

      On Adam’s side. One single sin, committed before the Incarnation, before he had experienced the justice of God; above all, a sin which he expiated by nine hundred years of penitence.
      On your side. Sins so numerous, committed by a nature sanctified by Jesus Christ, in face of the cross and of hell, and perhaps sins not expiated, and for which you only feel but feeble repentance.

      (continued next post…)
 
(…continued from previous post.)

St. Ignatius’ First Exercise on Sin (abridged)
books.google.com/books?id=C_ECAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA300

THIRD POINT: On a particular sin.
Consider that at the moment that you on earth are meditating on the malice of mortal sin, there is, perhaps, in the depths of hell a soul that God has eternally condemned for such or such a mortal sin committed one single time, or at least for sins less numerous and less serious than yours.

Represent to yourself this soul for ever deprived of the sight and the possession of God, plunged into hell amongst demons, delivered up to remorse, to despair, to flames, for a wretched eternity.

Ask yourself what this God is who punishes a single mortal sin in this manner. He is a God infinitely wise, infinitely just, infinitely merciful — a God who has loved this soul so much as to die for it. What an evil, then, is one single mortal sin!

Finally, reflect upon yourself. How long is it since you first committed mortal sin? Why did not God strike you dead after this first sin? Why has God spared you till now, when every thing demanded your condemnation? — the interest of His perfections, which you outraged; of His graces, which you trampled underfoot; of the souls whose loss you caused by your scandals. If God had called you before His tribunal on such a day, at such an hour, after such a fault, where would you be at this moment, and in what state? “It is of the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed” (Jer.iii.22).

COLLOQUY AT THE FOOT OF THE CRUCIFIX.
Address yourself to Jesus Christ crucified present before you. Ask of your God why He has deigned to become incarnate, to suffer, to die for you. Ask yourself what you have done for Him up to this time that deserves mentioning; what you will do, and what you ought to do, for Him for the future. Fix your eyes upon the cross, and say to Him all that your heart suggests.
Pater. Ave.
 
Will S. ,

I am not exactly sure of the point you are trying to make.

Yes, the exercises require one to confront their sinfullness, but that is not the main purpose of the Exercises, which is to be found int he Principal & Foundation, which I posted above. Each exercise must build on the one before it and is a prelude of what is to come.

In order not to derail this thread anymore, if you would like to keep this conversation going, please PM me.
 
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