Retreat in Daily Life

What is the Retreat in Daily Life?

This week-long retreat gives you the opportunity to experience a contemplative “time away” with daily spiritual direction, without traveling to a retreat center and leaving your daily routine. Based on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, the Retreat in Daily Life was created by John Veltri, SJ, as a way for people to experience the gifts of this structured 40-day retreat in a 5-day format. Meant for those who long to encounter Jesus more deeply, and aimed toward finding God in all things, the Retreat in Daily Life is a guided experience of the love of God, rather than more things to think about God.

During the course of the retreat you will learn different prayer styles and forms (ways of conversation or encounter with Christ), be provided with Scripture to use in prayer, and experience a daily session with a spiritual director. The spiritual direction that you will receive is not counseling but is similar in that it takes place during a one-on-one conversation, and does often result in healing, growth, hope, and renewal.

What is Spiritual Direction?

In the context of the Retreat in Daily life, spiritual direction is about listening to our inner movements as we read, reflect, and meditate on Scripture and our relationship with God. Spiritual directors practice the ancient art of spiritual listening, or holy listening, one to another. For centuries men and women, both lay and ordained, have been recognized as having a specific calling to help others draw closer to God through the ministry of presence, prayer, and discernment. They are gifted in the movement of the Spirit and help us notice where God is present and working in our lives.

A group of spiritual directors will guide us through this retreat. They come from a variety of denominations, each with the call to spiritual direction. All directors meet daily for supervision during the retreat for the better support of each retreatant.

What are the Ignatian Exercises?

Saint Ignatius Loyola crafted the Spiritual Exercises to help people, all people, to encounter Jesus. The emphasis of the Exercises is growth and development into internal conformity to Christ, freedom in Christ, and greater intimacy and union with God. They are built on a two-fold foundation of Scripture and Jesus, with the vast majority of the material for contemplation being drawn from the Gospels.  The original form of the Exercises is a retreat of about 40 days in silence and solitude. The Exercises are divided into four “weeks” of varying length with four major themes: sin and God’s mercy, episodes in the life of Jesus, the passion of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus, together with a deep contemplation on God’s love. This last contemplation is often seen as the goal of Ignatian spirituality, to find God in all things. The “weeks” represent stages in a process of wholehearted commitment to the service of God. Eventually, Ignatius developed the 19th annotation, which allowed a person to participate in the Exercises over a period of roughly 9 months rather than the 40-day retreat. This version of the Exercises involves a schedule of reading and prayer along with regular sessions with a spiritual director.  The Retreat in Daily Life borrows from these themes and this model to provide a one-week introduction to the Exercises.

What will my participation look like?

Attend an Orientation on Sunday, February 18:

     For online attendees: 12-2pm MT via Zoom
    For Colorado Springs (IAC) attendees: 6-8pm MT in-person at IAC
    For Nashville (Redeemer) attendees: 6-8pm CT at Redeemer

 Attend a Closure Celebration on Saturday, February 24:

    For online attendees: 12-2pm MT via Zoom
    For Colorado Springs (IAC) attendees: 6-8pm MT in-person at IAC
    For Nashville (Redeemer) attendees: 6-8pm CT at Redeemer 

Each day spend 30 minutes in directed prayer as provided by your spiritual director via email.

From Monday to Friday, meet with your spiritual director for 30 minutes each day during one of three flexible time slots. These meetings will take place either online, at the various locations in Colorado Springs attendees through International Anglican Church (IAC), the Abbey House at Redeemer for Nashville attendees, or another mutually agreed upon space with your director.

Who is this for?

If you can identify with any of the following, this week might be helpful to you:

• I long to know Jesus more deeply, especially in this Lenten season.
• I’m interested in what spiritual direction might bring to my life.
• Meditation is something that I have always been interested in. How do I meditate on the Scriptures?
• The Bible is hard for me. I’d like to encounter God through it, but I’ve found my history with church or Scripture painful.
• I want to feel God’s love more and find God in all things.
• I only pray in church. I would love to be able to pray throughout the week.
• My work life is one thing and my Christian life another. How do I bring them closer together?
• I need to pray about a situation towards which I feel resentment or bitterness.
• There is a situation or decision in my life that I need discernment and wisdom about.
• God feels so distant, but Scripture says that God is also close. I would like to experience that.
• I feel like my prayer life is one-way, I’m wondering why I don’t hear from God.
• Silence is hard for me, but I know I need more of it. I need help and structure.

Retreatants can expect to:

• Learn more about prayer and various prayer forms
• Learn about spiritual direction
• Discover what it is like to share your spiritual journey with another person
• Experience a different prayer rhythm in your life
• Deepen your sense of community
• Experience the refreshment that retreat time offers
• Become more self-aware spiritually
• Discover a deeper listening to self and God

How will this retreat help me enter into the Lenten Season? 

Lent is the season in the Christian calendar that runs from Ash Wednesday through Palm Sunday. Traditionally, it’s a 40-day fast (Sundays are feast days and not included) meant to bring both our brokenness and the mercy and love of Christ into clearer focus in our lives. In the early church, Lent was considered a preparation time for those who desired to be baptized where each person practiced self-examination and the study of Scripture individually and in community. The Lenten journey prepares our hearts to receive the incredible sacrifice of Christ on the cross, His death, resurrection, and ascension in such a way as to experience intimacy with and transformation through God’s love.

In some ways, the Retreat in Daily Life is Lent in miniature. While the retreat itself takes place in the midst of our daily-ness, the journey of prayer and presence with a spiritual director is a kind of fasting from distraction and an engagement with God in the practices of prayer and listening. The form of the retreat is designed to take the retreatant into new intimacy with Jesus—the kind of intimacy that will, we hope, guide and shape the rest of the season with God.