Category Archives: Personal Retreats

Home | Archive by category "Personal Retreats" (Page 2)

Blog

Stability: The Benedictine Value of Locatedness

Stability: The Benedictine Value of Locatedness

Stability The Benedictine Value of Locatedness An old saying touts, “Location, location, location” as the key to property value. Benedictine spirituality also values location, but not the way your real estate broker might. A prominent Benedictine principle is stability, or staying put within a particular community rather than continually traveling on to somewhere else. For…
Read more
Retreat: Making Time to Remember Our Belovedness

Retreat: Making Time to Remember Our Belovedness

Retreat Making Time to Remember Our Belovedness Life’s challenges have a way of growing up all around us. I sometimes picture myself standing in a field surrounded by weeds I cannot see over. I do my best to push them out of the way, look around them, and pretend like they are not there. But,…
Read more
Sabbath: Well-being, Not Endless Work

Sabbath: Well-being, Not Endless Work

While modern Christians do not often practice Sabbath as regularly as our Jewish brothers and sisters, we still need times when we set aside our task lists to remember that we are created in the image of a God who rested after amazing acts of creation. We need times to step outside of our regular work routines and remember that we are “human beings,” not just “human doings.” These times remind us we are beloved just as we are and that God’s love does not depend on us producing or creating or doing anything.

Read more
Fostering Community: What might IT be?

Fostering Community: What might IT be?

Fostering Community: What might IT be? I am dazzled by the gold thread of a meaningful conversation and, as if with the paw of a cat, I pull on it and chase it, until it unravels.  That is how I might describe my fall week of residency at the Benedictine Center as I moved in…
Read more
A New Story

A New Story

This reflection was written in response to an experience at the Benedictine Center called "Divine Spark: Kindling the Fires of Ministry." A New Story Light from Your presence Sparks my soul The spark and careful tending start a small flame Writing, reflection, good conversation partners, prayer and lectio breathe life into the flame The challenges…
Read more
Saturated with Peace: Experiencing Personal Retreat

Saturated with Peace: Experiencing Personal Retreat

Saturated with Peace: Experiencing Personal Retreat I’m not sure what I was seeking over a decade ago, when I signed up for a 24 hour “teacher’s retreat” at St. Paul’s Monastery. It was mid-August, my time to squeeze in one more week of summer’s leisure pace before the craziness of teaching three grade levels in…
Read more
Companions for the Journey

Companions for the Journey

Companions for the Journey Inward There is a great paradox in navigating the spiritual path. It has been said by sages throughout history that the spiritual journey is a do-it-yourself project. No one, not even the wisest teacher, can walk the path for us.  The best they can do is point us in the right…
Read more
My Life with Psalm 139

My Life with Psalm 139

I had the great blessing of attending both the Schools of Discernment and Lectio Divina at the Benedictine Center. I entered into each School not sure of what I might experience, but open to divine guidance. Both times the text that seemed to choose me was Psalm 139:1-16. As I engaged the psalm then and…
Read more