Retreat Options

Making a yearly retreat, even if only for a couple days, is an important thing for every Catholic. A retreat is a time of quiet reflection and prayer, away from the daily routine, to examine one’s life in the presence of Jesus Christ: to see what is going well, to see what needs to change, to make resolutions and to begin again. The retreat options below are silent retreats, different from the high-energy weekend “retreats” often put on by high school or college campus ministries or by parishes. Those have their place, but as our Catholic life progresses, silent retreats become more important.

There are three basic ways to make a silent retreat:

Option 1: Preached Retreat

This is a structured retreat offered at a set time, which a number of Catholics will attend, where an individual (usually a priest) will preach a number of talks/meditations to help the participants enter into prayer during the retreat. The retreat will (or should) include daily Mass, opportunities for confession, silent prayer, etc.

Option 2: Directed Retreat

This is a retreat where an individual receives personalized, individualized guidance/direction from a priest or someone else over the course of several days (or even weeks). The retreatant might meet with the director once or more per day, receive certain Scripture passages to pray with, etc. Examples of religious orders that commonly lead these kinds of retreats would be Jesuits and the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (O.M.V.).

Option 3: Self-Guided Retreat

This is where an individual Catholic finds a retreat location (usually a monastery or Catholic retreat center), sets out a certain number of days to stay, and makes a retreat without any direct guidance from a spiritual director or retreat master. If someone has a regular spiritual director, they might talk to the spiritual director before departing for their retreat in order to make a plan for the self-guided retreat.