Directors for the 21st Century
This past Sunday, we began our fourth season of the Pierre
Favre Program. This three-year course prepares new directors
of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. We welcomed seventeen
into the first year. Ten have continued into year two
and eight into year three, and six completed the Program in
May.
The participants in the Favre Program have been assisting
on our weekend retreats for two years, bringing new perspectives
and experience to our shared ministry. They are also taking
the Exercises back to their own local communities, extending
the availability of this spiritual blessing to more of God's
people.
El Retiro San Iñigo, around 1930
Retreats in Everyday Life
Eighteen friends of the Retreat Center are beginning the Spiritual
Exercises this month. Each will be doing the Exercises extended
over a number of months—30 weeks rather than thirty
days—and
each with an individual director. Ignatius proposes this mode
of the Exercises in his "19th Annotation" to the text.
This mode is well suited for those who desire to do the complete
Spiritual Exercises but do not have the leisure to set aside
their other commitments for 30 days.
Please keep all these retreatants and their directors in your
prayers through these months. They will certainly have you
in their minds and hearts as they travel the spiritual path
of the Exercises.
Never a Dull Moment
Ms. Leelamma Sebastian, Program Director for the Retreat Center,
complements the many retreats we sponsor with a steady stream
of hosted groups all through the year. We are blessed
to have had a St. Ignatius Prep junior retreat, with 60 participants,
going on here for the first days of this week, and we welcome,
for the latter part of the week, new faculty from the seven
high schools sponsored by the California Province of the Society
of Jesus. Meanwhile, Fr. Moses Kan, S.J., is directing
six people individually, in Mandarin, in 8-day retreats. The
Spirit is ever getting the Spirit’s work done!
Pereira Hall at dawn, viewed from the steps of Rossi Chapel.
Retreats Coming Up
A Season of Promise
This weekend, September 25-27, we are offering a retreat
for those who find themselves called to consider the prospect
of mortality, which touches each of our lives intimately.
Fr.
Jerry Hudson, S.J., and Mrs.
Cathy Collins invite us
to consider with them that We Are Always an Autumn
People.
For more information or to register for the retreat, give
us a call at 650-948-4491 or register on-line at We
Are Always an Autumn People.
What Do You Want from Life?
Fr. Bernie Bush always has an answer for us. This
weekend, September 25-27, he and Mrs.
Susan Mahan offer
a non-silent retreat for men, inviting all who participate
to reflect on the desires that invite us into discernment
and call us to wise choices. We are reminded that Jesus
Christ is the source and goal of all our desiring.
For more information or to register for the retreat, give
us a call at 650-948-4491 or register on-line at Jesus
Christ: Source & Goal of Our Desiring.
On the weekend of October 9-11, Fr.
Bush will team up with
Sr.
Anne Hennessy, C.S.J., on another retreat on this same
theme, this time a silent retreat for women and men. We
extend a special welcome this weekend to members of the
St. Vincent de Paul Society, who celebrate this year 150
years of generous service to the Church through their care
for the poor.
For more information or to register for the retreat, give
us a call at 650-948-4491 or register on-line at Jesus
Christ: Source & Goal of Our Desiring.
Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize
On the weekend of October 2-4, we offer a silent retreat
for men. Fr.
Jim Flynn, S.J., & Ms.
Leelamma Sebastian will invite us to join them in looking at Jesus through
the eyes of those who were blessed to walk with him during
his earthly life. We will take on the perspective
of some of Jesus’ contemporaries, apostles and disciples,
in order to share their insight into and their familiarity
with the Lord.
For more information or to register for the retreat, give
us a call at 650-948-4491 or register on-line at Jesus
as His Companions Have Seen Him.
O Beauty, Ever Ancient, Ever New
Artists and all who find God in the arts will want to be
here on the weekend of October 16-18. Ms.
Christine Rodgers will join U.S.F.’s Fr.
Tom Lucas, S.J., in
an exploration of God’s Self-revelation in all that
is beautiful. (Fr. Tom Lucas is generously filling
in for Fr. Tom O’Neill, who is not free to be with
us.) We will take time together to attend to the
Word expressed in Creation and in our creativity.
For more information or to register for the retreat, give
us a call at 650-948-4491 or register on-line at The
Fullness of Creation.
 Central
window of Rossi Chapel, showing St. Ignatius, in his cave
at Manresa, in mystical conversation with Our Lady as he
drafts the Spiritual Exercises. Photo credit Michael Collopy.
The calendar for
our 2009-2010 retreat season is now posted on our website,
along with information on each of our retreats and on each
person working on our retreat teams. You’re invited
to stop by the website and
browse around—and to book in another retreat soon!
(You may also download our [pdf:1.06MB] version of the 2009
~ 2010 calendar.)
Donate
ONLINE to
The Jesuit Reteat Center of Los Altos, and please remember
the Jesuit Retreat Center in your will or estate planning. |
