Spirit Center Retreats
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Open Dates
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
Spirit Centers offers contemplative space for learning, renewal, and crucial conversation with others for a better world. Sometimes that means taking private time in silence and nature. Sometimes that means a group retreat to express or deepen spiritual longings. Sometimes that means sitting in safe conversation with the Holy Spirit and a spiritual director. If you aren't sure which is appropriate now, give them a gift certificate and let them choose their path.
Individual Retreat
Flexible Dates
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
St. Benedict said, “Listen with the ear of your heart.” Why? It is this type of listening that allows the hearing of divine wisdom and inspiration that guides our lives into ever-increasing fullness, peace, and joy. But sometimes the noise and blur of life make that difficult. That is why we offer you the opportunity to come to Spirit Center and listen.
Come to the Quiet
With Spirituality Ministry Team
June 16 - 23, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
Relax in God's presence, surrounded by natural beauty and supported by a praying community. Experience a week of silence for your heart, soul, mind, and body. Let go and listen deeply.
Exploring Nature’s Gifts
With Sr. Carlotta Fontes, OSB
June 29 - July 2, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
Discover what ancient herbal wisdom has to show us today. Learn how to identify and harvest herbs in order to make herbal teas, salve, and more. The retreat activities will take participants onto the Monastery of St. Gertrude hillside for a hands-on experience. Come ready to hike, dig, and get dirty! Tools and materials provided.
L.I.V.E. – Reaching Out
With Tim Oberholzer
July 11, 2023
Zoom
"In the midst of a turbulent, often chaotic, life we are called to reach out, with courageous honesty to our innermost self, with relentless care to our fellow human beings, and with increasing prayer to our God. To do that, however, we have to face and explore directly our inner restlessness, our mixed feelings toward others, and our deep-seated suspicions about the absence of God." -- Henri Nouwen, Foreword to Reaching Out This book discussion will follow Henri Nouwen's Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life chapter-by-chapter. In this 10-week journey, our group will meet via 1 1/2…
Creative Peacemaking
With Sr. Elisa Martinez, OSB
July 21 - 23, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
In today’s world, we are being exposed to many faces of violence. Poverty, climate change, nuclear weapons, refugee rights, preparation and response to future pandemics, Healthcare crisis, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, gender equality, disinformation, freedom of the press, violence within our school, families, and communities, mass shootings, corruption, just to name a few. In light of this reality, how do we regain our inner peace and what is our role as peacemakers? During this weekend experience, we hope to discover ways to gain some inner peace and become peacemakers within our family, our neighborhoods, and our world communities. Spirit…
Mappa Divina
With Heather Berndt
August 15 - 17, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
Mappa Divina© is a sacred visioning process rooted in the contemplative practices of map making and pilgrimage. It involves writing, collage, and prayer intended to promote communion with the divine and alignment with Godde’s highest good for your life. The process is like creating a vision board but dives deeper into your inner landscape and is oriented toward being and doing rather than having. At the end of the retreat, participants will have a set of words and images to guide them on their journey forward. Best of all, it’s fun!
Living as a Monk in Everyday Life: A Benedictine Spirituality Cohort
With Sr. Teresa Jackson, OSB and Cecilia McKean, Obl.S.B.
August 21 - 27, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
Many people today are discovering a deep hunger for God at their core. The ancient Benedictine monastic tradition is a way of life designed to help people live a life focused on God. In this nine-month program, we will focus on how ordinary people can integrate Benedictine monastic prayer, values, and structures into their lives outside of a monastery. The program begins with a week-long retreat at the Monastery of St. Gertrude. Over the next nine months, participants will take online classes in Benedictine spirituality, participate in online discussions with other participants, explore suggested readings, and do regular integration/reflection exercises. …
A Watercolor Journey II
With Pearl Maxner
September 19 - 21, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
Take the next step toward becoming a confident watercolorist. Revisit the techniques learned in "A Watercolor Journey" and move forward to new skills. Any beginner class will serve as a prerequisite for this retreat. All materials provided.
Introduction to Centering Prayer
With Donna Kreiensieck
September 22 - 24, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
St. Benedict frequently unites silence and prayer in the work of seeking God. Centering prayer is one of several prayer practices that flow out of Benedictine Life. Thomas Merton describes centering prayer as "a 'return to the heart,' finding one's deepest center, awakening the profound depths of our being in the presence of God." The goal is to be present to the Lord and aware of the divine action within you. This introductory retreat will provide the background and fundamentals of Centering Prayer and teach how to develop a continuing practice.
Redefining Retirement: A Spiritual Practice
With Sr. Barbara Jean Glodowski, OSB
October 10 - 12, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
Whether already retired or preparing for retirement, you can redefine the way you live into the second half of your life through an examination of the wisdom of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Richard Johnson and the values of Benedictine spirituality. Explore the challenge with others on the journey.
Grateful Simplicity
With Julie Ferraro, Obl.S.B.
October 31 - November 2, 2023
Spirit Center
Autumn presents marvelous opportunities for spiritual housecleaning, to refresh the way we look at God, at ourselves, at others, and at the world. Using concepts drawn from Benedictine and Franciscan spirituality, this holistic retreat will provide suggestions and insights about decluttering body, mind, and soul, shaking the dust off old ideas, and rearranging what is important, in order to move forward on a journey of gratitude, with openness and awareness that every experience, every person we meet, can teach us valuable lessons that bring us closer to God. Spirit Center and the Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery…
An Attitude of Gratitude Yoga Retreat
With Kay Totten
November 7 - 9, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
November is a month when we naturally think of GRATITUDE as we near the time of Thanksgiving and the culmination of our summer and fall season activities. This yoga retreat will focus on our deep inner need to begin each day with an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE and a brief time of silence and reflection. There will be a variety of yoga sessions focusing on restorative/gentle yoga as well as exploring how challenge within our yoga postures can also bring about a sense of gratitude for how our bodies move and stretch. Beginning “yogis” welcome! Please bring a mat, blocks, or…
Deep Writing: Excavating the Inner Life
With Cheryl Johnson and Tim Oberholzer
November 13 - 17, 2023
Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude
We are archaeological sites. Personal artifacts buried in the rich humus of our lives long to tell their stories. These objects are sacred vessels, "tools" for listening, witnessing, and healing. Artifacts preserve "moments" and invite us below the surface where truth lies. Like archaeologists, we will dust off our objects and with our trowels of creative seeing, record, restore, and redeem them. Writing will be our "digging" practice. We'll show up and see what we uncover. You don't need to be "a writer" to attend this retreat. So, let go of that lizard on your shoulder and get ready to go…