Our modern culture places a high value on non-fiction, deeming it to be the “reality,” while largely minimizing or dismissing the rich source of meaning that can be found in fiction, myth, and parable.  Through a psycho-spiritual lens, we will explore how the human psyche can experience significant growth through deep interaction with certain forms […]

The early Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 2: 42-47) prayed and shared all things in common.  St. Benedict proposed that those monks who live a community life are the strongest kind of monks, because growth in love must be concrete: involving mutual encouragement, inspiration, obedience to higher shared values, correctives to ego-centeredness, and constant reminders […]

A workshop based on the book Claiming Your Voice: Speaking Truth to Power by Norvene Vest.  Her book received honorable mention in the ‘Faithful Citizen/Religious Freedom’ category of the Catholic Media Awards this year. In her book she integrates our relation to public life in America with Benedictine spirituality for the benefit of the common […]

This intensive icon painting workshop will provide an opportunity to experience the process of icon painting. Participants will learn traditional iconographic techniques, working with egg tempera on gesso and the Byzantine four-color (tetrachrome) palette. This practical instruction will be combined with theoretical instruction in the history of iconography, iconographic composition, and the theology of icons. […]

monastery. Virtually every Benedictine monastery has a guest house to provide the disciple-monks the opportunity to ‘welcome guests as Christ Himself.’  This retreat will show that the virtue of hospitality can be seen through the larger lens of human and spiritual relatedness.  We all have implicit and explicit relationships with God, with self and with […]

"Adviento significa venida." Es el tiempo en que los cristianos nos preparamos para la venida del Señor. Se dice que el Antiguo Testamento fue el gran tiempo de espera y después de esa espera de muchos siglos, Cristo se manifestó en toda su gloria dándonos la oportunidad de una nueva vida en el Espíritu. En […]

How does a boy who gave up Christianity because of God’s failure to answer prayers for a dying mother become a best-selling Christian teacher of prayer? Come to our C. S. Lewis workshop and also feel free to join the Benedictine monks for their prayer. In morning and afternoon conferences, Dr. Ford will lead discussions of all of Lewis’s […]

Without gestures and actions, it is challenging to love well.  Come explore the movements and gestures that might define a whole new personal sacred place where you can dwell with your loved ones and renew the blessings of life. Presenter: John West, Obl.OSB

Discernment is an essential theme in the spiritual life. As we progress through our life, we constantly need to make practical decisions within the context of our values. These values are founded on our belief system, our culture, our understanding of and relationship with God. St. Benedict in his Rule is concerned that monks (actually […]

El libro el Cantar de los Cantares en su capítulo 2 dice "Mi Amado es para mí, y yo para mi Amado". El retiro está basado en esta premisa de que somos el uno para el otro unidos en solo corazón. El matrimonio es una alianza y no un acuerdo social. Es el lugar donde […]

The Divine Comedy is simultaneously one of the greatest poems ever written as well as one of the most profound presentations of the spiritual life, containing a well-developed and robust spiritual theology. Using Dante's masterpiece as guide this retreat will explicate Dante's theology of Christian living as well as his theology of grace, which makes the Christian journey to […]

We give them, we suffer them, and our bodies hold on to them for years: Wounds.  We can imprison ourselves in them and wither emotionally for far too long without the transforming power of forgiveness.  It is Divine Love that liberates us from resentment, self-pity, and isolation. The love that forgives opens a path to […]