Reflection, Rest and Recreation at a Retreat

Creighton encourages faculty, staff and members of the community to take time for personal spiritual retreats, especially in the Ignatian tradition. Our daily lives, including our work, include much activity, communication and tasks. 

Reflection, rest and recreation with God

• Reflection: A retreat usually includes an intention to reflect and/or envision. Reflections can be done with others or alone.
• Rest: A retreat is time to rest our minds and bodies, sitting in the quiet and acknowledging and inviting God to join us in retreat. Pay close attention to the natural world or reflect on spiritual topics individually or with a small group. 
• Recreation: Rest and recreation with God become prayer during a retreat. Retreats often include walking in nature. With God as a dialogue partner, taking time outdoors can inspire reflection and discernment. 

The Creighton University Retreat Center in Griswold, Iowa, offers three-day silent retreats regularly, and the Christian Spirituality Program is always looking for participants in an eight-day silent retreat at the beginning of the summer.

Ignatian silent retreats often include the opportunity for guided spiritual direction to help the retreatant explore what is happening in their prayer. Those who are interested in making the Spiritual Exercises but aren’t able to get away for multiple days might consider a retreat in daily life. Take time every day for a few months to pray through the Spiritual Exercises and meet regularly with a spiritual director and/or a group of people who are also making the retreat.

“It usually takes me at least a couple days to slow down from 'normal life' pace and for my thoughts to quiet down so I can listen to God a little better. I’m given content to think about and pray with, and I even speak during communal prayer times and spiritual direction sessions. I’m just not talking to the other retreatants, because the focus is between me and God on a silent retreat,” wrote Molly Mattingly, coordinator of music at Campus Ministry.

The Creighton University Retreat Center offers regular retreats of various lengths and topics. You can find Jesuit retreat centers all across the USA and internationally, too.

Campus Ministry also invites Creighton faculty and staff to join trained student leaders as facilitators of small groups on some of the weekend retreats for undergraduates. If you might be interested, contact JeffreySullivan@creighton.edu.