Retreat and Reflection Day Programme Years 7 – 12

 A WAY TO GOD

Rationale

At the heart of Ignatian spiritual formation and practice is an ongoing process of reflection, discernment, action and reflection upon this. This is always in the context of listening to the Word of God as we come to know this Word in and through Jesus. The spirituality days and retreats that are integral to the life of all Loreto Normanhurst students and are part of the Religious Education curriculum are faithful to the heart of the Ignatian tradition: time set apart from the ordinary to focus on nurturing and strengthening the spiritual, so that the ordinary may become transformed and we may truly “find God in all things”. 

As we read the Scriptures we find many such experiences: Moses, who encountered God in the solitariness of the desert and on Mount Sinai; Elijah, who emerged from his cave to find God in the gentle breeze; Jesus himself often withdrew from those around him and went to solitary places to pray. As the Christian tradition developed so did this practice of withdrawal for prayer, reflection and strengthening. St Ignatius too spent a year in prayer in a cave at Manresa and out of this experience, face to face with God, came the Spiritual Exercises.

A most powerful instance of the experience of retreat and what we may look upon as a model for retreat, may be found in the story of the Transfiguration in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke.  The disciples go with Jesus onto a mountain and there they see him as he really is; they encounter the Divine in Him. In removing themselves from day to day life, in being alone with Him they are enabled and privileged to see anew. They are then sent out by Jesus to take that experience and awareness back with them into all they do.

The time set apart for retreats and spirituality days provides our students with just such opportunities. The processes, the silence, the  prayer, the relationships and conversations all invite them into seeing anew and help them to return to daily life strengthened and encouraged in their Christian spiritual journey. They offer them a way to God.           

Structure of the program

The structure of the retreat program for Years 7 – 10 has as its inspiration the structure of the celebration of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is understood to be the source and summit of Catholic Christian life.  It is the most complete remembering or telling of the Christian story.  Each time we celebrate the Eucharist we are invited into a story and an experience which addresses the deepest levels of what it is to be human. The four parts of this celebration are:

1. 1. Who am I, how am I, who are we? 
2. 2. Who is God?
3. 3. The encounter: God and I, God and the community, in relationship.
4. 4. The world and this community in relationship: the commissioning

1. Who am I?

We begin with self: who we are and how we are right now; as we gather in God’s presence we become aware of the most profound sense of our identity ‘face to face’ with God. In that awareness we look into ourselves – who am I , how am I at this moment -  and in this looking our needs arise, our needs for healing, forgiveness, wholeness. The gathering rite and the penitential rite proclaim our identity as loved beings, embraced by a compassionate, self-giving God calling each of us into that wholeness which is our most profound identity. 

The Year 7 Spirituality Day will focus on Identity.

This reflection is set in the context of a loving all-embracing God. We are created in the image of God: “in the image of God, God created them: male and female God created them” (Genesis 1:27). Primary to our very being is the life of God within us: “then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

It will also include an invitation to recognize the parts of their particular make-up that may not always reflect this. 

This focus is consistent with the Year 7 theme “Identity” and the units studied in the Year 7 Religious Education course: our Christian sacred stories which give us our identity, the stories of Creation and Covenant. It is also consistent with the exploration of spirituality in the unit, People of Faith: people whose identity reflects their sense of God and is formed by their response to God. 

2.  Who is God … Who is Jesus?

In the second part of the celebration of the Eucharist we shift our focus to the revealing of God. This is the Liturgy of the Word: we are invited to listen to stories of God, to grow in knowing something of who God is, who Jesus is, to listen to the word God is speaking to us. We listen to the readings from Scripture and the teachings in the homily, we express our beliefs in the Creed.

The Year 8 Spirituality Day will focus on listening to God’s Word especially as given to us in and through Jesus.   What is the word God speaks to us through Jesus? How are we called to live? What is the wisdom for living we are given, what do we believe? What is Jesus saying to us? What is Jesus saying to me?

This is consistent with the year 8 theme “Connectedness” and with the units of study in the Year 8 RE program where there is a focus on Scripture, the early Christian communities and an exploration of Catholic Christian beliefs. It is through embracing this Word that we create our Catholic Christian communities and it is the  foundation for all connectedness. 

3. God and I: The encounter.

The third part of the celebration of the Eucharist turns to the encounter between God and self, between God and the community of faith. We begin with the offering of our gifts and the offering of self and we are drawn into intimate relationship. The ordinariness of bread and wine are transformed  - “may it become for us the bread of life” (Eucharistic Prayer)  -  and in faith and through assent we enter into relationship; we are drawn into the self-giving of God in and through Christ. 

The spirituality program for Year 9 will be part of the Outreach experience.  During the two week Outreach experience there will be opportunities for simply being present to God and for reflecting upon this awareness and relationship. Away from the familiarity of their everyday surroundings, face to face with the vastness of the land and the sacredness of nature there is an opportunity to encounter God in places and ways perhaps unthought of or not experienced before. Discovering and appreciating aspects of Indigenous spirituality will also present an opportunity for enlarging and deepening their spiritual awareness and sensitivity. In the uniqueness of the Australian physical and cultural landscape there will be many ways to explore and enjoy the wonder of God and self in relationship.

 4. God and community.

The final part of the celebration of the Eucharist is a commissioning, a sending forth to live justice, compassion, inclusivity, truth.

We are sent out to take what we have experienced into our world. Embraced by God, healed, nourished and strengthened we are sent to be the body of Christ, to create just and loving relationships, structures and communities. We are sent to go and to “love and serve the Lord”.  

The Year 10 Spirituality Day will focus on justice.  How do we respond to that commissioning, “to love and serve the Lord”? How do we become the body of Christ and create communities, relationships and structures in our world that are living Eucharist.

This will relate to the Year 10 unit on Morality and the exploration of Mary Ward’s just person, as well as being consistent with the harmony and understanding that is explored in the study of ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue. It is an expression of the Year 10 theme “Creating a future”.

The Year 11 and 12 retreats

The Year 11 and 12 retreats (both 2 nights) will be opportunities to deepen aspects of what has been experienced in Years 7 – 10 in an extended period and at a more mature level consistent with the age group.

The Year 11 retreat: Make My Word Your Home.

This retreat is based on the words of Jesus in John’s Gospel: ”If you make my word your home, you will indeed be my disciples; you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32).

What is this truth?  It is the truth about life, about relationships, about ourselves, about God, that we come to know in and through the life, person and teachings of Jesus.

Students will be guided through processes that will invite them to reflect on themselves and their relationships and to see themselves and their relationships in the light of the truth about these things that Jesus reveals to us and into which He invites us. There is the opportunity for letting go of hurtful and damaging self images and ways of relating. 

The Year 12 retreat: Listening For God

This retreat is based on the theology of creation expressed in the work of a number of twentieth century and contemporary Catholic theologians as well as in the Catholic theological and spiritual Tradition.  It is also firmly grounded in Biblical spirituality.  At its heart is the Catholic understanding of sacramentality: that particular worldview which sees the universe as graced and blessed - all creation reveals the Divine Presence.  Catholic sacramentality understands, furthermore, that  human endeavour in the form of choices, actions, values, words and attitudes also has the potential to be sacramental, to incarnate the Divine Presence.  The theology and spirituality upon which this retreat is based reflect both a contemporary understanding of the universe as revealed to us in the scientific, evolutionary and ecological stories of our time as well as the traditional Christian understanding of incarnation. 

The retreat is called ‘Listening For God’ and it builds upon the focus and processes experienced by the students in the Year 11 retreat, ‘Make My Word Your Home’.  The focus of that retreat was on listening to the Word of God and thereby discerning the truth about Christian living, about God as we come to know God through Jesus, and about self.  It involved developing self - awareness so that students were able to engage with this truth, allowing their responses to emerge and discerning how they might allow the words of Christ to shape their self-image and their lives.  A central experience of the Year 11 retreat was the practice of lectio divina.  During this retreat the students were guided into the practice of praying with Scripture, of listening deeply to what was happening within themselves and listening and responding to God’s word. 

The Year 12 retreat is also centred on these processes and invites students to deepen their experience of them.  A significant practice in this retreat is the Ignatian Examen as well as an emphasis on guiding the students into an appreciation of silence as a foundational spiritual practice.  It is faithful to the Ignatian spiritual tradition in that it is centred on these processes which facilitate finding God in all things.