Manresa Retreat

Ignatian Spiritual Exercises Directed Retreat

 

January 13 - 17, 2010
 - The last week of winter break -

manresa 2010

"Be Still, And Know That I Am God"
Psalm 46:10

What is Manresa?

  • The Manresa retreat is Campus Ministry's annual directed retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, inspired by Ignatius' experience in the cave at Manresa, Spain
  • It is a time of quiet, reflection, and prayer in an open, flexible schedule in a setting of real peace 
  • A powerful experience of community, faith, and discernment
  • It takes place at BC's beautiful Connors Family Retreat Center in Dover, MA

What's it like?

  • Plenty of time to rest, explore the grounds, reflect, read, and just be, free of the pressures and stress of daily campus life
  • Retreatants can follow the structure of St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises if they'd like
  • Retreatants meet with a spiritual director each day: one hour individual meetings with any of several campus ministers, priests, or other BC faculty/staff to discuss any issues relating to faith and life.  Go here for a description of spiritual direction   
  • Each day includes a Liturgy of the Eucharist and a prayer service, from reconciliation to thanksgiving and meditation

Who can go?

  • The retreat is open to any undergraduate or graduate student at BC 
  • Its focus is Christianity in the Roman Catholic tradition; there is no faith requirement for the retreat.  Directors will be coming from, and are not limited to, a Catholic Christian perspective  

Logistics

  • The cost to attend the retreat is $75 - cost will not prevent anyone from attending; contact Rick Rossi with any questions about payment   
  • Residential Life will grant early access to dorms to return belongings before the retreat
  • Campus Ministry provides optional transportation to the retreat center from BC
  • Classes begin January 19, the Tuesday after the retreat returns

Sign Up

  • After you submit your info on link below, we'll contact you to set up a meeting to discuss the retreat in more detail   
  • sign up by Monday, November 23

SIGN UP HERE


Contact Rick Rossi with any questions.

“…If we are so intent on responding even better to the love of God wherever it will lead us in our life, we will find the kind of quiet in which the movement of God in our life becomes all the more apparent . . ."

– Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 20

 

Past Retreatants' words about their experience of Manresa 


"The Silent Retreat is one of the best retreat experiences that BC has to offer... and that's saying a lot. Just when I thought that I couldn't take another weekend of early mornings and down-to-the-minute schedules, the Silent Retreat changed the way I thought about how my time with God should be spent. The new BC retreat house in Dover is a perfect setting for the cold days, and the food is without a doubt the best I've had on any retreat I've ever been on. The "five days of silence" scared me at first - after all, the reason I love retreats is because of all the people I get to meet while on them - but the friendships I formed during this surprising few days gave me new reasons to love BC and the fruitful spiritual community that makes our school what it is."
- Kris ‘08


"I attended the Silent Retreat as a personal challenge to myself. I wasn't sure how well I would do with 5 days of silence, but I knew that I wanted some time to think and pray and re-center myself. The Silent Retreat was a perfect opportunity to do all of this. I loved the time I was able to spend in prayer and journaling and it was amazing to see the way a group of people became a community - even in silence. The Silent Retreat was an incredibly powerful way for me to be with myself and think about what God has in store for me. It helped me renew my faith and taught me the value of quiet time by myself. The psalms that were chosen for me to reflect on proved very powerful and I loved participating in the Eucharist at the end of every day. At the end of the retreat, I was sorry that the silence had to end, but there was a group of wonderful people to spend time with and reflect with and it was great to get to know them even better after the retreat was over."
- Marianne ‘06


"The Silent Retreat is one of those things that you have to try to believe. Not only did it give me the opportunity to make me aware of how busy and hectic my life normally is, it made me conscious of the fact a hectic schedule can wear you down and start controlling you. With the Silent Retreat I began taking time for myself to pray and reflect each day, and I started letting go and letting God again."
- Manny ‘06

"I had been on and even led several retreats in the past, but what made the Silent Retreat different was how it adapted to each individual person. Without structured activities designed to occupy every moment of one's day, as on many retreats, the Silent Retreat is filled with free time--time to reflect, to pray, to realize what is truly needed in one's life. It was peaceful time of such quality, unlike any five days I had before, or since."
- Louis ‘08