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Manresa Matters Manresa Matters Manresa Jesuit Retreat House 1390 Quarton Road • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304-3554 Spring / Summer 248.644.4933 www.manresa-sj.org 2017 To help men and women grow spiritually through prayer, reflection, guidance and teaching according to the Ignatian tradition Be still and know that I am God . From the Editor hat a joy it was working with the publications team and other talented contributors to bring you this issue about experiencing W click here for EMAIL sign-up God in the silence! Perhaps the greatest click here for US MAIL sign-up. blessing was the privilege of interviewing Fr. Henry Chamberlain prior to his passing earlier this year (see page 9). Every spring/summer issue spotlights one Manresa Staff of our Jesuits, and he had been selected Fr. Leo Cachat, SJ for this issue. Little did we know at the Fr. Francis Daly, SJ time that the profile would become a office@ Executive Director memorial for Fr. Henry instead. Ann Dillon Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ The cover photo was taken in 2015, Fr. Steve Hurd, SJ shortly after the completion of The The four movements of lectio divina, Thomas Hurley Labyrinth at Manresa. Walking a which include reflective silence, can be Controller labyrinth is one of many ways to pray applied to other spiritual reading as well; Steve Raymond in silence. (Pamphlets about this Associate Director and so I invite you to read the articles Anne Smith are available in our lobby and also in this issue slowly and prayerfully, Ruth Ann Stevens accessible via our website: click here for a pausing to savor a word, phrase or image Business Manager downloadable brochure.) that speaks to your heart. Our hope is Rita Tinetti One of my favorite methods of that you will be touched by something Development Director prayer is lectio divina, which allows you read and inspired to experience Board of Directors God to speak uniquely to us through the silence at Manresa for yourself. reading, meditating, praying with and Other opportunities include Christian Fr. Timothy Babcock contemplating Scripture. (Click here Meditation in the main chapel after Robert Babinski Tuesday morning Mass (see pages 6-7), Joseph Basta for a brochure about lectio divina.) The John Bernia, Jr. opportunity to pray lectio with a group making an individual retreat (page 8), Fr. Fran Daly, SJ is available for everyone immediately enjoying the grounds (pages 14-15) and Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ following the 8:00 AM Mass on the first attending one of our conference retreats Mary Gresens Monday of every month, as well as five (see schedules on pages 18-19). Isaac Hanna Mondays during Lent, and for women There’s so much more to share inside . Fr. Si Hendry, SJ twice a month from 9:30 to 11:30 AM. James Hicks (Click here for Women to Women dates.) May you find God within, Patti Koval Peter Kreher Chair P. S. Click here to go to the four gold-edged pages that recognize the Keller McGaffey many of you who help support Manresa’s Mission. God bless you all! Frank Migliazzo Another way to join Fr. Ted Munz, SJ our e-mail list! David Nona Just send your email address Vice-Chair by text message . Brian O’Keefe Text: Sergio Pagés Check MANRESA us out Gerald Seizert to 22828 to get on the started! Fr. Gary Wright, SJ * web (Message and data rates may apply.) * www.manresa-sj.org Manresa Matters is published Comments, suggestions, story ideas? biannually by Manresa Jesuit The Publications Team would Retreat House, 1390 Quarton Publications Team (left to right): love to hear from you! Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI George Seroka, Fr. Peter Fennessy, Grace Please write to us via email at 48304. For more information Seroka, Steve Raymond, Paul Seibold, [email protected] phone 248.644.4933 or email Hugh Buchanan and Anne Smith. [email protected]. or use Manresa’s postal address. Page 2 From Our Executive Director s I walk the grounds of Manresa, God calls to me through the freshness ofA new life and the beauty of the coming spring. God is always trying to break into our space, but I think we have so many distractions in the midst of our busyness that we do not feel or see Francis J. Daly, SJ God’s abiding presence. The Grace of Silence With the theme of “Silence” for this issue of Manresa The following is read aloud at the beginning of every Matters, I was reminded of a poem I once saw written by conference retreat. “A Concord Pastor” in his blog. I want to share part of it While you are at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House, we with you: ask you to keep silence so that you can hear God’s voice speaking the words your soul longs to hear. Slow me down, Lord: These days are God’s gift to you, a graced time for you when I can’t stop the merry-go-round on my own, to spend with the Lord alone. We ask you to contribute slow me down . the gift of your silence to the atmosphere of our house When my ears and mind, so that your fellow retreatants can also hear what God wishes to say to each of them. my thoughts and heart are filled with noise, slow me down, Lord, If you are not used to being silent on a retreat, we are and show me a path to a quiet place . confident that you will find it restful and refreshing— even if sometimes difficult! Bring me to a quiet place where I can hear my own breathing and your Spirit breathing within me: a place I might hear just what I need to hear . Help me savor the silence and find some peace of mind and heart in the quiet, in my soul . * Even though silence is good for our mental and spiritual health, how often do we experience a silent moment or a time for quiet reflection? Men and women who come to Manresa for a conference retreat or a day of reflection often comment that they most appreciated the silence and the solitude. In their quiet space, they were able to place their While silence in your retreat at Manresa involves not anxieties and concerns in God’s hands and listen to His talking to each other, it is more than that. It means words of peace and encouragement. Silence in itself is not quieting yourself both on the outside and the inside so the goal of a retreat, but silence helps us to listen and pay that you can be totally present, so that God can reveal attention to what God is trying to tell us. Himself to you now in these days of retreat. Silence helps us let go of the preoccupations of the past and In some of the following articles, you will be introduced to the anxieties about the future so that we can discover the value of silence and different practices of silent prayer our deepest desires—it is in these deepest desires that and reflection. Manresa Jesuit Retreat House offers you an God speaks to our souls and opens up new possibilities excellent opportunity to slow down, appreciate the new life for our lives. of spring, and encounter the love and peace of our merciful If you need to speak to another retreatant, please be God. aware of that person’s need for silence and only speak Please keep Manresa retreatants and staff in your prayers. briefly to that person outside the building or in a place inside that will not disturb other retreatants. Thank you very much for contributing to the prayerful silence of our retreat house. * 10/22/13 entry from http://concordpastor.blogspot.com/ Page 3 The Role of Listening as a Spiritual Companion Mike Timm completed also require a freedom (mentioned above) that comes from the Internship in our own listening and being listened to. Spirituality program at Manresa in 2006. He is happily married “God gave us two ears and one (i.e., a good listener) for mouth so that we can listen twice as 33 years to Barb, and the proud father (i.e., much as we speak.” ~ Epictetus sometimes still learning to listen) of four grown To paraphrase Teresa of Avila, “Christ has no ears but children. He listens as ours.” The role of listening as a spiritual companion means a spiritual companion we grow in relationship with God through learning to with others, and as a listen as well as helping those we walk with. May God mentor and leader in bless us all—listeners and seekers—each of us. IT project management. ~ by Mike Timm He also enjoys listening while camping, traveling and sharing Silence meals with friends. s I’ve journeyed, especially these past 15 years— Silence is much more than the absence of noise, highlighted by a good friend teaching me to listen even if physically quiet—we still have our minds to God’s loving message for me through Scripture making loud sounds. (atA a Manresa retreat)—I’ve come to appreciate a few key Silence is a gift of grace. learnings: Holy silence we can actually “hear.” • the gift of awareness (self-awareness, intellect, In the grace of silence feelings, hurts, God’s gifts, God’s love) we know the presence of God. • the gift of freedom (from disordered attachment) We can’t make it happen by ourselves. It is a gift. • the gift of discernment It is presence, peace, and calls for active • the gift of choice and will passivity.
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