Discernment Retreats

[NatalieisCatholic]

Hello fellow Phatmassers!

 

I have never been to a discernment retreat, and I plan on going to one hopefully in the future. (Especially to the DSMME's!)

 

I was just wondering if anyone who's ever been on one could tell me what it's like. 

 

God bless!

[ToJesusMyHeart]

Discernment retreats are very helpful to discernment, but it is best if they are longer than 24 hours. In my experience, you can't really dive deeply into the life of the convent with just one day there. I've been on a Come and See with the Sisters of Life which lasted 4 days, and a Nun Run on which we visited 9 different convents.

 

The four day Come and See was much more benefiicial than the Nun Run because on the Nun Run, we only got to spend 1 day or less at each convent, and as said, that's usually not enough time to fully experience the charism and lifestyle of the Sisters.

 

The first day of the Come and See, we arrived in the afternoon and prayed evening prayer (Vespers), Rosary, and Mass followed by dinner. Then we had Adoration and night prayer (Compline), and then bedtime.

 

The second day was the "Apostolic Day," where we got to experience the different apostolates of the Sisters. They have several different ministries to help the pregnant mothers and those who have suffered from abortion, so we spent the whole day working with the Sisters in their ministries across NYC. It was a beautiful day. We also had morning prayer (Lauds), Mass, Vespers, Compline, and Adoration.

 

The third day was the "Prayer Day," where we got to see their life of prayer more closely. We had perpetual Adoration for the day, prayed Lauds, Vespers, Compline, the Rosary, and had a Salve Procession before bedtime. All meals were eaten in silence on this day. We also had a very helpful Question and Answer session and recreation with the Sisters, which was a total blast! :)

 

The fourth day we had Adoration, Lauds, Mass, brunch, and a final "conference" about how to proceed in our discernment. Then we said our bittersweet good-byes and concluded the beautiful retreat.

 

The Nun Run was helpful too, as we got a "sneak peak" of each of the convent's charisms and lifestyles, but it was not nearly as beneficial to my discernment as the 4 day retreat with the Sisters of Life was. The bottom line is: the longer the stay, the better, because it usually takes a couple of days just to relax and leave the world behind before you can start to really participate in the experience.

Those who can only make it for a weekend often say, "Wow, I was just getting into it and it's already time to go home." Try and make a longer retreat rather than a shorter one. You can also go on retreat a number of times. You don't have to decide right away.

 

God bless! :proud:

Edited December 18, 2012 by ToJesusMyHeart

[Kateri89]

I've been on retreat with the Nashville Dominicans. We got there and had lunch with the sisters as all the retreatants began to arrive (there were about 60 young women).  We also had some recreation time with them and played soccer, field hockey, touch footie.  Then we prayed the rosary which was really serene because they have a "rosary walk" where they pray it as they walk the paths outside of the convent (the grounds there are really beautiful and peaceful).

 

We prayed Vespers, then had dinner, then Compline, then a talk from Fr. Najim and then we went to bed.  The next day was Lauds, Mass, breakfast, some free time for prayer/confessions/personal time, the angelus, rosary, lunch, recreation, time to talk with the Sisters, Vespers, Dinner, a tour of the motherhouse, Compline, and another talk.  Then Sunday was basically the same until lunch and then we left after lunch.  There was some time set aside where we could talk with the vocations director if we wanted to.  There was also some nighttime adoration which was awesome.

 

All in all, it was an interesting experience and kind of intense but I think that's because it was my first retreat so I didn't know what to expect.  Honestly, I would encourage a retreat with the Nashville Dominicans even if you're not interested in their order because they are wonderful!  To be in the chapel at night while they sang Compline was hauntingly beautiful   :saint:

Edited December 18, 2012 by SrKateri