InCordeJesuEtMariae Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Hello! Does anyone have resources (and experiences) of retreats offered for discerning your vocation? I understand that most religious communities offer retreats for mainly if your discerning with their community which is understandable. I’m wondering if there are possibly communities that offer general discernment or other groups that do? (I hope I’m making some sense lol.) I’ve posted here a few times before. I’ve been in religious life before. I’m leaning towards discernment for Consecrated Virginity. There was a lady who was consecrated in my Diocese last year. She was the first one! So the Bishop is familiar. Perhaps there are retreats out there for that as well? Any retreats that are beneficial for discernment? Anything you got will be helpful so thank you! I understand with these times that there’s not a lot going on, but for future reference. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Salut Several dioceses have vocation offices or a discernent department in their youth ministry offices. Maybe you can look it up for yours and talk to the responsibles there. Also at least some dioceses have also got something like "general discerment groups" meeting on a regular basis to reflect, share, chat and pray together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponsa-Christi Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Are you looking specifically for a retreat that would be based on providing information on vocations in general, including consecrated virginity? Or are you looking more for something like just some quiet time set aside to pray about your vocation and talk to God about what He might be calling you too? If it's the latter, what you might try doing is just making a private retreat, with discernment as your personal focus. If you have a spiritual director or regular confessor, or even just a spiritual mentor-type person, you could ask him or her to suggest some helpful reading on that them, and then make a point to talk about your experiences afterwards. (I'm a consecrated virgin and that's basically what I did during my own discernment.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 I found this Vocations Placement on Facebook. I don't know anything at all about the group. But the people in the pictures look legitimate, and some of the topics I scanned. So you might want to check them out more thoroughly. https://www.facebook.com/vocations.placement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 Another excellent online resource is the Vision Vocation Network, sponsored by the National Religious Vocation Conference. There is a lot to explore on this site. https://vocationnetwork.org/en/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dymphna Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 Well, I have to admit my affiliation with ignatian spirituality here first, but really: Ignatian spiritual excercises are more or less designed for discerning one's vocation! So, if you were to contact an ignatian community/person near you, they should be able to direct you towards someone who can help you. For example, I know of a Jesuit centre in Germany which has as its main purpose the support of young adults in discernment for any vocation, with different sorts of retreats and accompaniement. Since you are presumably in the US that won't help you much, but as it's in their DNA I'm confident ignatian people in your country do something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 26 minutes ago, Dymphna said: Well, I have to admit my affiliation with ignatian spirituality here first, but really: Ignatian spiritual excercises are more or less designed for discerning one's vocation! So, if you were to contact an ignatian community/person near you, they should be able to direct you towards someone who can help you. For example, I know of a Jesuit centre in Germany which has as its main purpose the support of young adults in discernment for any vocation, with different sorts of retreats and accompaniement. Since you are presumably in the US that won't help you much, but as it's in their DNA I'm confident ignatian people in your country do something similar. Da war jemand in der Zukunftswerkstatt :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dymphna Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 21 hours ago, Lea said: Da war jemand in der Zukunftswerkstatt :D Unfortunately no, I'm way above their age limit - but I keep on recommending it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InCordeJesuEtMariae Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 Thank you all so much for the replies! I’m sorry for a belated reply; I’m taking classes and so I’ve been very occupied and not spending much time on my phone. I will definitely check out the resources that have been mentioned here! I really appreciate it. I haven’t signed into Facebook in a bit because I’m backing off of social media. It’s proven to be better for my spiritual life. Vocations Placement has a website outside of social media so I can look into it that way, and the others that were mentioned! Thanks again! On 6/14/2020 at 4:35 PM, Sponsa-Christi said: Are you looking specifically for a retreat that would be based on providing information on vocations in general, including consecrated virginity? Or are you looking more for something like just some quiet time set aside to pray about your vocation and talk to God about what He might be calling you too? If it's the latter, what you might try doing is just making a private retreat, with discernment as your personal focus. If you have a spiritual director or regular confessor, or even just a spiritual mentor-type person, you could ask him or her to suggest some helpful reading on that them, and then make a point to talk about your experiences afterwards. (I'm a consecrated virgin and that's basically what I did during my own discernment.) I would be open to both kinds of retreats. It would be nice to find where I could go for my own prayer/silent retreat. I just find that most religious communities offer retreats only if you’re discerning with them. Am I wrong? Someone told me the Benedictines offer those kinds of retreats but I wouldn’t know where to look. Would you be able to message me where you’ve done retreats? Thank you! I do know who you are! I have you on Facebook along with other Consecrated Virgins. I haven’t signed in for a bit but I’ll be signing into here to check messages also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthfinder Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 46 minutes ago, InCordeJesuEtMariae said: I just find that most religious communities offer retreats only if you’re discerning with them. Am I wrong? Someone told me the Benedictines offer those kinds of retreats but I wouldn’t know where to look. Would you be able to message me where you’ve done retreats? Thank you! I'm not sure where you are, but the Visitandines have as part of their constitutions the ability to accept women into the cloister who are discerning a vocation writ large, and not just with their community. Obviously, their ability to do so now is going to depend on their own circumstances, but that might be a good place to look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponsa-Christi Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 4 hours ago, truthfinder said: I'm not sure where you are, but the Visitandines have as part of their constitutions the ability to accept women into the cloister who are discerning a vocation writ large, and not just with their community. Obviously, their ability to do so now is going to depend on their own circumstances, but that might be a good place to look. That would indeed be an excellent place to look! Benedictines also have a tradition of hospitality. Sometimes monasteries of other Orders will also have a guest room that they occasionally let people use for private retreats. Not all will have the space for this, but it might be worth asking if there's a monastery near you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHFamily Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 I would concur that you should look into the "Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius". If you cannot find a place close to you that offers this type of retreat, there are also books/CD's and probably videos to help you through these at home, though of course, you wouldn't have the advantage of a retreat master to speak to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feankie Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 Many Abbey's, Monastery's, etc. offer either a room in a retreat/guest house or hermitage. And you can pretty much decide how long you want to stay depending on availability and the time you are able to set aside. Most places also have the option of seeing a SD while you're there, or you can simply do a silent/personal retreat. I just returned from a 5-day silent retreat at a Benedictine Monastery near me and stayed in a lovely hermitage. I had the option of brining/cooking my own food, or eating in the dining room. LOTH and Mass were available, and I was able to FaceTime my SD while there. The monastery I spent time at offered a 1-day through 3-month stay if desired and space is available. The costs are usually quite reasonable as most do this as ministry and not a money-making venture. I suggest looking at the website of your Arch/Diocese. Most have a listing of retreat facilities within their boundaries. The problem I found was that many retreat facilities are now booked up through mid-fall due to COVID19. They are trying to reschedule the retreats that had to be cancelled. But be persistent...it pays off...or it did in my case. I contacted the nuns on the very day they voted to reopen the Monastery to the public and luckily space was available. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InCordeJesuEtMariae Posted June 23, 2020 Author Share Posted June 23, 2020 Thank you all with all my heart for your resources and ideas. You’ve definitely encouraged me to ask around and see what’s out there! I won’t know unless I inquire. I did go to my Diocese website and found a few options that I could look into. I found a website for retreat centers that would be worth researching about, though I do tend towards more traditional so it would be a smart idea to see what goes on at some of these places and make sure they are within Church teaching. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayte Postle Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 There is a virtual conference for single people in the Church who are not yet in their vocation, no matter what their vocation is (marriage, single consecrated life, religious life, or priesthood) called God's Adventure Awaits Summit. There are a variety of speakers including married couples, religious, and even consecrated virgins! The best news is that for the basic path it's completely free! There are other more in depth courses that cost something, but they are elective. I've included the link to register below. It's the weekend of July 31st, so it's coming up fast! Hope this information helps! https://www.staceysumereau.com/adventure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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