Retreats
“This is the good zeal which monks must foster with fervent love: they should each try to be the first to show respect to the other.”
– Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 72 verse 3
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Lectio Retreat
Registration is now open. The registration form can be completed online.
September 25 – 28, 2024 (September 25th – 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; 26th – 27th – 8:30 am – 4:00 pm; 28th – 8:30 am – 3:00 pm)
February 19 – 22, 2025 (February 19th – 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; 20th – 21st – 8:30 am – 4:00 pm; 22nd – 8:30 am – 3:00 pm)
We are happy to invite you to learn and practice a way to sustain your awareness of God’s grace in ordinary life.
This commitment would be a most worthwhile experience if you have an interest in ongoing spiritual formation. Also, please help us spread the word to friends who you know have an active life of prayer and desire to continue learning on their journey of faith.
The purpose of the retreat days is to break open the content of sustained Lectio Divina in light of our personal experience and to invite the participants to an awareness of this teaching on prayer. The staff is made up of Diocesan priests, Benedictines and laity who practice this way of prayer in their own lives. There is no commitment to a continuing group experience as this teaching is to enrich your personal prayer practice. All retreats and the Benedictine Oblates of St. Joseph Monastery are open to Christians of all denominations.
You may have heard or read material on the practice of lectio. It abounds in books and articles. The monastic teaching is of “sustained” lectio. It encompasses not a prayer method with the scriptures as much as an understanding of following our desire to know God through the grace of the Holy Spirit and to discern our life choices/daily actions and attitudes from that relationship of grace. It is a relationship that is always ongoing and life giving as we focus on the grace of God through a revelatory text. St. Benedict reminds us—“we are always beginners in the spiritual life.”
The retreat includes: an introduction to the context of the teaching from the early Christian teachers; an invitation of prayer to the Holy Spirit; an understanding of the obstacles to prayer that arise from within and from outside of us; teachings on the revelatory texts that lead us in our desire to know God more intimately; introduction to a variety of prayer tools; the practice of discernment and the spiritual gifts that accompany this way of prayer.
Part of the inspiration and training for the retreats comes from the writings of Sister Meg Funk, OSB. Sister Meg has written several books about the Christian contemplative tradition, including: Thoughts Matter, Tools Matter, Humility Matters, Lectio Matters: Before the Burning Bush, and Discernment Matters. We recommend reading Lectio Matters ahead of the retreat.
You are welcome to contact us for further information: lectio@stjosephmonastery.org.
Lectio Retreat
Registration is now open. The registration form can be completed online.
September 25 – 28, 2024 (September 25th – 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; 26th – 27th – 8:30 am – 4:00 pm; 28th – 8:30 am – 3:00 pm)
February 19 – 22, 2025 (February 19th – 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; 20th – 21st – 8:30 am – 4:00 pm; 22nd – 8:30 am – 3:00 pm)
We are happy to invite you to learn and practice a way to sustain your awareness of God’s grace in ordinary life.
This commitment would be a most worthwhile experience if you have an interest in ongoing spiritual formation. Also, please help us spread the word to friends who you know have an active life of prayer and desire to continue learning on their journey of faith.
The purpose of the retreat days is to break open the content of sustained Lectio Divina in light of our personal experience and to invite the participants to an awareness of this teaching on prayer. The staff is made up of Diocesan priests, Benedictines and laity who practice this way of prayer in their own lives. There is no commitment to a continuing group experience as this teaching is to enrich your personal prayer practice. All retreats and the Benedictine Oblates of St. Joseph Monastery are open to Christians of all denominations.
You may have heard or read material on the practice of lectio. It abounds in books and articles. The monastic teaching is of “sustained” lectio. It encompasses not a prayer method with the scriptures as much as an understanding of following our desire to know God through the grace of the Holy Spirit and to discern our life choices/daily actions and attitudes from that relationship of grace. It is a relationship that is always ongoing and life giving as we focus on the grace of God through a revelatory text. St. Benedict reminds us—“we are always beginners in the spiritual life.”
The retreat includes: an introduction to the context of the teaching from the early Christian teachers; an invitation of prayer to the Holy Spirit; an understanding of the obstacles to prayer that arise from within and from outside of us; teachings on the revelatory texts that lead us in our desire to know God more intimately; introduction to a variety of prayer tools; the practice of discernment and the spiritual gifts that accompany this way of prayer.
Part of the inspiration and training for the retreats comes from the writings of Sister Meg Funk, OSB. Sister Meg has written several books about the Christian contemplative tradition, including: Thoughts Matter, Tools Matter, Humility Matters, Lectio Matters: Before the Burning Bush, and Discernment Matters. We recommend reading Lectio Matters ahead of the retreat.
You are welcome to contact us for further information: lectio@stjosephmonastery.org.
Private/Group Retreats
We welcome guests who wish to make a private retreat for a time of prayer and reflection. Upon request, a sister would be available for spiritual direction.
The Monastery also has space that can accommodate a small group for day retreats or days of prayer.
For more information, please email guest@stjosephmonastery.org or call 918-746-4223.
Private/Group Retreats
We welcome guests who wish to make a private retreat for a time of prayer and reflection. Upon request, a sister would be available for spiritual direction.
The Monastery also has space that can accommodate a small group for day retreats or days of prayer.
For more information, please email guest@stjosephmonastery.org or call 918-746-4223.
St Enda
Saint Enda: 100-Day Virtual Retreat
Below are audio files created by Sister Mary Margaret Funk, OSB and Kathleen Cahalan which form the 100-day St. Enda Retreat. This retreat was developed during the COVID-19 lockdown as a means for individuals to deepen their spiritual lives. The retreat was developed in Saint Enda’s name in order to draw from the tradition that has come down to us today from the ancient desert contemplatives.
Teachings and Practices
We use John Cassian’s writings on the theory and practice of the contemplative way of life as our foundational content. He described the spiritual journey as having four phases, each with a renunciation:
- my former way of life
- my afflictions (e.g., food, sex, things, anger, dejection, acedia, vainglory, and pride)
- my self-made thoughts of God
- my self-made thoughts of self
Though the retreat is 100 days in duration, each day is designed to be gentle and friendly. It seems that folks are working harder than ever before. This retreat is a process to slow down, shift from protracted active exertion into measured, gracious receptivity. Grace happens! We awaken. God, ever new, as if the first time, shows up, being here and now all along.
We suggest you select one session and follow it through from beginning to end, listening to 4 – 5 audio memos each 7-day week. It is also beneficial to have a retreat companion in order to provide mutual support during this time of retreat.
St Enda
Saint Enda: 100-Day Virtual Retreat
Below are audio files created by Sister Mary Margaret Funk, OSB and Kathleen Cahalan which form the 100-day St. Enda Retreat. This retreat was developed during the COVID-19 lockdown as a means for individuals to deepen their spiritual lives. The retreat was developed in Saint Enda’s name in order to draw from the tradition that has come down to us today from the ancient desert contemplatives.
Teachings and Practices
We use John Cassian’s writings on the theory and practice of the contemplative way of life as our foundational content. He described the spiritual journey as having four phases, each with a renunciation:
- my former way of life
- my afflictions (e.g., food, sex, things, anger, dejection, acedia, vainglory, and pride)
- my self-made thoughts of God
- my self-made thoughts of self
Though the retreat is 100 days in duration, each day is designed to be gentle and friendly. It seems that folks are working harder than ever before. This retreat is a process to slow down, shift from protracted active exertion into measured, gracious receptivity. Grace happens! We awaken. God, ever new, as if the first time, shows up, being here and now all along.
We suggest you select one session and follow it through from beginning to end, listening to 4 – 5 audio memos each 7-day week. It is also beneficial to have a retreat companion in order to provide mutual support during this time of retreat.
Some of our Sisters provide spiritual guidance for people in the general public—it is one of the ways in which we are able to pass on our spirituality to a wider public.