A Yearly Cycle of Silent Retreats
Simone Weil, who served the French Resistance during World War II, died at the age of 33 trying to live on the food rations of a French workman in occupied France. Through her posthumous writings, she became a kind of apostle of the spiritual life in the first decades following the war. At the heart of her insights is her definition of prayer as attention: "God can only disclose the Divine whispers to those who are attending."
The Retreats of Silence create spaces that are designed for attending—listening, praying, being still (napping if that is needed), and hearing God—in ways that are not always available on a daily basis. These retreats are guided for the novice but open enough to allow for flexibility for those who are more familiar with this spiritual practice.
We believe that extended times of silence, periods of solitude, and just quiet moments are so rare in our contemporary times that when we do make a place to listen to God, remarkable things can happen. The following are times Hungry Souls offers opportunity to get away with God.
Annual Advent 24-Hour Women's Retreat of Silence: December 2009
This year we are trying a new
logistics approach for the annual Retreat of Silence. We will be
holding back-to-back retreats with the same speakers and the same
template. The first retreat will run from Wednesday, beginning with
dinner, December 2 through Thursday, ending by 4:00 in the afternoon,
December 3. The second retreat will run from Friday, beginning with
dinner, December 4 through Saturday, ending by 4:00 in the afternoon,
December 5.
This will make room for those who work during the days and don’t feel they can take time off during the week.
Our
fees will be $120 for a single room with private bath. If you bring
someone who has NEVER attended a Hungry Souls Advent Retreat of Silence, the welcome fee for any new attendees (and for you) will be $90.
(The weekend retreat costs us $5 more. Add that amount to the fees --
$125, $105 or $95.) The cutoff date for registrations is November 25.
Since we must give a
firm number to the Bishop Lane Retreat Center in Rockford, IL and pay
for that number, we cannot return payments after the cutoff date.
Karen Mains and Sybil Towner will lead these two retreats again this year. This Hungry Souls
Retreat of Silence is a guided retreat. We begin silence at 9:00 the
first evening. If you are interested, contact our volunteer registrar
Melodee Cook (Cook2210@aol.com).
If
you are outside of the Chicagoland area and would like to fly in for
any of our retreats, our staff or volunteers will be happy to meet you
at the airport and facilitate any sleeping arrangements that might need
to be made for our silent retreats.
