Encounter: Ignatian Silent Retreat

April 8, 2020

Father William Murphy, SJ (vocation promoter for the USA Midwest Jesuits) and Sister Mary Kelley Rush, SND facilitated an Encounter: Young Adult Ignatian Silent Retreat, March 6-8, 2020 at Bethany Retreat Center in Chardon. This was the second retreat of this kind the two of them had collaborated on. They had the joy of having the whole SND-USA vocation team (Sisters Jennifer Marie Zimmerman of Toledo, Valerie Marie Roxburgh of Thousand Oaks, Mary Ruth Lubbers of Covington, Mary Kelley Rush) and the Chardon SND Discernment House (Sisters Mary Patricia Griesmar and Mary Josephe Fernandez) serve with them on this retreat!

The Encounter Retreat is a three-day Guided Ignatian Silent Retreat where retreatants have opportunities for silence and solitude, conferences on Ignatian Spirituality and contemplative prayer, Ignatian imaginative prayer experiences, reconciliation, adoration, mass and spiritual direction.

It was beautiful to witness young adults taking time away from their busy, active lives to spend time alone with God. The eleven retreatants who shared in this grace-filled weekend of silence and solitude encountered God’s love, light, healing mercy, joy, and peace in so many ways. This was evident in the closing session as participants spoke of core graces of the retreat. Sister Mary Kelley remarked, “We were so moved to see how God’s transforming and merciful love touched the hearts and very lives of the retreatants in profound ways.”