âLiving with God As Your Compassâ
Dates and Location Contemplative directed retreats are a ministry of Mepkin (Trappist) Abbey and in 2013, six will be offered on the following dates:
Lent 2013: March 8-10: Friday – Sunday March 11-14: Monday – Thursday March 15-17: Friday – Sunday
Advent 2013: December 6-8: Friday – Sunday December 9-12: Monday – Thursday December 13-15: Friday – Sunday All are welcome to stay overnight on Sunday or Thursday and leave after Mass the next morning. Suggested offering for Fri-Sun retreats is $300 and for Mon-Thu retreats is $350; includes all meals and single occupancy accommodation. Payment may be made upon arrival.
includes directing contemplative retreats, preaching parish missions, and offering days of recollection. He serves as associate faculty at the Shalem Institute and is part of the spiritual formation program at St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring. He has Masters degrees in Counseling and in Theology, as well as a Doctorate in Educational Administration.
“Living with God As Your Compass”
To Register To register, visit our website: www.mepkinabbey.org or email [email protected]. Check-in is 1:00-4:00pm at the Monastery Visitor’s Center with a welcome and orientation gathering at 4:30pm.
For more information email, write, or call Father Nicholas at: P.O. Box 40, Whiteford, MD 21160 [email protected] (443) 850-0794
Our Guide Father Nicholas Amato is an Associate member of Mepkin Abbey. He has served more than 20 years as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a graduate of the Shalem Institute of Spiritual Formation in Washington, DC. He has studied at the Vatican and in Israel. His full-time ministry
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Lord’s Prayer)
Father Nicholas and the monks of Mepkin Abbey invite you to come away a little while and be refreshed.
We live in a world that tells us where we need to be to be considered a success. This message is conveyed relentlessly through our media and culture. Whether one has achieved successes or failures, one wonders, “Have I arrived? Is this all there is?” Come away for a Lenten or Advent retreat to live with God as your compass. Dispose yourself to experience God’s presence directly. Come to understand where, through the events of your life, God is calling you. Lent and Advent 2013 Contemplative Directed Retreats at Mepkin (Trappist) Abbey Moncks Corner, SC
Focus: The focus of these retreats is to explore discernment as listening for and distinguishing God’s voice in our lives. Through prayerful listening we can cultivate a discerning life as a way of being alert to the Spirit’s guidance and calling.
Goals: To name and explore discernment as the heart of spiritual deepening To name and claim our desire to be aligned with God’s will To cultivate a discerning life as a way of being
Format: Spiritual writers make a distinction between discerning God’s will with regard to a specific choice, e.g. should I retire now, sell my house, etc. versus being open and responding to the myriad ways God leads us each day. The first situation involves an act of discernment; the second a habit or a discerning way of life. We will consider and experience both.
The following daily sessions are illustrative of a 4-day retreat at Mepkin Abbey. For a 3-day retreat, 1st and 2nd sessions are Saturday morning and Saturday evening, respectively.
1st Session: How contemplatives pray 2nd Session: Discernment as a way of making a decision
3rd Session: Discernment, a way of life 4th Session: Creating a personal plan for a contemplative and discerning lifestyle
These retreats are for men and women who are: Seeking to enrich their prayer life Searching for God in their daily life Yearning to be more attentive to the promptings of the Spirit Discerning to where God is calling them
Discernment is … The attitude of listening to God in all of life, “listening with the ear of the heart,” as St. Benedict says God is actively and caringly involved with us in every moment of our lives, even the most mundane
God is not only present, but guides us to authentic expression of God’s presence with us in each moment The habit of discernment finely tunes the ear of the heart so that we hear more clearly the invitation to love and our choices are refined by that invitation The important thing is not really the decision, but the process of opening to God through the decision and the learning that takes place in the process.
How will we nurture this? By intentional prayer as time set aside on a regular basis just to be with God in a way that will nourish our attentiveness By contemplative practices that bring us to our center where we live more fully in the present moment and are better able to clearly hear our truth and authenticity By prayerful reflection on our day so we can be aware of the ways God has been present for us By experiencing a freedom for love where our desire for God is greater than our desire for anything else By opening ourselves to see ourselves just as we are Each day of the retreat begins with a joint session. Retreatants have the opportunity to receive spiritual direction and the Sacrament of Reconciliation and are free to join in the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass with the monastic community. The majority of the day is spent in silence, rest and reflection on the 3,000 acres of the monastery.
Lent 2013: March 8-10: Friday – Sunday March 11-14: Monday – Thursday March 15-17: Friday – Sunday
Advent 2013: December 6-8: Friday – Sunday December 9-12: Monday – Thursday December 13-15: Friday – Sunday All are welcome to stay overnight on Sunday or Thursday and leave after Mass the next morning. Suggested offering for Fri-Sun retreats is $300 and for Mon-Thu retreats is $350; includes all meals and single occupancy accommodation. Payment may be made upon arrival.
includes directing contemplative retreats, preaching parish missions, and offering days of recollection. He serves as associate faculty at the Shalem Institute and is part of the spiritual formation program at St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring. He has Masters degrees in Counseling and in Theology, as well as a Doctorate in Educational Administration.
“Living with God As Your Compass”
To Register To register, visit our website: www.mepkinabbey.org or email [email protected]. Check-in is 1:00-4:00pm at the Monastery Visitor’s Center with a welcome and orientation gathering at 4:30pm.
For more information email, write, or call Father Nicholas at: P.O. Box 40, Whiteford, MD 21160 [email protected] (443) 850-0794
Our Guide Father Nicholas Amato is an Associate member of Mepkin Abbey. He has served more than 20 years as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a graduate of the Shalem Institute of Spiritual Formation in Washington, DC. He has studied at the Vatican and in Israel. His full-time ministry
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Lord’s Prayer)
Father Nicholas and the monks of Mepkin Abbey invite you to come away a little while and be refreshed.
We live in a world that tells us where we need to be to be considered a success. This message is conveyed relentlessly through our media and culture. Whether one has achieved successes or failures, one wonders, “Have I arrived? Is this all there is?” Come away for a Lenten or Advent retreat to live with God as your compass. Dispose yourself to experience God’s presence directly. Come to understand where, through the events of your life, God is calling you. Lent and Advent 2013 Contemplative Directed Retreats at Mepkin (Trappist) Abbey Moncks Corner, SC
Focus: The focus of these retreats is to explore discernment as listening for and distinguishing God’s voice in our lives. Through prayerful listening we can cultivate a discerning life as a way of being alert to the Spirit’s guidance and calling.
Goals: To name and explore discernment as the heart of spiritual deepening To name and claim our desire to be aligned with God’s will To cultivate a discerning life as a way of being
Format: Spiritual writers make a distinction between discerning God’s will with regard to a specific choice, e.g. should I retire now, sell my house, etc. versus being open and responding to the myriad ways God leads us each day. The first situation involves an act of discernment; the second a habit or a discerning way of life. We will consider and experience both.
The following daily sessions are illustrative of a 4-day retreat at Mepkin Abbey. For a 3-day retreat, 1st and 2nd sessions are Saturday morning and Saturday evening, respectively.
1st Session: How contemplatives pray 2nd Session: Discernment as a way of making a decision
3rd Session: Discernment, a way of life 4th Session: Creating a personal plan for a contemplative and discerning lifestyle
These retreats are for men and women who are: Seeking to enrich their prayer life Searching for God in their daily life Yearning to be more attentive to the promptings of the Spirit Discerning to where God is calling them
Discernment is … The attitude of listening to God in all of life, “listening with the ear of the heart,” as St. Benedict says God is actively and caringly involved with us in every moment of our lives, even the most mundane
God is not only present, but guides us to authentic expression of God’s presence with us in each moment The habit of discernment finely tunes the ear of the heart so that we hear more clearly the invitation to love and our choices are refined by that invitation The important thing is not really the decision, but the process of opening to God through the decision and the learning that takes place in the process.
How will we nurture this? By intentional prayer as time set aside on a regular basis just to be with God in a way that will nourish our attentiveness By contemplative practices that bring us to our center where we live more fully in the present moment and are better able to clearly hear our truth and authenticity By prayerful reflection on our day so we can be aware of the ways God has been present for us By experiencing a freedom for love where our desire for God is greater than our desire for anything else By opening ourselves to see ourselves just as we are Each day of the retreat begins with a joint session. Retreatants have the opportunity to receive spiritual direction and the Sacrament of Reconciliation and are free to join in the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass with the monastic community. The majority of the day is spent in silence, rest and reflection on the 3,000 acres of the monastery.
