The Retreat Experience

What is a Retreat?

A retreat is a personal encounter with God through a balance of communal prayer, inspirational talks, silence and solitude, natural beauty and sacramental grace. This sacred time brings renewal for your body, mind and spirit.

Why is making a retreat important?

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” Mark 6:31

Even if these words of Jesus were spoken directly to us today, many of us would have a myriad of reasons of why we could not get away. We are overcommitted in many areas of our life and can’t imagine taking a few days to make a retreat. However, if you are honest with yourself, you know that you could make the time.

In the simplicity of the retreat experience, we connect with our true self. For people of faith, this time is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

Weekend retreats at Mater Dolorosa are silent retreats. Why do we enter into silence? Silence renews us and provides a refreshed perspective on the condition of our life. In silence, we are less likely to be able to hide from our problems, and by practicing silence, we nurture our listening skills and are better able to hear the quiet voice of God.

In the book of Hosea, God invites us “to come to the desert to pray and He will speak to our hearts.” In the stillness of the sacred grounds of Mater Dolorosa, our spirit is nourished with the solitude of silence, meditation and prayer.

Being on Retreat

Use the retreat to practice how you would like to live your life in real time.

Being on a retreat is a time for focusing on your inner life and relationship to God. There are few “shoulds.” You are invited to participate in the retreat in those ways in which God and your own spirit guide you.

Clothing

Please dress comfortably but with a spirit of respect for the spiritual nature of our facility. Walking shoes will enhance your experience of our beautiful grounds.

Special Needs

If you have special needs as to your room or diet, please make this known at the time you register. You may call the Retreat Center to do this.

Schedule of Weekend Retreats

Retreatants’ rooms are available after 4:00 pm Friday.

The requested donation for the weekend retreat is $240 per person (which includes the $50 deposit) for the retreat program, two nights’ accommodations and five meals. Mater Dolorosa continues its long standing policy of turning no one away because of financial inability to pay for the retreat. Please contact us with any questions or for further information.

Cancellations

Please contact us in the event you may have to cancel your Retreat Reservation so others on our waiting list may attend.

Call: 626-355-7188

Maximize your retreat

Begin each day of retreat feeling your intention. Your desire for peace in God’s love should be your first thought of each day.
Consciously practice being present. If thoughts of the past or future enter you mind, deliberately return to the present.
Feel your heart as it opens and trust it in the hands of God. This is your time to be with yourself and God.
Don’t worry about what you will do after the retreat. Receive as much as you can while you are present in the retreat. Tomorrow will come and a new way will be found to maintain the peace you find.
Avoid distractions that keep you from going deeper into the retreat. We all have likes and dislikes and we want to be comfortable wherever we are. Stay true to the retreat and avoid any activities which do not bring you more into your retreat.
Notice the choices you are making. This is at the heart of the retreat experience. Where is your heart? What do you spend time thinking about? How do you spend your time? The time we have is precious.
Use the retreat to practice how you would like to live your life in real time. Your choices should nourish yourself and those you hold near.

Retreat League

Each person making a Passionist-preached retreat at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center automatically becomes a member of our Mater Dolorosa Retreat League.

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP

1. The Passionist Retreat
The graces and blessings received on the retreat itself are the primary and most important benefit that can be derived from an association with Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center. Lives are changed; for many, God works in a truly miraculous manner!

2. The Mater Dolorosa Family
As part of our Passionist Retreat League, you are truly “family” and most welcome at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center. Come for a visit, by yourself or with your family. Pray the Stations of the Cross; visit our Garden of the Seven Sorrows; pray at the Blessed Sacrament Garden; or simply enjoy our quiet, scenic, and beautiful grounds. A phone call from you will let us know of your visit, and assure that a staff member will be on hand to greet you.

3. Prayer
Your intentions and those of your family will be remembered in the prayer and celebrations of Mass offered at the Retreat Center, especially during our Passionist-preached retreats. Weekly, a retreat Mass is celebrated for the deceased members of the Retreat League. Be sure to contact us when you have very special intentions you wish to have remembered.

4. Ongoing Communications
You will receive regular communications from Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center via the mail, informing you of items of interest regarding your spiritual growth and other news about the Retreat Center. You also have access to this web site, www.passionist/materdolorosa.org, which contains retreat center information, other inspirational thoughts, and references to other web sites of spiritual interest.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEMBERSHIP:

1. Return next year for your next retreat
Make your Passionist retreat an annual gift to yourself, and your offering of praise to God. Don’t miss out!

2. Encourage others to make a retreat
Next year, encourage at least one other person to join you in the retreat. This person could be a family member, a friend or neighbor, a co-worker, fellow parishioner, etc. Your personal testimony of the graces and blessings of the retreat can introduce them to a whole new world of spiritual growth.

3. Support the retreat ministry at Mater Dolorosa
Your ongoing support is vital to the continued growth of the retreat ministry at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center. Most appropriate is your:

Prayer for those on retreat each weekend (see the special prayer below)
Financial assistance, helping maintain the Passionist retreat tradition of providing the benefits of a retreat, regardless of people’s financial situation. Your retreat offering, your involvement in the center’s fund-raising efforts, remembrance in your will, etc. — all are of great help.
Volunteering your time, energy, and talents in the many projects at the Retreat Center.

Helpful Readings

Mater Dolorosa is using the following readings during the current retreat season:

“Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life,” by Henri J.M. Nouwen, Donald P. McNeill and Douglas A. Morrison. Image Books, Doubleday, New York.
“Your Sorrow is My Sorrow: Hope and Strength in Times of Suffering,” by Joyce Rupp. Crossroad Publishing Company, New York.
“Saint Gabriel Possenti, A Young Man in Love,” by Cabriele Cingolani, CP (translated by S.B. Zak. Alba House, New York.
“A Lenten Journey with Jesus Christ and St. Paul of the Cross,” by Victor Hoagland, CP. Christus Publishing, Wellesley, MA
“Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit,” written and compiled by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL

Going Forward Prayerfully

Leaving the quiet, contemplative space of the retreat center and going back to the demands of everyday life can be a challenge. But it is possible to keep returning to that quiet space within you, the place where you can hear God and your own spirit more clearly. Here are some steps that we find to be helpful:

Slow down the pace
Seek silence and solitude
Appreciate the present moment
Create sacred space
Pray and meditate
Be open to the movement of the Spirit
Gather companions for the journey
Rest, relax and reflect
Explore the wonders of creation
Enjoy the journey!

Prayer for Passionist Retreatants

Jesus, you invited the apostles to come away with you to a deserted place and rest awhile.

We hold those on retreat in prayer. Enable them to experience You on retreat — your suffering love and tender compassion. May they come to better know themselves, to draw closer to you, and to thus be of better service to their brothers and sisters in the Church. Help them to listen attentively, to ponder prayerfully, to respond generously, and to benefit from the solitude and peace. Through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Sorrows, may they leave their retreat as deeply committed Christians, better able to follow Your footsteps in all the opportunities and challenges of life. Amen.