A Retreat - Call to Discernment in Troubled Times with text by Fr. Dean Brackley, SJ & facilitated by Fr. Bill Creed, SJ
A virtual retreat with 16 Thursday sessions (11:45 am - 1 pm)
September 5 - April 17, 2025
This retreat is currently at capacity or registration is closed. Please call the office at 847.381.1261 with questions.
Summary
This year 2024 is the 20th anniversary of Dean Brackley’s commentary on the Spiritual Exercises from the point of view of the poor. Brackley’s perspective challenges us to include in our retreat the poor who are ‘the outcast.’ From his point of view in Central America, he noted how the poor are marginalized structurally. The poor have little to no voice, little to no power socially, economically, politically. The retreat process will allow the Spirit to stir up a faith and love that draws retreatants, each with a unique life, into deeper solidarity with those who are poor, those considered the last and the least, those at the margins.
Beginning Thursday September 5, 2024, this retreat will meet virtually for 75 minutes at 11:45 am - 1 pm for 8 Thursdays, in the Fall and 8 in the Winter/Spring, led by the text of Fr. Dean Brackley SJ and facilitated by Fr. Bill Creed SJ. The retreat will entail reading Brackley, praying personally, posting (on a site to be given) personal written reflections, reading the personal reflections others have posted, deep listening in a small group, and more prayer. Occasionally, persons who live at the margins will join us to give witness to her or his experience.
Hopefully, the action of the Holy Spirit will draw us to befriend those who are poor, since the Spirit invites us to become ‘friends in the Lord.’ This retreat, will offer us the opportunity to listen and discern through the movements of consolation and desolation how God is leading us in the present moment. We will be challenged to love more deeply, more fully. Paul the Apostle reminds us that: “love is patient, love is kind,….love always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” [ Cor 13:4-8]
Is God calling you to enter into this 8 month process? Is God’s Spirit drawing you into this listening experience much like the listening process of the Synod of Synods of 2023? Are the words of Jesus to Andrew and Peter “Come and see” addressed to you in this moment? If so, here is how you register for this retreat.
The non-refundable cost for this virtual retreat series is $400.
Description
Reading, prayer and reflection before each session: Session #1: Foundation - Sep 5. Read xi-19, 224-234. Pray Gal 5:13-14; Lk 10:25-37; What particular personal experience has linked you in solidarity spiritually with those in “misery in the world,” [p7]. After praying with the readings, how are you perceiving yourself in solidarity with “the poor?” Session #2: Getting Free - Sep 19. Read 20-44, 235-243. Pray Rom 7:17-25; Lk 19:1-10; “We encounter Ultimate Reality, not by leaving the world, but by plunging into it, as Jesus did.”[p23]. Post a photo, picture or image of a marginalized person or group which has evoked compassion in you. Describe what is it that draws you in the photo, picture, image? Reflect on ‘the outcast’ in the picture, and ‘the outcast’ in you. Session #3: Discernment - Oct 3. Read 45-54, 244-252. Pray Eph 6: 10-11, 1 Peter 5:7-9; How are you experiencing a greater humaneness prompted by Brackley’s words: “the good Spirit humanizes us….the Enemy targets our moral weaknesses…to dehumanize.” [p54] What movements, as you discern, are you noticing in yourself? Session #4: Call of Christ - Oct 17. Read 55-66, 256-259. Pray Isaiah 6:8, Rev 3:20; How are you experiencing Bonhoeffer’s comments about Advent and Christmas about ‘being swept up into the action there?’ [p75] What birth pains are you noticing within your being? Session #5: Two Standards - Oct 31. Read 78-89. Pray Mt 25:31-46, Rev 18:2, 9-17; Brackley writes: “the message of the Two Standards has lost none of its relevance for today…it speaks to our society…Christ calls us to humility and solidarity.” [p88-89] What is your personal experience that seems relevant to the Two Standards today? Session #6: Downward Mobility - Nov 14. Read 90-104. Pray Jn 13:12-14, Lk 22:24-27; What interior movement of hope within you do you notice as you pray over Brackley’s comments about ‘upward mobility’ and ‘downward mobility’ and especially when he writes: “There is plenty of grounds for hope. And there is plenty of work to do.” [p103] Session #7: Humility & Solidarity – Dec 5. Read 105-108, 259-263. Pray 2 Cor 12:8-10, Lk 6:20-21; When you pray, what are you noticing about ‘humility and solidarity?’ [p108] Session #8: Expand our Soul - Dec 12. Read 109-125. Pray Mt 5:15, Lk 12:22-34; What are you aware of as you pray the invitation to be in a process of ‘expanding your soul?’ [p123] Session #9: Life in the Spirit - Jan 9. Read 126-132. Pray Phil 1:9-10, Mt 25: 31-46; When you pray for generosity, where are you finding ‘creative generosity?’ [p129] Session #10: More Discernment - Jan 23. Read 133-142.Pray 1 Jn 4:1, 1 Thess 5:20-22; Brackley writes: “The most sinister danger is not the obvious one of backsliding but that of exaggerating the virtues…What requires vigilance is the way our virtues and values can lead to destruction.” [p141-142ff] What virtue in you may become ‘inflated’ and what is God’s call here? Session #11: Making Decisions - Feb 6. Read 143-156. Pray Mt 9:9, Col 1:9; What are you seeing at this point and how are you responding to what you see? “God wills that we be able to size up a situation and respond appropriately...in the end, that means you must ‘love and do what you will’ as Augustine said.” [p145] Session #12: The Way of Truth & Life - Feb 20. Read 157-173. Pray Prov 2:9-10, Jn 15:12; Brackley writes: “The central element of concrete reality is the victim or outcast since the central drama is oppression/liberation, injustice/love, sin/grace. The centrality of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 and the final judgment in Matthew 25: 31-46 reflects that.” [p171] When you pray these scriptures, where are you consoled in your own life? Session #13: Grace of Compassion - Mar 6. Read 174-193. Pray Jn 10:17-18, Mk 15:39; What is your experience (past and present) of linking the “contemplating the suffering and death of Christ…should draw us to know and love the crucified people of today?” [p173] Session #14: Resurrection & the Spirit- Mar 20. Read 194-211. Pray Lk 24:39-43, Jn 21:15-17; Given the readings and reflections of this community, “where do you find hope today?” [p193] Session #15: Learning to Love Like God - Apr 3. Read 212-223. Pray 1 Jn 4:8, Eph 1:9-10 What is your prayer experience of “God’s love and labor in the world for more abundant life?” [p212] Who are the people and places most central in your prayer now? Session #16: Conclusion - Apr 17. Read 253-255. Pray Eph 3:14-21, Suscipe; Brackley lists what he has learned. What is the gift you have received in this retreat? [p254-255]
Retreat Leader
Fr. Bill Creed, SJ
Fr Bill Creed, SJ has multiple academic degrees in theology and spirituality, in law and in counseling. His doctoral project focused on the parallels between the Twelve Steps of Recovery Programs and the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola. He is a Jesuit priest from Chicago who is the co-founder of the Jesuit Renewal Center, chaplain and co-founder of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps in Chicago, founder of the Internship in Spiritual Direction in the Ignatian Tradition, and chaplain and co-founder of the Ignatian Spirituality Project for those experiencing homelessness and addiction. He has published a practical commentary on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and many articles on spirituality. He offers spiritual direction accompaniment and teaches Spiritual Direction Formation Programs, an Advanced Internship in the Spiritual Exercises, and online seminars on approaches to the Spiritual Exercises through Bellarmine Retreat House.