If you are a Formator or Spiritual Advisor, giving retreats should be one of the regular services you offer for your members – but if you’ve never done that before, where do you start?
Formation Resources
On the Formation Resources page, you’ll find a button for Retreats. There, you will see a variety of resources to get you started, including complete materials you can use to prepare and facilitate your own retreat. One great example. under “Other Retreats” is one titles “Finding Christ in the Moment”. When you download this PowerPoint, you will find it includes links to get videos you can embed (and instructions on how to do so).
This retreat is based on a talk given by Fr. Dennis Holtzschneider at our 2021 National Assembly, and it include notes and prompts for you to guide the conversations and sharing in your own retreat.
Recorded Retreats
There are several recorded retreats that you can find on the Retreats and Reflections video library. These are typically longer videos (about an hour) that you can play, with several pauses to discuss and share what you’ve seen. These include The Faces of Christ, Turn Everything to Love, as well as talks such as Laying Down Your Life for a Friend. These longer form videos can save you a lot of preparation time in planning your own retreat.
Prayers for the Retreat
A retreat should be a prayer-filled time! If you are not comfortable writing your own prayers, start by looking through the different prayers and meditations available here for download, or purchase a printed copy of 500 Little Prayers for Vincentians, or 500 More Little Prayers for Vincentians.
Music for the Retreat
Music adds a special dimension to our sharing in a retreat. Ray Sickinger’s many Vincentian songs are especially appropriate for a Vincentian retreat. You will find many of them on the Ozanam Orientation Formator’s flash drive, and a CD is also available.
Training and Instruction
Now that we’ve mentioned planning a retreat, would it be nice if there were a video on How to Plan a Spiritual Retreat? You’re in luck – there is!