Sampling of Presentations/Retreats
offered by Chris Koellhoffer, IHM
- Directed Retreats (Weekends, 6 or 8 day Retreats)
- Guided Retreats
- Presentations
- Spiritual Direction (offered only in the Scranton, PA area or during directed retreats)
- A Sampling of retreats (below)
Note: These generally include prayer, input from the presenter, times of stillness and personal reflection, reflection material, and sharing and conversation, according to the needs of the group.
Bearing Witness to the Holy (Guided Retreat)
To bear witness is to point by one’s very existence to the presence of the Holy among us. In this retreat, we’ll be invited to remember the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and to reflect on our own lives as manifesting the Holy in the everyday. We’ll cultivate contemplative consciousness of all that our world loves, pursues, and suffers.
Many Voices Made of Longing (Guided Retreat)
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke reminds us that our blood is alive with many voices telling us we are made of longing. Sometimes those voices speak in a soft whisper; sometimes, an insistent shout. Always, their call is to a profound listening so we might mine the divine desire for us as well as our own collective ache for communion and belonging. Where are we being called to a deeper resonance with the wounds and hopes of our time? How might we more fully serve as fields of healing presence for all creation, for our beautiful yet wounded world?
Naming the Deep Breath (Guided Retreat)
In Mary Oliver’s poem, “Sunrise”, she asks: “What is the name of the deep breath I would take over and over for all of us?”
Each day of our lives we take over 20,000 breaths, most of them unconsciously. How might we name that deep breath so that we live with greater attentiveness and awareness? In this day, we will cultivate mindfulness as a life practice, engage in forms of breathprayer, and explore the grace of deep listening in the ordinary moments of everyday living.
Border Crossings (Guided Retreat)
Throughout our lives, we cross multiple borders, both geographic and spiritual. This retreat will invite us into reflection on our own life’s journeys in light of Howard Thurman’s prayer, “The Work of Christmas”: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart. What might the Holy One be revealing of our call to be agents of healing in a world both beautiful and wounded?
Our Work Is Loving the World (Guided Retreat)
The poet Mary Oliver writes that, “My work is loving the world” and then prays, “Let me keep my mind on my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” In this day, we will explore our life’s work, our true vocation: to love the world as Jesus did. We will reflect on how, in the arena of the everyday, we can cultivate mindfulness and awareness, live contemplatively, and practice tenderness for all that is lost and wounded, broken and fragile among us.
Standing with the Women of Holy Week
During the Lenten season when we reflect on Jesus’ journey to Calvary, we also remember Jesus as he lives today in the crucified peoples of our world. What insights might the women of Holy Week offer us towards a theology of remaining and accompaniment? How might the women invite us to deeper solidarity with our beautiful, yet wounded world?