Using Our Senses: The Doorway to God, Encouragement and Healing through Ignatian Contemplation
An Ignatian, Silent Weekend Retreat for Men
December 4 - 6, 2020
Groups Attending: Individuals, St. Basil, St John Neumann (St Charles)
This retreat is currently at capacity or registration is closed. Please call the office at 847.381.1261 with questions.
Summary
We find the movement, the presence of God in our ordinary day-to-day lives. Our relationships, jobs, worries, anxieties, hurts, joys, solitudes, all form the canvas in which God moves. Ignatian Contemplation encourages the use of our five senses to actively taste, touch, smell, hear and see God. In this retreat, we will make use of Ignatian contemplation to come to know God/Jesus/Spirit in the concrete experience of our life. During this retreat we will make use of our senses. We want to seek to know the smell of God, the taste of the Spirit, the glance of Jesus, the sound and taste of God's movement, experiencing God's care and perspective on our lives!
Description
This retreat includes several presentations, daily mass, 6 meals, the opportunity for one-on-one spiritual direction with a trained spiritual director, and many other opportunities to explore our 80 acres and almost 60k square feet of interior space. All activities are optional, but we do ask everyone to respect the quiet of the retreat house for everyone to have the opportunity to read, sleep and reflect in the quiet.
Bellarmine has two libraries, a resource center, two chapels, and many other common areas. Outdoor spaces include a various walking trails, various prayer gardens, a gazebo, stations of the cross, as well as a few patios and outdoor chairs and benches. Each retreatant has their own bedroom.
You can learn more about what to expect by visiting this page.
Retreat Experience Gallery
Bellarmine Main Entrance
Sacred Heart Chapel
Mary McKeon Library
St. Joseph Gazebo
Mother Teresa Garden
Eastern Africa Collection
Fireplace Lounge
Dining Room
Winter on the Grounds
Resource Center
Sacred Heart Statue at Sunset
Susie's Memorial Garden
Madonna Library
Lower Level Lounge
Retreat Leader
Fr. Jeff Putthoff, SJ
Fr. Jeff Putthoff, SJ is a Jesuit priest for over 25 years and been a Jesuit for 38 years.. He is deeply interested in creating communities of healing, empowering young people, brain health, and finding God in all things. He has worked as a high school teacher, associate pastor, executive director and high school president, and educational consultant using his unique experience in organizational dynamics, leadership, brain health, and Ignatian spirituality, applying it to youth education and organizational life. Father Jeff currently helps to raise scholarship funds for over 100 schools throughout the United States.
He is a retreat leader and a director of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola deeply desiring to help others connect to God. He has directed over 80 directed retreats and 180 preached retreats nationally.
He is a gifted, national speaker on trauma-informed care, organizational dynamics, youth formation, Ignatian spirituality, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and leadership.