Catholic Student Center at USF

Just as the title says: this is a retreat for busy students. It is organized to allow you to arrange the retreat sessions to fit your class schedule.

The "Busy Students' Retreat" is an adaptation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This style of retreat leads the participant to encounter the Trinity in the Scriptures, and deepen her or his relationship with the Triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. St. Ignatius' style of Prayer with the Scriptures will be explained to you by your director. It's very easy to do, and is very effective in bringing you into a closer relationship with God.

There will be a number of directors available throughout the day and evening hours. After the Introductory Session at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday you will have an opportunity to sign-up with an individual director.

The retreat experience consists of daily meetings with your director during the week of the retreat, as well as your daily prayer time. You can choose a daily meeting time convenient for your class schedule. Your director will give you a passage from Scripture to use in your daily prayer. You are encouraged to keep a journal of your experiences with prayer, and to fast from any unnecessary distractions during the week.

The Busy Students' Retreat is scheduled once each semester. The Spring Semester retreat will be held during the week of February 28 - March 4, 2010.

Further information is available from the Catholic Center office.

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The Spiritual Exercises

Excerpted from "Why Young Adults Need Ignatian Spirituality" by Timothy P. Muldoon, in America, Vol 184, No. 6, Feb 26, 2001.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola were the product of Ignatius' many years of seeking to find God in the events of his daily life. It is a style of spirituality which speaks to life at the beginning of the Third Millennium. Life in our society is filled with change and ambiguity. Ignatian spirituality helps us to see change as a part of the ongoing call to conversion which results when we listen attentively to God's word.

There are five aspects of the spirituality of St. Ignatius which can be of great to help to college students as they grow in their understanding of their faith. They are: the first principle and foundation; finding God in all things; walking with Christ; the experiencing of consolation and desolation; and the ideal of social justice.

St. Ignatius begins the explanation of his spiritual exercises by stating the First Principle and Foundation of faith: that we are created to praise, glorify and serve God, and in doing so, we attain to our eternal destiny. Life can be very hectic and confusing. It's easy to forget what is truly important. St. Ignatius reminds us that every activity in life, every thought and action, all of our accomplishments have this one, simple goal: to give praise to God. This is the one thing that makes the difference between a life of true joy and a life filled up with mere entertainments.

Secondly, God can be found everywhere and anywhere. This isn't an affirmation of the quirky "new age" spirituality which became popular in the 1990's. It's an awareness which came to St. Ignatius as a result of his contemplative prayer. There are no human words, experiences or doctrines which can exhaust the mystery of God. Ultimately, then, we must stand in awe before the God who reaches out to us in love. The God who is Holy Mystery is present at every moment, in every facet, of life.

Thirdly, St. Ignatius asks us to enter into the word of God, especially the Gospels. Ignatius' encouragement that we pray with our imagination invites us not just to read the Scriptures but to live the events recorded there: to become part of the story of Our Lord's life and let the story become part of us. One of the most difficult tasks facing young adults is the necessity to take the gift of faith which comes from parents and teachers, and to make that Faith their own. This process of appropriating faith as one's own possession and action requires that we examine our beliefs, and that we confront the question Jesus asks of all his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"

Fourthly, Ignatius knew that the spiritual life is a difficult journey. It is not an easy, straight path. There are twists and turns, ups and downs. Each of us must accept a measure of failure and disappointment in life, along with our successes. In a society which glorifies instant gratification of needs, people have forgotten how to deal with disappointment and loss. Ignatius reminds us that both consolation and desolation are part of the life of faith. To live in grace is to learn to live with both joy and sorrow. What answer does secular society have to the loss of a loved one in death? What response does our materialistic culture offer to the experience of personal failure? Only with faith can one face the vagaries of life with peace and hope.

Fifthly, Ignatian spirituality puts a great deal of emphasis on an important aspect of the Catholic faith: the call to live justly. The Church's social justice teaching developed quite a bit during the twentieth century. It remains, however, among the least practiced of Catholic ideals. Sadly, we live in a culture which puts a greater value on the accumulation of wealth than it does on the expression of genuine love. In such a culture, we might well ask if there is any room left for authentic religion. In the words of Scripture, "one who has no love for the brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen." (I John 4:20)

Ignatian spirituality offers Christian believers a way to integrate their faith into every aspect of life. It offers an invitation to enter into an on-going conversation with God, a conversation which begins with the commonplace and continues into the eternal.

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First Principle and Foundation

The Purpose of Life, according to St. Ignatius

We are created to share in God's love and life for eternity. The experience of this love is manifested in our response of praise, reverence and service, that is, loving God with all our heart, all our mind and all our will.

All of God's created order is intended to reveal this sharing of God's life and love. Therefore with all of humanity we are called to be one with the rest of creation: and with it, we are invited to move together into a deeper relationship with the loving creator.

Whenever we are hindered, by another part of creation, from deepening this relationship, it becomes necessary to examine our connection with that part to ensure that we are not hindered in pursuing our call. Often we may need to choose to separate ourselves from such barriers.

It is true that we can only grow in our relationship with God by cooperating with other members of the human family in caring for each other and for creation itself. Nevertheless it is also true that we are not to become so dependent on any part of creation that we would be distracted or separated from our fundamental relationship with our God. This means that whenever we make choices concerning any aspect of work and life, we are to be interiorly free with respect to those concerns that make obstacles of creation -- long life or short life; health or sickness; riches or poverty; comfort or discomfort; being accepted or rejected; status or non-status.

Therefore, our highest priority is to be this relationship with God shining through all our choices and everything that flows from these choices.