Every year, a new class of seniors embarks on a series of retreats that are designed to allow students to enter a journey into the soul. The experience means to provide seniors a chance to find out God in their personal lives, as well as a reprieve from the daily grind and answer personal questions they may have as they approach graduation. Jesuit, wanting to provide the best experience for the individual, allows seniors to choose a retreat that best suits them. Among the choices are the Kairos, R and R, and the Silent retreat.
Kairos is by far the most popular choice among the senior class. Created in 2004, the Kairos retreat is meant to lead students on a spiritual expedition within themselves. What sets the retreat apart from the others is that it is primarily student led, and includes small group sessions, lectures, and casual conversations between “the guys” about spiritual life.
“The retreat is meant to take seniors on a journey inward, outward, and upward,” said Mr. Joe Nava ‘02, a campus ministry advisor and retreat leader. This retreat specifically addresses spirituality through discussion and sharing views on life with other Jesuit students. Davis Bittner ’13 described his experience at the Kairos retreat as one of “import[ance] because it gives us a chance to reflect on the last four years and come together as a class as we reach our final months.”
Standing for Renewal and Rediscovery, the R and R retreat attempts to provide seniors with just that. The entire retreat has been designed around the ideas presented in the book Life of the Beloved, by Henri Nouwen. The book and the retreat are based on the idea that we as God’s beloved sons are chosen, blessed, broken, and given.
R and R could be described as the retreat for students who want a little more structure and adult involvement, being primarily faculty directed. The R and R retreat leads seniors on a similar path as the Kairos retreat, using small group sessions and lectures, but with more faculty contribution. But whatever the path chosen by seniors, hopefully they find a sense of guidance.
Then there is the most intriguing (if you want to call it that) retreat of them all, the Silent retreat. Not speaking but for short intervals at a time each day might seem rather bizarre to most people, and understandably so. It is hard to imagine not communicating for a few days when that is all society seems to do anymore, but a select few students decide to experience this somewhat foreign concept in attempts to grow as a person and in their relationship with God.
The retreat is best described as a multiday meditation, the only breaks being a discussion with a spiritual counselor. Another way to describe it could be “powerful,” according to Nava who attended the Silent retreat during his time at Jesuit as a student. Nava remembered his retreat as “finally having the time to think about things I never gave myself time to think about … that’s when I found out how special Jesuit is.’’ Nava continued, “I would hope that the students feel welcome and invited to have their questions, feel safe to ask those questions, and feel encouraged to search for answers.”
The senior retreats are a big moment in the life of a Jesuit student, and they mark a time of self-discovery and a beginning to their own journey through life. The senior retreats offer an experience that is rarely presented in life, which Nava described best, “We may not always find the answers to our questions, but retreats give us that time and space in our lives and in our hearts to search and deepen our relationships with ourselves and with God so that we can better give and share ourselves with others.”
