Who is The Center Within?

We are a group of women and men, followers of Christ, who form with one another a ministry community called to serve the spiritual hunger of God's people. In our ministerial lives we are spiritual directors, teachers, massage therapists, artists, pastoral supervisors, holistic educators, energy healing practitioners, therapists and clergy. We are female and male, religious and lay, ordained, married, divorced and single, gay and straight. We are called to create spaces of prayer, contemplation and discernment where people of all spiritual traditions are welcomed and supported in their search for the Divine Presence and revelation in their lives and in our world. We have been associated with one another for many years, first as staff at the Jesuit Renewal Center in Milford, OH and then co-founding The CenterWithin in 1995.

About our retreats

 

ReflectionThe Holistic Personally Directed Retreat  provides a space to gather with women and men in a circle of faith, silence and prayer. Imagine a place where all is calm and quiet: no TV, no radio, no phones ringing, no email, no chatter, no errands to run, no expectations of productivity or outcomes, no reports to be written.

Nothing you have to do, no one you have to be for anyone else, except to agree to enter into silence, creating an atmosphere of deep contemplative listening with your fellow retreatants and staff and to follow the lead of your own deepest desires, moment by moment, choosing whatever seems to support best your ability to relax and open to new depths of self-discovery and relationship with Spirit, the God of your understanding, in order to more freely make life-giving choices for yourself and the life of the world

We call this retreat an Ignatian “holistic” retreat because, like St. Ignatius Loyola, it is our assumption that all of human experience is a place where Spirit, the God of our understanding, is present, active and available to us. On retreat we make available a variety of opportunities and tools to choose from to nourish one’s personal journey on retreat.

All the offerings are optional and are to be used each day only insofar as one or another of these holistic tools proves to be helpful as a means of guidance and support in listening to the truth of your own life experience.  The retreat, based on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, is designed to guide the retreatant through experiences of bringing one’s real self, into relationship with God and pay attention to and recognize God’s response.

Each day you will have the opportunity to meet with a spiritual director who will assist you in listening to the Divine Spirit within you and to help you find your own path of prayer. These modes of prayer may include one or more of the following opportunities: Sitting Meditation, Massage and energy healing, Tai Chi, walking the Labyrinth, contact with Nature, attention to Dreams, journaling, body movement, active imagination, use of art materials, music, and many other modes of  prayer.

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