This past weekend, Laurie and I attended our yearly Benedictine Oblate retreat. We normally attend the fall retreat but we had such a busy fall this year that it didn't happen. So, we were really happy to find out that there were still spaces on the retreat and that it was happening on a weekend that we didn't have any plans. The retreats that we have happen at Santa Rita Abbey, a Cistercian monastery south of Tucson, in Sonoita, AZ. We hold silence for most of the retreat, with the exceptions of dinnertime and one on one time with an advisor. There is also a closing activity Saturday night where we do not hold silence. We pray the Liturgy of the Hours with the sisters in the monastery's chapel but stay a little ways off from the monastery in guest quarters, which are beautiful and also hold a chapel, which remains open to us for prayer. Coming on retreat at this particular monastery is like coming home. It's so familiar and intimate and I always look forward to retreats. It was a lovely weekend, a much needed break from the "real world", which we really all decided as retreat members, that being on retreat, in spiritual communion was actually the real world, and not our homes and business that awaited us down the hill, into the city. Silence is a challenge that is well worth practicing and I came away from this weekend refreshed and it really added to my lenten experience.
Following are some picture of Santa Rita Abbey, taken by Laurie when we went on retreat three years ago, I believe.
This is the actual monastery, seen from down the road leading to the guest quarters.
The Santa Rita mountains, although while we were there this weekend, there was snow on them and they were covered in clouds.
I used this picture as my ravatar for awhile, it's the sun rising seen from the entrance into the guest quarter's building.
This last picture is the chapel in the guest building, where we met and prayed between Liturgy with the sisters.
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