2017 Lenten Retreat – Refresher on Prayer

Friday, Feb. 24, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — Catholics throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City are invited to be transformed through prayer at this year’s diocesan Lenten retreat.

“I think everyone, deep down, is looking for a time of peace and solace, especially in today’s world, and this will be it,” said Susan Northway, director of the diocesan Office of Religious Education, who is organizing the retreat. “The very act of coming to a Lenten retreat, especially with people who have traveled all the way from places like Cedar City or Saint George to come to this, affirms that a person values prayer and is setting aside time … to be present to prayer and to let God’s word and the words that they’ll hear that day sink in more deeply to lead them into the prayer that will prepare them for the Triduum.”

While the Catholic Church recognizes three expressions of prayer: vocal prayer, meditative prayer and contemplative prayer, the retreat will focus on three different types of meditative prayer – lectio divina, Ignatian contemplation and Taize. The presenter of the retreat, titled “Refresher on Prayer,” is Cecilia Von Bertrab, a trained spiritual director who holds a master’s degree in spirituality.  

The day also will include the opportunity for participants to experience each type of prayer that is presented.

With lectio divina, a person reads a Bible passage and then meditates on one word or phrase that “shimmers” to them, Von Bertrab said; it is “listening with the ear of the heart to the word that God wants to give you that day from Scripture.” 

Ignatian contemplation is based on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. As with lectio divina, in Ignatian contemplation a Scripture passage is read, but then the reader places himself or herself in that scene. It is “a way of entering Scripture with our imagination, and entering the scene and seeing what God is doing and drawing fruit from that meditation,” Von Bertrab said. The intent is to “deepen knowledge of who Jesus is.”

Taize is a type of prayer that incorporates music or a chant with a repetitive phrase that typically is based in Scripture. “It’s by chanting that these words go from our head to our heart,” Von Bertrab said.

Each of these types of prayer can help develop deeper communication with God, Von Bertrab said. Although people already may have been exposed to these forms of prayer, “we want to go deeper and to listen to where God is inviting each of us to be in prayer. We all have a hunger to connect with the divine – we desire to communicate intimately with God, but sometimes our prayer is not working for us, and we need something different or something new.”

At the end of the retreat, she said, participants will be able to reflect on which form of prayer is speaking to them the most, and in what way God is inviting them to communicate with him at this time. 

Anyone who is seeking a deeper relationship with God is invited to the retreat, she said, whether they are struggling with prayer or simply “need a booster to go deeper into communication with God. Prayer is transformative. We invite you to come and be transformed.”

To register, contact the Office of Religious Education, www.dioslc.org or call Della Gardner, 801-328-8641 ext. 357 or the Office of Hispanic Ministry, ext. 332.