On a cool, mid-September morning, a group of almost 40 parishioners gathered for a special retreat near Stillwater. The group consisted of spiritual directors from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Diocese of Tulsa and the Diocese of Little Rock who joined together at the center for fellowship and prayer as they prepare for the start of Retreat in Daily Life – a program that brings parishioners together to grow deeper in their relationship with God.
The program, “A Day of Reflection for spiritual directors,” was held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 14 at the new Our Lady of Grace Catholic Retreat Center. The facility was dedicated on April 14, and they have seen participants from across Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.
Attendees that day were all leaders in the Retreat in Daily Life program, a program based on the spiritual exercises written by Saint Ignatius Loyola.
“We’re here to follow the lead of Saint Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits,” spiritual director Kathy Payne said. “He wrote the spiritual exercises before he was a Jesuit and he taught them how to pray the exercises, and the exercises really started out with the birth of the Jesuits.”
The program deepens participants in their prayer lives as they follow the life of Jesus Christ through weekly meetings.
“We follow Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, and we’re there to rejoice with all the people that came to see Jesus – the shepherds and wisemen,” Payne said.
The program continues with Jesus’ ministry, passion, death and resurrection.
“In between the movements, we learn about humility, we learn how to pray, something Saint Ignatius called the ‘examination,’ we learn how to examine where we are with the Lord,” Payne said.
Participants in the program meet weekly in small groups, led by a group leader. That group is overseen by a spiritual director, with the group leader also a spiritual director.
One attendee, Long Tran, is a spiritual director at Saint Eugene Catholic Church in Oklahoma City and has been a leader since 2016.
“A spiritual director is someone who companions a person as they walk with God, helping them to understand what God may be telling them, by listening. Their body posture, their emotions and feelings,” Tran said. “Most of the time, it is about praying.”
The program begins in October, and the small groups meet each week through May. Individuals will also meet with the spiritual director twice a month.
With the program beginning in October, the retreat serves as a refresher for the spiritual directors going into the new season. It was their first meeting in the new facility, having met previously at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City, and it was the first meeting since February 2020.
“This is our first gathering since 2020 because of COVID-19 so today’s a good day to come together and renew the gifts God gave us,” Carolyn Lyon said, a spiritual director at Saint Monica Catholic Church in Edmond.
The theme of the retreat was “Listen with the ear of your heart,” helping those spiritual directors in attendance learn to listen and discern the needs of those to whom they are ministering in the Retreat in Daily Life program.
“What we’re hoping to do as spiritual directors is holy listening, which is the art of listening, and the art of loving, because when we’re really listening to another person, when we’re really listening to another person and not putting out our stories and our thoughts, we’re really listening,” Lyon said. “This is about coming to a deeper knowledge, understanding and fellowship with Jesus Christ.”
The Retreat in Daily Life program is also about meeting God and having a deeper faith and prayer life.
“The spiritual exercises are about learning about God’s love for each of us and meeting the person in Jesus Christ and learning to follow him through his through his ministry, passion, death and resurrection,” Tran said.
Everett Brazil, III is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.