White House Retreat

Contemplating Jesus on the move, breaking cultural boundaries on the way. For the next few Sundays we will be rushing around with Jesus through his ministry in the Gospel of Mark, chapters 5 and 6. Even though for some of us this coming month may include some time for a well-needed rest from the rush of life and the summer’s heat, Mark will be having us accompany Jesus as he rushes around the territory. And we’ll be accompanying Jesus as he crosses over into new territory in ...Continue reading

Another gorgeous day at White House Retreat. We have several retreats in the coming weeks with space available! This Weekend (Thursday - Sunday) - Men July 5-8 - Co-Ed July 8-11 - Men August 5-8 - Women... August 12-15 - Co-Ed Recovery August 19-22 - Men August 26-29 - Men September 3-5 - Co-Ed September 20-23 - Men November 1-4 - Women November 29-Dec 2 - Co-Ed December 17-19 - Women Call us to register - 314-416-6400. #Jesuit #IgnatianSpirituality #catholicretreat #recovery #stlcatholic

Our Veterans Retreat is officially full! Thanks to everyone who helped us spread the word abut this incredible event. For anyone who was interested in attending who had not yet signed up, we would be happy to put you on the waiting list and call you if any cancellations come in. Call us at 314-416-6400.... Thanks and God Bless.

UPDATE: White House Retreat is experience issues with our phones and internet access due to utility work in the area. We have been without phones & internet access since Thursday evening. Please email [email protected] with any immediate issues. We hope to be back up and running by Monday.... Thank you and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Weekend Reflections from White House Retreat Quiet, Be Still (Mk 4:39) The Sunday gospels in the church’s Ordinary Time depict Jesus constantly on the move, gathering a following, but also confronting many distressing situations. In this Sunday’s gospel, the disciples, terrified by a storm at sea while Jesus remains asleep in the boat, ask Jesus don’t you care? Perhaps many of us are experiencing distressing situations this summer, including the ongoing dragging out of... COVID, worries about getting back to work, questions about the summer as school ends, wondering about getting a vacation this year, possibly moving our home location, etc. Perhaps in our prayer we at times we even ask God don’t you care? As we deal with such situations, perhaps we can respond by following Jesus’ command Quiet, Be Still. - One way to do this could be to schedule some quiet stillness with us at White House for a retreat ( www.whitehouseretreat.org ) - You could also incorporate some still and quiet in your daily life by growing with the many habits of spiritual exercises we have offered at White House for almost 100 years: * Maybe start with the many prayer suggestions offered in the blue White House prayer book given to each retreatant, especially the Awareness Examen on pp 43 and following. * You might also quiet down by recalling and building on your memories, notes, handouts, bible passages, hymns, religious art, etc. from the grace-filled Spiritual Exercises you have experienced over the years. In Psalm 46:10 God commands Be still, and know that I am God Quieting, entering into stillness in these and other ways can help us prepare for summer, with all of its possible distresses, as well as prepare for the rest of our lives. In these ways God’s amazing grace can transform our experiences of distress and terror into great calm by finding the answer to the disciples’ question Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?

Looking for a retreat? We have several in the coming weeks with space! This Thursday - Sunday (Co-Ed Recovery w/ Fr. Tom Weston SJ) June 21-24 (Men) June 24-27 (Men) July 1-3 (Co-Ed Veterans)... July 5-8 (Co-Ed Discernment Retreat) July 8-11 (Men) August 5-8 (Women) August 12-15 (Co-Ed Recovery) Call 314-416-6400 for more info or to register. #Jesuit #IgnatianSpirituality #catholicretreat #recovery #recoveryretreat #veterans #veteransupport

Call 314-416-6400 to register for an upcoming retreat.

Here are the directors currently scheduled to direct the WOMEN'S RETREATS in 2021. February 25-28 w/ Fr. David Meconi, SJ March 22-25 w/ Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ... May 3-6 w/ Fr. Frank Reale, SJ May 20-23 w/ Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ May 27-30 w/ Fr. Chris Collins, SJ July 22-25 w/ Fr. Frank Reale, SJ August 5-8 w/ Fr. Joe Laramie, SJ September 9-12 w/ Fr. Jeff Putthoff, SJ September 13-16 w/ Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ October 4-7 w/ Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ October 18-21 w/ TBD November 1-4 w/ TBD November 11-14 w/ Fr. David Meconi, SJ November 15-18 w/ TBD CALL 314-416-6400 to register. *Please note-directors are subject to change based on travel restrictions, etc. For the most up to date list, visit the women's retreat page on our website. That will be updated any time a change has been made. http://www.whretreat.org/womens-retreats

Weekend Reflections from White House Retreat Sunday’s bible readings suggest that experiences of being called, listening to that call, and following in discipleship are central elements of faithful Christian life. In 1 Samuel 3: 3-10,19, the young man Samuel seemed so sleepy, snoozing even in the temple itself, that it took three tries for God’s call to break through to him, getting him to begin listening. But Samuel quickly learned how to reply: speak, Lord, your servant i...s listening, leading to his becoming more and more familiar with God as he grew up. And in John 1:35-42 the four disciples Jesus called learned how to respond to Jesus’ challenging question What are you looking for by seeing where Jesus was and staying with him not only that night, but being called and changed for the rest of their lives. These two bible scenes suggest so much about what we try to accomplish through our White House Jesuit Retreat mission, not only for the few days you are with us, but leading to grace-filled change for the rest of your life. St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises which we share with you at White House invite you to respond to Jesus’ call by coming aside and resting with him for a while; but as you well know, the retreat itself involves the ongoing exercise of listening to God’s call and growing in responding throughout all the signs of the times in your life, signs of the times not only in your private lives, but also in the often challenging events in our world, our church, our civil society, our local situations and in our families such as those we experience right now in the pandemic and our national transition, as well as our reflection on Martin Luther King's ministry. And like those first four disciples who became Apostles (and martyrs), this can be an ongoing life-changing, life giving experience of reading the signs of the times and faithfully responding. Our ongoing Christian discipleship requires our own growth in listening, discerning, and following, like Samuel and those four first apostles. One helpful ongoing spiritual exercise to help us continue the graces of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises is the listening and discerning our response through the practice of the Awareness Examen you can find on pages 43 and following in our White House Prayer book. -Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ

White House Retreat will host 3 Days of Prayer during Lent! 1- Ash Wednesday February 17 2- Monday March 29 3- Tuesday March 30... Check in (and the front gates to the property) will open the morning of each event at 8:15 AM. Guests will be temperature scanned while in their cars. The first conference will begin at 9AM. 2 additional conferences will be offered during the event along with Mass the opportunity for Reconciliation and lunch. The events conclude around 3:00 PM. The cost per person per event is $25 and space is limited on each date to 50 people. Please note- due to COVID-19, masks must be worn inside our buildings at all times. Also, we have spaced our seats 6 feet apart and split them between 2 buildings (The Chapel and the upstairs Library). Seats in both locations are first come-first served upon arrival. The seat you choose when you arrive will be your seat for the day. Those seated in the upstairs Library will view all events taking place in the Chapel LIVE on a large screen and the Eucharist will be brought over during Mass. To register, please call 314-416-6400. #Lent #AshWednesday

MEN IN RECOVERY: We have 2 upcoming retreats with space. This weekend (Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon) and Monday Jan 25 to Thursday Jan 28. These retreats are specifically for men in A.A.... Call 314-416-6400 to register.

Weekend Reflections from White House Retreat Sacramental Growth through Spiritual Exercises Over 50 years ago, Dutch Dominican theologian Edward Schillebeeckx wrote of Christ as the Sacrament of the Encounter with God. Indeed, the Christmas feast celebrates Jesus’ sonship, bodily, in human form. When, in turn, he is glorified and leaves the world, at Easter time, Christ’s incarnation continues in the world especially in the church’s sacraments. Schillebeeckx overturns th...e image of sacramental grace as something put into us humans like some sort of medicine, maintaining that the Church’s sacraments are not things but encounters with the glorified human Jesus. This Sunday’s feast of Jesus’ Baptism opens the way for our own ongoing personal relationship with God in the only way in which a person is accessible to us at all, through bodily encounter. Jesus’ Baptism invites us to recall the graces of our own sacramental experiences. For him this initiation was once and for all, for us, thanks be to God, our own initiation is usually an ongoing, gradual process of growth, the type of growth we can nourish through our White House Spiritual Exercises. The three elements of Jesus’ initiation say a lot about our own process of growth. Water of Creation: dividing of the waters, Birth: your mother and mine knew we were soon to break forth -- water broke, and we were tearing part of her open to enter this world. Cleansing at birth, by water, cleansing of the blood of birth; and a different kind of cleansing at infant baptism, cleansing for initiation into Christian life, a process of continual cleansing through repentance, reconciliation. May we regularly come back to the river of life, the waters of redemptive grace by our own sacramental life and through encounter with God, to hear God once again say this is my beloved Son, listen to him during our Spiritual Exercises at White House. -Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ