Palm Sunday Contemplative Intensive Retreat

This retreat will be held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey, Lafayette, Oregon. Timed with Palm Sunday, it is an opportunity to deepen your contemplative practice by sitting intimately with the experience of Holy Week.

Leonard Marcel will lead our retreat, sit with us, present a talk and offer interviews. He has studied both Zen and Christian Contemplation for more than 35 years, and has been teaching since 1996. The retreat will begin with supper at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, April 12th, and continue all day Saturday. It will end before mass on Palm Sunday, April 14th, although retreatants are invited to attend the Palm Sunday Mass.

This retreat integrates most of the monastic liturgies into our schedule – from Lauds and Mass (6:30 a.m.), through the Day Hour (12:30 p.m.), Vespers (5:30 p.m.), and Compline (7:30 p.m.). Vigils (4:15 a.m.) is optional. Our normal sitting schedule will begin at 6:00 a.m. and conclude at 9:00 p.m. The Abbey’s guest facilities limit overnight attendance to 8 people. Each retreatant will have one of the two private rooms in a guest unit, the two sharing a toilet and shower. Bed and bath linens are provided. Meals are prepared by the monks; the fare is vegetarian, simple, and balanced. If you are staying at the Abbey, please arrive well before 6:00 p.m. on Friday night in order to check in and get your room assignment at the Porter’s Lodge. Palm Sunday Contemplative Intensive Retreat (CIR) Arpil 12 – 14, 2019.

Contemplation periods will be conducted in Bethany House, which is big enough to seat about 20 of us, as well as the monks who will sometimes join us. This means that 10 to 12 additional retreatants can be accommodated as commuters who have a place to sleep outside the monastery and who will provide their own (brown bag) meals. Commuters are expected to attend all sitting periods. While there is plentiful sitting equipment on hand at Bethany House, you may wish to bring your own to be sure you have what you need or prefer. Dark, layered clothing is right for this occasion. Distracting jewelry and perfumes are not.

The total fee for overnight attendance is $190 for Seven Thunders members, $220 for non-members. The deposit of $95 will hold your place, with the remaining balance due by March 29. All but $30 will be refunded for cancellation requests received by retreat coordinator on or before March 29; after that date, $95 of the fee will be refunded. The commuter fee is $80, payable in full with your registration. Partial scholarships are available to Seven Thunders members. Registrations will be made in the order of postmark dates, alphabetically by last name within each date.

When the 8 overnighter places have been filled, all but three of the remaining registration applications and fee payments will be returned. The three applicants will be notified of their status and, if desired, held on the waiting list. A similar process applies to those who choose to register as commuters.

Please contact retreat coordinator Kailyn Kent at [email protected] with any questions and for details on where to return the completed form with your check. Alternatively, you may e-mail your registration to the retreat coordinator and pay the deposit/ fee online.

Please note: since the rooms will be available, the Abbey invites any 8 of us to stay on another night (Sunday night) and leave the next morning by 10 a.m.; Sunday supper and Monday breakfast included for $35 total. This opportunity is available to retreat commuters as well as overnighters.