Remain in Me

Greetings fr om the Retre at Master Peace be with you and welcome on behalf of Abbot James and the monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey. In this booklet we share some of the proposals of our monastic life for you to consider taking up during your retreat-at-home.

The pandemic and the lockdown of monasteries and retreat centers provoked us to ask the question: What does it mean to go on retreat? It quickly became clear that the term “virtual” retreat only highlighted the need to engage the question more seriously.

Though one may use technology to facilitate certain aspects, a retreat cannot actually be virtual. It can only be done where you are. To retreat, in the Christian sense, is to enter more deeply into the truth of things, like taking a step back from a painting in order to see more clearly the whole of its beauty in which shines the harmony of each part. “Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Luke 5:16), not to escape the task before him but to love it more, by staying with the Father who gave it to Him. 6 • Remain in Me