Retreat (spiritual)

Some retreats are held in silence, and on others there may be a great deal of conversation, depending on the understanding and accepted practices of the host facility and/or the participant(s).

The Christian retreat can be defined most simply as a definite time (from a few hours in length to a month) spent away from one's normal life for the purpose of reconnecting, usually in prayer, with God.

[4] The retreat was popularised in Roman Catholicism by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), whose founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, as a layman began, in the 1520s, directing others in making (participating in) the exercises.

[3] Another form the Exercises came in, which became known as the nineteenth "Observation", 'allowed continuing one's ordinary occupations with the proviso of setting aside a few hours a day for this special purpose.

Cesar B. Pagulayan and organized by Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Parish under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao.

[8] Spiritual retreats were introduced to the Church of England by priests of the Anglo-Catholic Society of the Holy Cross in 1856, first for clergy, and then also for laity.

[10] The practice was spread by Anglo-Catholic priests such as Francis Henry Murray,[12]: 99  Alexander Forbes,[12]: 73,127  and Thomas Thellusson Carter.

Various church associations have also established campgrounds or conference centers in isolated locations, which provide retreat times for children and adults.

[14] The translation of khālwa (from Arabic الخلوة) is seclusion or separation, but it has a different connotation in Sufi terminology in which it refers to the act of self-abandonment in desire for the Divine Presence.

In his book, Journey to the Lord of Power, Muhiyid-Did ibn Arabi (1165-1240 A.D.) discussed the stages through which the Sufi passes in his khalwa.

The degree of the Divine Presence is made clear to him, the garden (of Eden) and Hell are revealed to him, then the original forms of the son of Adam, the Throne of Mercy.