Busy Person Retreats (Online): June 1-July 31
With Fr. Gary Coulter, Matt Simmons, Sarina Stokes, Jo Vasa and Fr. Christopher Barak
Flexible Dates
Online Retreat for Busy Persons
Do you struggle to make time for prayer in your daily life? Perhaps you’ve wanted to make a retreat in the past but didn’t have the time to get away. What if you could make a retreat without having to leave your home or take off from work? The Busy Person’s Retreat gives you that opportunity!
A daily directed retreat specifically designed for people of all ages with hectic schedules, allowing you to dedicate time to prayer and reflection while still fitting the experience into your busy life. Flexible schedules and shorter daily commitments compared to our traditional Ignatian retreats. Includes guided meditations, scripture readings, and opportunities to meet with a Spiritual Director.
You can pick any dates and length of 3-8 days as works for your schedule, although 4-day and 8-day are typical lengths. We will try to honor but cannot guarantee your requests for a particular director.
What is the Busy Persons Retreat for Men or Women?
A Busy Person’s Retreat is a time of focused prayer and spiritual direction. It is perfect for people who cannot take four-five on a Directed Ignatian Retreat, or a whole weekend away for a retreat. Are you interested in working one-on-one with a director for a short time to grow in your prayer and spiritual life? It can be done within the busyness of life.
In St. Ignatius’ 18th annotation in the Spiritual Exercises, he says, “The Spiritual Exercises must be adapted to the condition of the one who is to engage them.” The Online Busy Person’s Retreat is modeled after Ignatian model of prayer, but now offered to busy people at parishes, schools, and college campuses. The Online Busy Person’s Retreat gives the participant an opportunity to make a retreat in the middle of daily life using video chat to meet your spiritual director.
In order to get the full benefit of this retreat, you need to commit to:
- Set aside 30-45 minutes once each day to pray with scripture and 10-15 minutes to journal. You may pray any time during the day, but should have your prayer time completed before you meet with your spiritual director each day
- Meet with your spiritual director for 30 minutes each day. (The first day of the retreat, you will not meet a director, but rather watch a 40-minute instructional video.)
It is suggested to read Meditation and Contemplation by Father Timothy Gallagher, OMV to learn more on the Ignatian methods of meditating on Scripture.
Our Ignatian Retreats, based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, are also known as directed retreats. The heart of the Ignatian Retreat involves spending prayer periods each day in meditation on scripture. Thus the real director of an Ignatian Retreat is the Holy Spirit.
Retreatants journal about each of their prayer times and the movements that occurred there, so that when they meet with the director, they can be given guidance and appropriate scripture passages for their meditation.
Please consider giving your director a personal gift (tip stipend) for his or her time. You can give cash or check to them personally or anonymously by credit card below the registration options.
We want our retreats to be accessible to everyone, please consider an additional donation, or contact the Retreat House to inquire about financial assistance or if your parish pays part of the cost. If the retreat you’re interested is full, contact us to be put on a waiting list.
Directors
Fr. Gary Coulter has served as Director of Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House (goodcounselretreat.org) for eleven years. Previously he was pastor at St. Mary in Ashland and St. Joseph in Greenwood, Nebraska. His Theological Studies were at Mt. St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD and he was ordained a priest in 1999 for the Diocese of Lincoln (Nebraska). After three years of high school teaching and parish ministry in Lincoln, he did graduate studies in Canon Law at Santa Croce University in Rome. He is director of Unbound ministry and also works in the marriage tribunal and as…
Learn more about Fr. Gary Coulter
Matt and his wife Demetra have four beautiful children and are Catholics in good standing in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. With over twenty years experience personally and spiritually guiding others, Matt have worked with addicts, business leaders, clergy, house wives, and those simply searching for peace and intimacy with Jesus. He feels called to serve those who have suffered abuse and trauma. A former FOCUS missionary, Matt was the director of the Office of Spiritual Formation and the Office of Evangelization for the Diocese of Lincoln. Matt offers Spiritual Direction, Inner Healing, Deliverance Ministry, and Ignatian Retreats
Learn more about Matt Simmons
Sarina has been on a life-long journey marked by an ever-deepening trust in God’s plan. Sarina grew up and went to college in Arizona, where she abundantly encountered the Lord’s mercy. Sarina served with FOCUS from 2019-2021 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After her missionary years, she followed the Lord’s call to book a one-way ticket to Europe and become a pilgrim. She came back to the US and returned to Lincoln, which had been such “a well” for her during her time as a missionary. It was there in 2022 that she made a private vow consecrating her heart,…
Learn more about Sarina Stokes
Jo Vasa, MA Certified Spiritual Director I’m a wife, mother of five sons (2 married) and a grandmother to two little girls. We have lived in Nebraska City for 26 years and our sons attended Lourdes Central Catholic School. I received my training and certification in Spiritual Direction and Ignatian Guided Retreats from Creighton University. I also have my Masters in Christain Spirituality from Creighton. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation and Behavorial Science from the College of Saint Mary. I was a professional photographer and business owner for ten years until God called me to Spiritual Direction.…
Learn more about Jo Vasa
Ordained a priest in 1987 for the diocese of Lincoln, Fr. Barak is chaplain of the Carmel of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph near Valparaiso, Nebraska. Father Barak was raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and attended St. Albert High School there. He attended Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before enrolling at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia. In his ministry, he served as an assistant pastor at St. Wenceslaus Church in Wahoo and Blessed Sacrament in Lincoln. He also taught at Pius X and Bishop Neumann high schools. He pursued post-graduate studies in Rome before being named…
Learn more about Fr. Christopher Barak
