How does the individual retreat work?
A retreatant will be assigned a Prayer Companion who will accompany him/her on the retreat.  A mutually convenient time and place to meet each week during Lent will be decided on.  A meeting normally lasts  30 to 60 minutes - the time may vary according to the retreatant's needs.

What will I do each week?
We will all have the "Praying Lent" web site as our guide for the six weeks of Lent. Each retreatant will necessarily decide how much time he/she can spend each day using the resources of this site, but we suggest that it will be very helpful to read the resources that are there, and trying to pray through the Daily Prayer for each day of Lent. The most important part of the Lenten journey will be that we say reflective in the background of our everyday experirnce of these 6 weeks. Whether showering, dressing, cooking, shopping, driving to/from work, walking here or there or getting ready for bed, we have many moments in our day that we can use to be more reflective about the graces we are desiring and the way that those desires are intersecting with what is going on in my day, my interactions with people, the patterns of my unfreedoms, the gifts that I experience in my day.

The Praying Lent Web Site: Make this site a Favorite/Bookmark
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/

What happens in an individual meeting with a prayer companion?
At a weekly meeting a retreatant will talk to a prayer companion about what the experience of prayer has been over the past week.  Before coming to see the prayer companion, the person on retreat will reflect upon two questions: What graces have I been asking the Lord for this week? And what graces have I been receiving this week? When meeting with the prayer companion, the person making the retreat will share the answers to those questions, especially trying to name an "pattern" that is noticed, for example, "I've been asking for the grace to be freer (to know his love, to feel sorrow for my sins, to be more grateful) and it really helped me this week when I would find myself staying reflective about that in the background of my day (when I would get tense, and just slow down and be grateful, when I would would pause during the day to do a "check-in" with myself and the Lord). The companion will listen carefully and then may comment on where the companion can see God moving in the life of the retreatant.  The companion may also make a suggestion for material for prayer.  A meeting with a prayer companion is about looking at our desires before God, about naming the grace we are receiving from God and then sharing this reflection with a prayer companion.  

What is the relationship between the retreatant and the prayer companion?
A prayer companion is someone who offers the retreatant an opportunity to focus and reflect upon his/her experience..  The focus of the conversation is on the retreatant and his/her relationship with God, particularly as seen in the experiences of God over the past week.  The goal is to grow in intimacy with God.  A spiritual director is not a therapist or counselor.

E-mail or call us with any questions:
Maureen McCann Waldron:   mwaldron@creighton.edu    or  280-2880.
Andy Alexander, S.J.:  alexa@creighton.edu   or  280-2071.