8-Day Contemplative Retreat – 2019

An introduction to the Contemplative Way of Life and to the Jesus Prayer
Retreat Master:
Fr. Anton Altnöder, S.J., Nuremburg, Germany
8-Day retreat – 2019
Date: January 12 ( 3 pm) – January 19 ( 11 am)
Place: Maryknoll in Los Altos
23000 Cristo Rey Dr, Los Altos, CA 94024
Some Background Information
In 1984, Franz Jalics, S.J. became director of a retreat house, Haus Gries, in Germany. There he developed a style of retreat/school for meditation to help those seeking a more contemplative way of praying and living.
This emerged from/through reflection on his own experiences:
his own rootedness in Ignatian Spirituality,
the contemplative prayer that sustained him after being abducted and imprisoned in Argentina in 1976. While in prison for five months he was handcuffed, chained and blindfolded.
his retreat work over many years
Fr. Jalics’ work has become known particularly through two publications: The Contemplative Way – Quietly savouring God’s Presence and Contemplative Retreat. An Introduction to the Contemplative Way of Life and to the Jesus Prayer.
Over the last thirty years, Fr. Jalics’ retreat work at Haus Gries has grown beyond any expectation. Teams now lead the individually guided retreat/school for meditation in many different parts of the world. Countless local groups meet regularly to nurture a contemplative way of living through the ‘Gries Path’ way of contemplative prayer.
January 12 – 19, 2019 an Ignatian Contemplative retreat is being offered at Maryknoll Resident, Los Altos, CA. Places are limited so if you are interested in participating, an early response would be helpful.
The cost is $85/night room and board + $50 for director stipend. (Total $645 for the retreat.) All rooms have private baths.
There are many paths to contemplation. I show you just one of them. I’m conscious of the fact that God leads many people to contemplation without any external help. Frequently he uses natural circumstances. A simple life of love, some years on a sickbed, a brush with death, the leaving of one’s homeland in order to live among the poor, and other events can lead to contemplation. I also deeply respect the non-Christian ways of contemplation. And there are in the Catholic Church itself many other introductions into contemplation. I do not want to exalt my way above others. On the contrary, I am very happy that they exist and I appreciate them. I myself have walked the way I describe: should it help someone else to find his or her way I am satisfied.
Franz Jalics. Contemplative Retreat. P 6.
If you are interested in the Jan. 12- 19, 2019 retreat,
please send the following information to
Margarita Hua at
dailyliferetreat@gmail.com
Most Holy Trinity 2040 Nassau Dr. San Jose, Ca 95122
Your Name:
Address: email address:
Phone number:
Comment:
___________________________________________________________
A WORD ABOUT ….
The Life and Work of Fr. Franz Jalics, SJ and what this Contemplative retreat offers
Franz Jalics was born in 1927 in Budapest. He spent his childhood on the estate of his parents. From an early age he was very impressed by the beauty and tranquility of nature.
In late 1944 he came as a 17-year-old cadet with his unit in Germany. During a bombing of Nuremberg, he had a profound religious experience that has shaped his faith further – and decisively. Following the war, since he could not return to Hungary he remained in Germany out of work but able to study. Again he spent a lot of time in nature, which, as he puts it himself, is an “outstanding teacher of contemplation”.
After his return to Hungary he entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1947. Soon after, under pressure from the communist government he had to leave Hungary. Jalics completed his philosophical studies in Pullach near Munich and Leuven-Eegenhoven, Belgium. After further studies in Chile and the study of theology in Buenos Aires, he became Doctor of Theology and professor of fundamental theology and dogmatic theology. In 1963 he became the student’s Spiritual Director.
At the beginning of the 1970’s, Fr. Jalics and two fellow Jesuits went to live in the slums to share their life with the poor. In 1976, an untra-conservative group kidnapped and imprisoned him in an undisclosed location. For five months he and another Jesuit were their captives, blindfolded and tied hand and foot. He was released without explanation, surreptitiously. He left Argentina late in 1977 and spent a year in the USA and Canada.
Since 1978 Franz Jalics has lived in Germany. After seven years of spiritual direction in many retreat houses mainly in southern Germany, he opened, in 1984 his own retreat house in Gries, Wilhelmsthal, Germany.
After 20 years of management of Haus Gries, Fr. Jalics handed over responsibility to the Order. A team continues to develop his retreat work.
He continues to work mainly in the accompaniment of retreats courses, both in Gries as well as abroad. Writing is a further focus of his work.
If you want to prepare for a Contemplative retreat it is recommended to read the book: Contemplative Retreat. An Introduction to the Contemplative Way of Life and to the Jesus Prayer ISBN 1-594671-56-7
What we are offering…
An introduction to what has become known as the Gries Path of Prayer
A sharing arising from our own experience, based on Jalics book. Guided steps (Franz Jalics calls it a ‘school’) leading into one (of various) forms of contemplative prayer:
There are many paths to contemplation. I show you just one of them. I’m conscious of the fact that God leads many people to contemplation without any external help. Frequently he uses natural circumstances. A simple life of love, some years on a sickbed, a brush with death, the leaving of one’s homeland in order to live among the poor, and other events can lead to contemplation. I also deeply respect the non-Christian ways of contemplation. And there are in the Catholic Church itself many other introductions into contemplation. I do not want to exalt my way above others. On the contrary, I am very happy that they exist and I appreciate them. I myself have walked the way I describe: should it help someone else to find his or her way I am satisfied.
Franz Jalics. Contemplative Retreat. P 6.
A gradual introduction to the Jesus Prayer
A way of praying that Jalics has developed emerging from/through reflection on his own experiences: his rootedness in Ignatian Spirituality as well as Catholicism the contemplative prayer that grew and sustained him during five months imprisonment, handcuffed, chained and blindfolded following his abduction in Argentina in 1976. his retreat work over many years .
For anyone
yearning for God, desiring to orientate themselves ever more closely towards God longing for a more simplified approach to God wanting to live as well as understand contemplation willing to stick to a long and ‘rather steep’ path of discovery
Fr. Anton Altnöder, S.J. Nuremburg, German
January 12 ( 3 pm) – January 19 ( 11 am) – 2019
Retreat Location: Maryknoll, Los Altos
address: 23000 Cristo Rey Dr, Los Altos, CA 94024
Maryknoll’s phone: (650) 386-4342
If you feel drawn to make the 8-Day Contemplative Retreat, the next step is to send an email to Margarita Hua, M.A. at dailyliferetreat@gmail.com
Go Deeper To Meet God
Spiritual Ministry @ Most Holy Trinity Parish
2040 Nassau Dr. San Jose, Ca 95122
408-729-0101
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