Personal & Communal Retreats

I. Personal Retreats

1) Individual Guided Eight Day Retreat in Ignatian Tradition: During the 8-day retreats, retreatants will have up to four contemplative prayers each day, approximately one hour for each prayer. Spiritual direction will be provided. Applicants should have 3 or 5-day individual guided retreat experience before. Applicants who do not have such experiences are recommended to come for shorter retreats first.
Spiritual Direction in English can be provided in the following eight day retreats in 2025:

3-11 February, 2025

14-22 April, 2025

13-21 July, 2025

6-14 August, 2025

4-12 December, 2025
 
Fee for food and lodging: $3,480 (This fee does not include fees for spiritual direction, offering would be appreciated. For reference, the unit cost of spiritual direction for eight day retreat is $1,920, for details please refer to
Application:

2)Ecology Workshop: Bringing Hope to Creation

Content	Recent climate changes have alerted us the urgency to care for our common home.Pope Francis has urged us in Laudato Si (2015) and Laudato Deum (2023) not to be deaf to the cries of this sister. This workshop intends to contemplate on our relationship with creation through the dynamics of Ignatian spirituality. Instead of seeing ourselves as her lords or masters, we belong in fact to one community of being created by God with love. Together we give praise to the Lord as we live our authenticity in love. As Ignatius has described that love consists in a mutual communication, let us contemplate on how creation gives to us what she has or even her total self. In love, we ask ourselves gently, “What have we done? What shall we do in return?” We ask for God’s grace to journey with creation in this challenging time, rekindled with hope.
Participant	Anyone interested in exploring care for our common home via Ignatian Spirituality is welcomed. Priority will be given to applicants who is involved in relevant ministry.
Facilitator	Fr. James Hanvey SJ He was appointed by the General of the Society of Jesus as Secretary for the Service of Faith in 2019. Until his appointment as Secretary for the Service of Faith, Fr Hanvey was Master of Campion Hall, University of Oxford, and member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion. He has also been Head of the department of theology at a Heythrop College, University of London, where he was also founding director of The Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics, and Public Life and theological advisor to the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. He has held research chairs at Milltown College, Dublin, (Veale Chair in Ignatian Spirituality), and the Lo Schiavo Chair in Catholic Social Thought, University of San Francisco. He has written and lectured widely in theology, Catholic Social Thought and Ignatian Spirituality.
Workshop Format	Input, personal prayer, small group sharing, liturgy, hands on activities such as nature walk, trash picking, gardening, aesthetic activity, etc.
Medium of instruction	English, may choose English or Cantonese for spiritual direction and small group sharing
Date	15-20 May, 2025
Time	From dinner on first day till lunch (included) on last day
Venue	Xavier House, Cheung Chau
Fee	HK$4,000
Application

Eight Day Theme Retreat: Reconciliation and Hope

Content	At the centre of Jesus' ministry is reconciliation. His life and mission is the fullest human expression of God's loving mercy and forgiveness. It is the source of our Christian hope, and it is reflected in all of the Gospel encounters of Jesus with persons who seek new life and wholeness. As disciples who share that life and mission, we are empowered to forgive: to heal the wounds of sin and division; to unite persons who have suffer the pain of loneliness and separation; to bring light where there is darkness and harmony to a world that is broken by injustice. Where there is life, there is hope. In our retreat, we will explore some of the ways that God inspires hope in us by touching our hearts with His love in our personal prayer, and inviting us to share that love in the creation of Christian community. We will seek new life through the path of reconciliation.
Participant	Participants who have joined prayer workshop or have previous experience of individual guided retreat for three days or above in Ignatian style.
Facilitator	Fr. Peter McIsaac SJ Peter was born in Canada, but has lived and worked in Jamaica for many years. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1989. After theological studies in East Africa, he was ordained a priest in 1998 and was assigned to Jamaica. He has been involved in social ministries, education, and pastoral work, but more recently has focused his ministry on retreat work and the spiritual formation of priests, deacons and lay persons. He has many years of experience directing the Spiritual Exercises, and giving retreats and workshops across the Caribbean, US, Canada, Africa and Asia. He has established an Institute of Spirituality for the English-Speaking Caribbean, and was recently appointed the Director of Synodal Transformation for the Archdiocese of Trinidad. He is also the Superior of the English-Speaking Section of the Caribbean Province.
Medium of instruction	English, may choose English or Cantonese for spiritual direction
Date	7-15 September, 2025
Time	From dinner on first day till lunch (included) on last day
Venue	Xavier House, Cheung Chau
Fee	HK$5,980
Application

4) Thirty Day Spiritual Exercise: Written by St. Ignatius of Loyola.
Spiritual Exercises is a long retreat to meditate on the Life of Jesus Christ through prayers, meditations and contemplations, in order to prepare and dispose the soul to rid itself of all inordinate attachments, to seek and find the will of God in the disposition of our life for the salvation of our soul. [Sp. Ex. #1]
The Spiritual Exercises is different from ordinary individual directed retreat. On one hand, there are specific contents for prayer and contemplation; on the other hand, each exercitant's spiritual journey is unique. It will be very profitable for both the exercitant and the spiritual director to enter with openness and generosity to God, to explore and discover the grace in this interior journey. The exercitant shall have thorough understanding and personal experiences of Ignatian prayer and dynamics, therefore it is expected that the applicant shall have eight-day individual guided retreat in an Ignatian tradition within two years. The application process is a discernment process, where the applicant will be accompanied by a spiritual director to discern whether one is well disposed for the Spiritual Exercises. Applicants please contact the Director or the Formation Officer of Xavier House directly to initiate the discernment process. Please allow at least one year for the process.

Groups are welcome to come for communal silent retreats. Please note that total silence shall be observed in Xavier House. Subject to availability, applicant groups may request for a member of our team of spiritual directors to provide input and guidance during the retreat period.