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The last day to register is Monday, March 10, 2025 at 12:00noon.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Our Lady of the Angels Monastery

Crozet, VA

Looking for a moment to pause and lean into your Catholic identity during the season of Lent? Join young adults from across the diocese for a day of Lenten Reflection at the Trappist-Cistercian abbey in Crozet! Into the Heights will include talks by one of the nuns in residence, small group sharing through a Biblical lens, and quiet personal prayer time. Daily Mass will be celebrated, and we will join the nuns for the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharistic Adoration. Lunch is included.

 

Who should attend this day retreat?

The Young Adult Day of Reflection is intended for young adults ages 18-39.  All attendees must be out of high school.  Single people and married couples are all welcome.  Though this day is designed for Catholics, interested young adults of any faith backgrounds are welcome to attend.

 

Where and when is the retreat?

It will take place on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Crozet, Virginia.  Located within a 30-minute drive of Charlottesville, this retreat location is only an hour and a half drive from Richmond and 2 hours from Roanoke.

The address is: 3365 Monastery Drive, Crozet, VA 22932. Check-in will begin at 10:00am on Saturday, March 22 and the event will conclude at 6:30pm.

 

What is the theme this year?

The theme is The Space Between the Stars: Complete Wholeness in Christ Through Experiential Lectio Divina. If we want to live fully, we need to be able to discern. Discernment requires the capacity to listen to God’s voice. His voice speaks to use in events and people (including our Catholic Tradition), in Scripture, and nature. However, we need to be able to distinguish God’s voice from other voices that resonate within us: desires, emotions, expectations, pressures from within and without, wounds, temptations, and sin. Often a whole cacophony of sounds threatens to stifle our capacity to hear God and our inner resources are squandered trying to run in multiple directions at once.

“Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Even better, as I recently read in a translation of John Cassian (360-435 desert father), blessed are the clear of heart. How can we have a clear heart that can see and hear God, a heart that can discern the call to serve our brothers and sisters according to our identity and mission?

To have a clear heart is to be one within and one with God. In this shared form of wholeness, we can also be one with one another. A clear heart can love in action. A clear heart can contemplate in stillness and motion because it can listen and discern. A clear heart has received grace and healing and continues to receive grace and healing while ministering to others.

Through 3 sessions, we will enter into a practical approach to healing and discernment followed by a time for guided prayer to foster this process. The goal is to identify and embody our identity and mission.

 

Who is the keynote speaker?

Our keynote speaker is Sister Maria Gonzalo, a Trappist-Cistercian nun in residence at Our Lady of the Angels Abbey.

 

I’m coming from out of town and would like to stay the night somewhere.  Where should I stay?

If you want to make a weekend of it, we suggest staying in a hotel or Airbnb in Charlottesville. Two suggestions that are less than 30min away are the Homewood Suites by Hilton (2036 India Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901) or the Hampton Inn (2035 India Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901).

 

What are the costs?

The Young Adult Lenten Day of Reflection costs $30/person, which includes lunch and all materials needed for the day. Registration closes on Monday, March 10, 2025 at 12:00noon.

 

How do I register?

Register online at www.evangelizerichmond.org. Cancellations received after Monday, March 11, 2025 at 12:00noon are non-refundable, regardless of reason for cancellation. Space is limited to the first 50 registrants, so register sooner rather than later!

 

Questions?

Contact Katie Yankoski, Associate Director for Youth and Young Adults, by email or phone at [email protected] or 804-622-5159.