Mission & Ministry

A retreat is a specific amount of time set aside from the typical day-to-day activities in order to pray, meditate, and contemplate one's relationship with God, themselves, and others. A retreat will often take place at a location that lends itself to silence and solitude away from worldly distractions.  

"Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).  

Our model for taking time for a retreat is based on both scripture and tradition. Jesus himself often withdrew to a deserted place to pray. "And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed" (Mark 1:35). Prior to making a significant decision Jesus would retreat. "In these days he went out into the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them 12, whom he named apostles" (Luke 6:12-13). 

Throughout the tradition of the Church many saints took time for a spiritual retreat including our founder St. John Baptist de La Salle. At a key moment in his life, in 1714, St. La Salle retreated to Parmenie, France, where he received significant inspiration from Sister Louise, and guidance from the Brothers who wrote to him from Paris. There is good reason to suppose that if this providential encounter had not taken place, De La Salle's work might have perished. 

*All current students enrolled at De La Salle Collegiate are required to make a one-day, spiritual retreat. Juniors and seniors are eligible to make a Kairos retreat.

There are two Greek words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos emphasizes duration, succession of moments, chronological time. Kairos does not. Kairos is the Lord's Time, and is judged, not by its succession or duration but by its value, the intensity of the experience of God's presence in the midst of the Christian community. Kairos as a retreat is a three-night, four-day lived experience of Christian community for high school seniors and juniors.

Kairos is based on incarnational and sacramental theology. Our God has always tried to make His love visible and enfleshed, as He did in His Son and our Lord, Jesus, who came in the flesh (Incarnation) and remains with us in the Eucharist (Sacrament). Kairos, consequently, is Christ-centered and Eucharist-centered.

The personal sharing of God's workings in the lives of each of the team members is the catalyst that brings to the candidates the realization that God is also working in their lives through others, and that they are a child of God, deserving of love, compassion, and mercy. The experience of community is a wonderful way to communicate to youth, Christian faith values. With the affirming support of the faith community, it is the hope of this retreat that the candidate, in spite of human weakness and sin, come to a deeper appreciation of God's love and mercy. 

Kairos takes place over four days and three evenings during the week.
Kairos is a student-led retreat.
Potential student leaders must have attended a Kairos retreat, complete an application, and go through an interview process.
Kairos is optional, not mandatory.Attending a Kairos retreat does not exempt you from your mandatory, one day grade-level retreat.
Retreatants are eligible to attend a Kairos retreat during their junior or senior years.
Kairos is offered twice per school year: once in the fall and once in the spring.