Hearts on Fire retreat for young adults begins on July 6

The Apostleship of Prayer will offer its popular weekend Hearts on Fire retreat for young adults in Corpus Christi on July 6-7 at the Newman Catholic Student Center located at 7002 Ocean Drive. The Hearts on Fire retreats are presented by teams of young Jesuits to groups of young adults, ages18-39, married or single.

The Office of Young Adult & Campus Ministry will bring the day and a half of spiritual to Corpus Christi starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and end with a 6 p.m. Vigil Mass on Saturday. To register for the retreat go to http://www.apostleshipofprayer.org/hof2012corpuschristiform.html.

Through talks, discussion, music, silence, prayer and worship, participants encounter the spirituality of the Apostleship of Prayer and "The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola," the founder of the Jesuits, said Adam Koll, director of the Diocese of Corpus Christi office of Young Adult & Campus Ministry. There also are opportunities for relaxation during meals and a coffeehouse social.

More information, comments from past participants, a video trailer and registration forms can be found at www.apostleshipofprayer.org/heartsonfire.

Last June, retreat leader Jesuit Father Phil Hurley spoke about the aims of the retreat. Referring to a popular line of engagement rings called "hearts on fire," Father Hurley said, "This retreat is not the world's most perfectly cut diamond, but we do try to engage participants and help them to fall more deeply in love with God."

"Our participants are at a crucial point in their lives," the priest added. "Decisions they make and act on now will make a great difference to the rest of their lives."

The retreat presentations introduce St. Ignatius' spiritual insights in topics such as discerning the will of God in one's life.

"The retreat seeks to connect faith to everyday life," Father Hurley said. "Participants learn about the Apostleship of Prayer's practice of making a morning offering, living the Eucharist throughout the day, and ending the day with an evening review."

Since 1844, Father Hurley said, members of the Apostleship of Prayer—now estimated to number more than 50 million worldwide—offer themselves to God each day for the needs of others and the work of the Catholic Church.

Since the apostleship's beginnings, Jesuits "have undertaken this apostolate as a service to the entire church," he said, noting that for more than a century the pope "has been entrusting his own prayer intentions to the apostleship, so that Catholics everywhere can pray in unity with the universal church."

In past years, Father Hurley said, the program has been presented to more than a thousand participants in Midwestern and Eastern cities, including Milwaukee; Chicago; St. Louis; Des Moines, Iowa; South Bend, Ind.; Philadelphia; Charlotte, N.C.; Baltimore; and Richmond, Va.

Last August, 11 Jesuit priests and scholastics (seminarians) took the Hearts on Fire message to World Youth Day in Madrid, and the events were well attended, Father Hurley said. There young people from many English-speaking countries heard condensed versions of the retreat presentations. In addition, a panel of Jesuit philosophers and theologians spoke on topics ranging from Pope Benedict XVI's theology to the history of the Catholic Church in China.