How to Make a Catholic Retreat at Home: A Silent Retreat Plan

1. What Is a Catholic Retreat?

A Catholic retreat is time withdrawn from daily life to be alone with God in prayer, usually in silence, so you can listen to him, take stock of your life and return renewed. Jesus himself did this often: "he would withdraw to deserted places and pray" (Luke 5:16). He spent forty days in the wilderness before his public ministry and went up the mountain alone to pray before the night he walked on the water (Matthew 14:23).

The retreat as Catholics know it owes most to St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose Spiritual Exercises lay out about thirty days of guided prayer. Pius XI named him patron of retreats in 1922. Ignatius also allowed for people who cannot leave their work: the nineteenth annotation of the Exercises lets the whole retreat be made over months in daily life. Read more in our profile of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The forms a home retreat can take

• A day of recollection: one day, or even a morning, of quiet prayer. A good monthly habit.
• A weekend retreat: Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, the classic length.
• A retreat in daily life: an hour of prayer each day for several weeks, in the spirit of the nineteenth annotation.

2. Why Make a Retreat at Home?

A retreat at home removes the three things that stop most people from making one: cost, travel and childcare. A retreat house is a wonderful gift, and it is often out of reach. As of November 2026, for example, Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House near Chicago lists private retreat days at $175 for one night and $160 a night for longer stays, before travel. Many families cannot spare that, or cannot leave small children for a weekend.

God is not limited to retreat houses. "I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her" (Hosea 2:14). The wilderness can be a spare room with the door closed.

The honest downsides, and how to handle them

• Distraction. Your own house is full of chores calling your name. Fix: decide beforehand that no chores happen, cover the laundry pile, and keep to the schedule.
• No director. A retreat house gives you a priest or director to talk to. Fix: book a confession or a short talk with a priest for one point in your retreat.
• No chapel. Fix: go to a weekday Mass and spend an hour in your parish church or adoration chapel during the retreat.
• The phone. Fix: switch it off or put it in airplane mode and give it to someone else.

3. How to Prepare for a Retreat at Home

Prepare a week ahead, because a home retreat succeeds or fails on the arrangements you make beforehand. Use this checklist:

1. Choose the dates and length. Start with one day if you have never made a retreat. Put it in the calendar and tell your household.
2. Arrange the house. Ask your spouse, a grandparent or a friend to take the children, or plan the retreat for a day they are away. If you live with others, ask them to treat you as away.
3. Choose a theme. God's love for you, mercy, a decision you need to discern, grief, or a season such as Advent or Lent. One theme is enough.
4. Plan the sacraments. Find a weekday Mass time and a confession time near you during the retreat.
5. Set up a prayer corner. A chair, a crucifix or icon, a candle, your Bible, a rosary and a notebook. Nothing else.
6. Plan simple food so cooking does not take over. Consider a light fast at one meal if your health allows.
7. Prepare your digital fast. Set an out-of-office reply, tell close friends you are unreachable, and download anything you need in advance.
8. Pray for the retreat each day that week: "Lord, prepare my heart to hear you."

4. A One-Day Silent Retreat Schedule

This one-day schedule suits a Saturday or a day off. Keep silence from the start to the end, except at Mass and confession.

Short on time? A half-day of recollection works too: use the 9:00 to 12:00 block, then go to Mass.

5. A Weekend Retreat Plan, Friday to Sunday

A weekend retreat at home follows a simple arc borrowed from the Spiritual Exercises: God's love, your sin and his mercy, the call of Christ, and a resolution to follow him. Use three or four 45-minute prayer periods each full day, with walks, rest, simple meals and silence in between.

Friday evening: arriving

Switch off your phone at 7pm. Eat simply. Pray Psalm 23 and ask: what do I want from this retreat? Write it down. Night prayer and sleep early.

Saturday: love, mercy and call

• Morning, God's love: Ignatius's Principle and Foundation, "Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul" (Spiritual Exercises 23), with Isaiah 43:1-4, "you are precious in my sight".
• Late morning, mercy: Luke 15 and an honest examination of conscience.
• Afternoon: confession at your parish, then a long walk.
• Late afternoon, the call: Mark 10:17-27, the rich young man. What is one thing Jesus asks you to let go of?
• Evening: the Rosary, and an hour of adoration if your parish offers it.

Sunday: sent out

• Morning: Mass. Receive the Eucharist as the centre of the whole retreat.
• Late morning: John 21, breakfast on the shore. Write your resolutions and a simple rule of life.
• Afternoon: thanksgiving, then end the silence. Tell one person one thing God showed you.

6. How to Keep Silence at Home

Keeping silence at home takes planning, because silence is the one thing a house does not give by default. These steps help:

• Silence the devices first. Phone off or in airplane mode, laptop closed, television unplugged, smart speakers muted. This removes most of the noise.
• Silence your speech. Speak only when needed, and briefly. A note on the door saying "On retreat, back at 6pm" helps others.
• Silence your eyes. No news, no social media, no reading except Scripture and one spiritual book.
• Let the inner noise come. In the first hours your mind will race. Write the thoughts down and return to prayer. God spoke to Elijah after the wind, earthquake and fire, in "a sound of sheer silence" (1 Kings 19:12).

For parents of young children

If a full day is impossible, make a retreat in pieces: an hour each morning before the children wake for a week, or a "nap-time retreat" on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Swap with your spouse so each of you gets a half-day. God receives the hour a mother of toddlers can give with the same love as the thirty days a monk can give.

7. Retreat Themes and Readings

Choose one theme and stay with it. These pair well with home retreats:

• Advent: Isaiah 40, Luke 1:26-38, and waiting in hope.
• Lent: Matthew 4:1-11, Psalm 51, and a fast from one comfort.
• Grief: John 11, Lamentations 3:19-26, and the prayers for the dead.
• A decision: Ignatius's rules for discernment, with Luke 5:1-11 and the call to put out into the deep.
• Healing and freedom: Mark 5, Psalm 40 and confession.
• A couple's retreat: Tobit 8:4-8, 1 Corinthians 13, and an evening praying together for your marriage.
• Burnout: 1 Kings 19 and Matthew 11:28-30. See our guide to Christian burnout.

8. After the Retreat: Keeping the Fruit

The fruit of a retreat is kept by turning its resolutions into small daily habits within the first week. Retreat graces fade fast when nothing in your routine changes.

1. Read your notes the next evening and choose the single most important resolution.
2. Make it daily and small: "ten minutes of Gospel every morning" beats "pray more".
3. Tell one person what you resolved, and ask them to check in.
4. Write a rule of life: daily prayer, weekly Mass and adoration, monthly confession, yearly retreat. Our guide to how to pray shows how.
5. Book the next retreat now. A day of recollection every month or every season keeps the habit alive.