What is Cor ad Cor?

The Cor ad Cor Spirituality Year is a weekly small group gathering of all men or all women to learn more about the spiritual life, to grow in relationship and conversation with the Lord, and to share faith and the work of the Lord with others.

The title, “Cor ad Cor,” is a shortened version of “Cor ad Cor Loquitur,” a Latin phrase meaning “Heart speaks to Heart,” which comes from a letter written by St. Francis de Sales to one of his spiritual directees. Later, St. John Henry Newman took it as his episcopal motto. The Cor ad Cor Spirituality Year is so named because this retreat is ultimately about listening to the Lord who is speaking from his heart to ours. We receive from him all that he wants to give, and we speak to him from our heart.

Essentially, Cor ad Cor is a retreat, which begins with the Oremus program from Ascension Press (8 weeks), and then moves into the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola according to the 19th annotation (additional 22 weeks). Small groups of about six people meet weekly with a trained leader for these 30 weeks. In the Oremus program, Fr. Mark Toups teaches some of the basics of prayer and the spiritual life and gives direction for prayer and journaling. Small groups gather each week to learn and to talk about the life of prayer and what the Lord is doing in them. As Cor ad Cor continues with the Spiritual Exercises according to the 19th annotation, group members follow the direction for daily prayer given by St. Ignatius and come to the group to continue to discuss the spiritual life and to learn more about the Rules of Discernment of St. Ignatius.

Cor ad Cor has been a challenging yet completely rewarding spiritual adventure that has transform my personal relationship with Christ! The fruits of this retreat continue to bless my relationship with God, family, friends, faith community and those I meet daily. If you are looking to deepen your prayer life I can not recommend this retreat enough!!

“I found that the more I surrendered to the Lord, even when I felt pressed for time, the more he was at work in my heart!”

“My prayer from Cor ad Cor brings clarity to ordinary day-to-day life through Scripture and authentic Christian friendship.”

“I have become more aware of the desire in my heart to spend time daily listening to God share his desire for my life through reading and meditating on the Scriptures.”

“I thought I had a good prayer life before this experience, but the Spiritual Exercises have deepened my faith.”

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