CMER

Karen Canon

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Retreat as Vigil-Keeping

Tacuinum Sanitatis, Lombardy, late 14th century (Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome).

I’ve been contemplating the idea of retreat as a form of vigil-keeping: a set-aside time characterized by withdrawal from routine and assuming a posture of watchfulness. It’s the calm before a new weather front moves in; the intake of a breath; the return at the end of a typed line; an opening up of a space for something new to enter.

The word vigil comes from Latin vigilia and means “awake.” It is attention. Attention paves the way for new ideas to take root.

As I was reading Robert Elsmere, in preparation for a talk, I came across this passage of a rather unusual vigil:

Rose’s gowns were legion. They were manufactured by a farmer’s daughter across the valley, under her strict and precise supervision. She was accustomed, as she boldly avowed, to shut herself up at the beginning of each season of the year for two days’ meditation on the subject. And now, thanks to the spring warmth, she was entering at last with infinite zest on the results of her April vigils.

At CMER 2026, we invite you to set aside the retreat time as a time of watchful attention and readiness to receive a word the Lord may have in store for you. Or, a new direction to take or a new idea to take form. We pack our time together with many options for you to choose from, but you don’t have to attend them all. Allow space for attentive wakefulness.

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Plutarch Exam

This year, my daughter and I are reading Plutarch with a group of 15 students, aged 10 to 17. It is a mixed bag in terms of experience with Plutarch ; for some, this is their first exposure to Plutarch. Here is how we handled the first term’s Plutarch exam.

We are reading the Life of Alexander for the entire year, using Edwin Ginn’s text, which is abridged and annotated for schools using Clough’s translation. This term, we decided on an in-class group activity for the exam. It went like this. The week before the exam, each student wrote a list of stories they recalled from our readings thus far. Short answers like “Bucephalus” or “Homer’s Iliad” were acceptable. Then, as a group, they compared and compiled their lists into a single list.

For the day of the exam, I had re-written the anecdotes from their compiled list onto sticky notes and stuck them up on a wall. Working in small groups, their task was to choose the anecdotes that best matched a given character trait and demonstrated how Plutarch supported that idea. For example, one group had the statement that Alexander preferred “action and glory than pleasures and riches.” To support that claim, they chose stories from his life such as his founding a city at age 16 and his displeasure at his father’s conquering “all” and leaving little scope for Alexander.

The other groups had these statements: Alexander often acted with “resolution and magnanimity” rather than giving in to the masses, and Alexander was “a great lover of all kinds of learning and reading.”

Sometimes they challenged one another, “Why did you include this story?” and sometimes they had to decide if a story was a better example of one trait or another. It was a lively time, filled with great discussions and observations.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

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CMER 2025: The Common Room

Photo Credit:  Patti Callahan Henry, author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis and Once Upon a Wardrobe

Dear CMER 2025 Attendees:

Announcing a new addition to the Retreat this year: The Common Room.

Imagine a visit to The Kilns in Oxford, England. It is the former home of C.S. Lewis, his brother Warnie, and for a too-short three-year marriage, the home of Joy Davidman, Mrs. C.S. Lewis. Across the hall from the Dining Room was the Common Room, a book-lined room with easy chairs, a writing desk, and a fireplace. If the walls could talk, they could relate many conversations about religion, news, and their creative work.

We have set aside a similar space for you at the Hideaway, albeit minus the smoky haze. The Common Room will be available around the clock for conversations, conviviality, and creativity.  Bring a handicraft from home or take advantage of puzzles and a pixel art project that will be there for you.  It will be a cozy atmosphere, replete with tea and chocolate. Hope to see you there!