❋
March 12-14, 2027
Trinity Conference Center
Pine Knoll Shores, NC
Starting at $475Heartwork: Rilke’s Call to Live the Questions in Fraught Times
with Dr. Mark S. Burrows
What to ExpectIn one of his Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke encourages us to “live the questions,” a call that is as compelling as it is demanding. Because we want clear answers and are often impatient with ambiguity. We expect certainty and avoid complications. But the questions invite us to open ourselves, in wonder, to life’s mystery. They deepen us, inviting us to linger with what we cannot know. To embrace darkness, which is usually uncomfortable.
In this retreat, we’ll probe a selection of Rilke’s writings from his poems and letters to explore what he called “heartwork.” Come prepared to “desire the change,” as he once put it (Sonnets to Orpheus II, 12), as we explore the wisdom of his poetic vision. Along the way we’ll find ourselves lured by “the kind of speech where silence reigns” (Rilke), leading us into what he described as “those gentle, mysterious, trembling transformations” of love. Our approach will welcome newcomers to Rilke’s poetry as well as those more familiar with his writings.
❋ Trinity Conference CenterOur weekend home will be Trinity Center, 618 Salter Path Road, Pine Knolls Shore, NC. We have a block of 13 rooms; each can be reserved as a private or shared room. All rooms have a double and twin bed, and a private bath. Linens and towels are provided.
In preparation for the retreat, you are invited to read Prayers of a Young Poet, (third, revised edition, 2023) by Mark Burrows.
❋ Meals6 meals are included in your registration - Friday dinner through Sunday lunch.
❋ Contemplative PrayerMorning and Evening contemplative prayer services will be guided by Monica Citty Hix who is the founding director of Inner Ground. Mark and Monica have collaborated on several courses through the Spirituality program at Columbia Theological Seminary and look forward to curating this weekend of prayer and renewal.
Mark S. Burrows is a prize-winning poet and translator and stands as one of the leading interpreters and translators of Rilke’s poetry today. His interest in spirituality and his ability to open poems as spaces of discovery are what characterize his retreats as transformative events. He is also well known for his work on medieval mystics, among them Meister Eckhart, and has published four popular books that voice Eckhart’s wisdom in poetic form. His Rilke publications include Prayers of a Young Poet (The Book of Hours), Sonnets to Orpheus (2024), and Duino Elegies (September, 2025). He also recently co-authored, with Stephanie Dowrick, You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke (2024), an exploration of Rilke’s poetic vision as a guide for life. Mark lives and writes in Camden, Maine. www.soul-in-sight.org
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
Weekend Rhythm
Friday, March 12
4:00-5:30 - arrivals/check-in
Point of Arrival office
5:30 - social hour - St. James Room
6:30 - dinner
7:30 - Session 1
8:45 - Evening Prayer
Saturday, March 13
7:30 - optional Communal Silent Prayer
8:00 - Breakfast
9:15 - Morning Prayer
9:30 - Session 2
Noon - lunch
Sabbath/free time following lunch
4:00 - Session 3
6:00 - Dinner
7:00 - Session 4
8:45 - Evening Prayer
Sunday, March 14
7:30 - optional Communal Silent Prayer
8:00 - Breakfast
Check out of rooms prior to coming to Morning Prayer
9:30 - Morning Prayer
9:45 - Session 5
11:00 - Closing Prayer Ritual
noon - Lunch
departure
