Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth, June 27-July 31

Tomorrow I leave for the Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth in Wernersville, PA. I will be doing the 30-Day Exercises of St. Ignatius, which is a silent retreat. I will meet with a spiritual director daily to talk about how my prayer is going and to receive his guidance, and there will be a worship service every day. But other than that, and the initial orientation days and break days during the time, I won't be talking or listening to anyone except God. I won't have computer access there; and won't be able to blog (except maybe on the break day). So if you don't hear from me for awhile, that's why.

Candlelight Service at St. Thomas' Episcopal Richmond

Between June 17th and June 26th, I've been spending time with my family in Charlottesville and Richmond. While in Richmond this past week, I attended the Wednesday Night 5:30pm service at St. Thomas' in Richmond. My family has had a home in the Ginter Park area of Richmond, on the "North Side" since the 1940s. My mother lives there now. So St. Thomas' is our neighborhood church. On Wednesdays this summer, St. Thomas' is having what they call a Contemplative Eucharist that features candlelight. I really enjoyed it and, if you live in Richmond or visiting on a Wednesday, I recommend that you check it out. The altar and other areas features votive candles, and in the center of the central aisle were candles, from which one can light a thin tapper candle and then place it in a bowl of fine black sand so that it stands up, as one says a silent prayer or offers an intention. At the beginning of the service, time is given for this lighting of a candle for those who wish to do so. The other feature of this service that I found particularly interesting and distinctive is the time of the response to the readings. Instead of a homily or sermon, we did a lectio divina practice. The priest reads the lesson three times and, after each time, all present have the opportunity to offer the word or phrase that speaks to them (how the Spirit is speaking to them), after each reading we are encouraged to go deeper in our reflection, moving from just a word to what it means to us and then to the challenge or encouragement it presents to us as we seek to follow God and be Christ's people in this world.

This picture is not from St. Thomas' but it gives you an idea of how the candles look, the ones you can light at the start of the service. I had a great experience there.

Reflections on the Centering Prayer Retreat, June 7-16

Usually the words "Centering Prayer" and "Intensive" don't go together, in my mind. But the "10-Day Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat" at Snowmass CO is correctly named! It was a very intense experience. In my previous post, I have given you the schedule for the retreat. I actually got up most days at 4:00am, not 4:40am, because I was staying at the gate house about 3/4 of a mile from the main retreat house. I was in the gate house with two women from Ireland. We hiked up the gravel road every morning in the 30 degree weather (it is a lot colder in Colorado at this time of year), got a cup of coffee, sat for a bit, and then joined the others, 21 of us altogether, for the first "sit" of the day. As you can see from the schedule, we would pray for 20 minutes and then do a meditative walk and then pray again for 20 minutes, walk, and then the final 20 minutes. We had three one-hour prayer periods a day. Having the structure and support to pray this way was a great experience for me. I have always enjoyed and gotten a lot from this sort of prayer, but I had never done so much of it at one time before this retreat.

The basic method of Centering Prayer is as follows: choose a word to be your "sacred word" and as you settle down to begin the prayer, bring that word to mind. The "sacred word" is sacred simply because it signals your openness to connect with God on this deep level. The meaning word itself is not really important. The word leads you into the silence. As we center, it is natural for thoughts to come into our minds, and when that happens, we are supposed to return to the sacred word as a way back to total focus on God...a focus that has no words or thoughts, just a "being" in the presence of God. One of the things I learned on the retreat was that the thoughts that come are not to be resisted, but we are to simply let go of the thoughts. And that letting go of the thoughts in the prayer can make it more possible to let go of thoughts and feelings as they arise in our daily lives. For me that means being able to hold issues more loosely, not being as "gripped" by something but just give it to God.

As part of the retreat, we also had DVD presentations by Fr. Thomas Keating on what might be called the practical benefits of Centering Prayer. He has based his teaching on the Spiritual Journey on the ways that Centering Prayer helps us become more fully the persons God has created us to be by letting go of the "emotional programs" for happiness that we learned as children as the result of not getting what we needed or wanted as children. Keating's main teaching on this topic can be found in his book, Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel, which I plan to read with you as one of the Rector's Read books in the Fall. All that we do as the church, all of our spiritual practices, are means by which God transforms us. Because Keating has put such religious truth in psychological terms, I think some people might be more able to understand what such transformation can look like. On the last full day of our retreat, we had the privilege of meeting Fr. Keating and asking him questions. I asked him to reflect on the relationship of the sacraments, especially Holy Communion, to Centering Prayer. He said that the sacraments and Centering Prayer are all leading to the same end and that they complement each other (the end being close personal relationship with God).

I benefited personally and professionally in many ways from this retreat. It was a special experience. In addition to the two women from Ireland, who were my housemates, there was a man from Australia, and people from all over the US including Alaska. We enjoyed a wonderful retreat facility and a retreat staff who in addition to leading our prayer periods, cooked all of our meals, and attended to any needs we had. They were really great. I recommend this retreat highly. It was a fantastic way to start my sabbatical.

The Snowmass Centering Prayer Retreat Schedule

Snowmass Intensive Retreat

OPENING EVENING SCHEDULE

5:00 pm - Registration and final payments

5:30 pm - Supper

6:45 pm - Opening and Orientation

WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE: First day

5:30 am - Rise

6:00 am - (1) 20 minute period of Centering Prayer

6:30 am - Breakfast in silence

7:30 am - Mass at the Monastery

9:30 am - Conference: review method of CP – Beth Berkeley

12:00 pm - Lunch in silence

1:30 - 4:00 pm - Break / Walks & Talks with Staff

4:00 pm - (2) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer separated by a meditative walk

5:00 pm - Q & A about method of CP – Beth Berkeley

6:00 pm - Supper with talking

7:00 pm - Vespers at the Monastery

SCHEDULE FOR REMAINDER OF RETREAT (EXCEPT SUNDAY & MONDAY)

4:40 am - Rise

5:00 am - (3) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer separated by a meditative walk

6:30 am - Breakfast in silence

7:30 am - Mass at the Monastery [on Thursday it is just Lauds, with Mass in the evening]

9:15 am - (3) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer separated by meditative walk

10:45 am - Conference (video)

11:45 am - Small group discussion of tape if desired, no staff

12:00 pm - Lunch in silence

1:30 - 3:00 pm - Private interviews with retreat staff

3:15 pm - (3) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer separated by a meditative walk

4:45 m - Conference (video)

5:45 pm - Small group discussion of tape if desired, no staff

6:00 pm - Supper with talking

7:00 pm - Vespers at the Monastery Wednesday, Friday, Saturday & Monday. *

*Thursday: Sit-down Mass at Monastery.

*Sunday: Lectio Divina with Fr. Micah at the Retreat House

continued

Sunday schedule only

5:25am - Rise

5:45 am - (3) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer separated by meditative walk

7:15 am - Breakfast in silence

8:15 am - Mass at the Monastery

10:15 am - (3) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer separated by meditative walk

11:40 am - Conference (video)

1:00 pm - Lunch in silence

2:00 - 3:00 pm - Private interviews with retreat staff

3:15 pm - (3) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer, separated by meditative walk

4:45 pm - Conference (video)

6:00 pm - Supper with talking

7:00 pm – Lectio with Fr. Micah (Opportunity to take lectio passage into Retreat Day)

Monday schedule only (silent retreat day)

On your retreat day, all three prayer periods will be two half-hour blocks of time with a walk in between rather than three 20 minute periods. There will be no readings at meals, no conferences and no talking at supper. This is your one day of the entire retreat for total silence. The silence has the potential to stretch from Sunday evening to Tuesday evening if you wish. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon prayer periods change in order to have a longer stretch of private time on this day.

5:00 am - (2) 30 minute periods with walk in between

10:45 am - (2) 30 minute periods with walk in between.

4:45 pm - (2) 30 minute periods with walk in between.

TUESDAY MORNING

5:00 am – (2) 30 minute sits with walk in between

Rest of day same as normal schedule

wednesday schedule: last full day

4:40 am - Rise

5:00 am - (3) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer separated by a meditative walk

6:30 am - Breakfast in silence

7:30 am - Mass at the Monastery

9:15 am - (2) 20 minute periods of Centering Prayer

10:15 am - Conference: 1 hour 20 minutes with (2) 5 minute breaks

12:00 pm - Lunch with talking

1:30 – 3:00 pm - Private interviews with retreat staff

3:15 pm - (1) 30 minute period of Centering Prayer

4:15 pm - Conference (video)

5:15 pm - Small group discussion of tape if desired, no staff

5:30 pm - Supper with talking

6:30 pm – Closing

Thursday schedule: final morning

5:30 am - Rise

6:00 am - (1) 30 minute period of Centering prayer

6:35 am - Breakfast

7:30 am - Lauds at Monastery (optional) >>Shuttling for departures as scheduled by retreatants.

Pictures from Snowmass

More pictures from Centering Prayer retreat.

Snowmass Centering Prayer Retreat

This is a picture of the prayer room window looking out that the beautiful mountains! More on the retreat later. Writing this at the Aspen airport. First chance I've had to be online in 10 days.  It has been a great experience of prayer and community with the others on the retreat.

Knowing the way home

My parish members gave me this great compass as a gift today...to make sure I find my way back to them.  :)

More pictures from Sunday celebration

We also celebrated the end of the program year by honoring our high school grads, acolytes, choir, youth choir, and Ellen who just graduated from seminary! We all sign a book that we gave to Ellen. And it was also the day of our monthly food pantry.

Celebration at Church

We had a great celebration at church to start our sabbatical/parish renewal time. 112 of our church members attended...27 on Saturday and 85 today.

Testing posting from cell

We have an article in the local paper today, The Winchester Star about the parish renewal program, of which my sabbatical is a part. A big part of the renewal is the. Labyrinth we will build at SPOTH this summer.

Ascension Day Reflection

You never know when a day will touch you. Ascension Day 1992, I was walking to the library at the University of Leicester (in England). I was totally focused and stressed about my MA Thesis, on the butchers and tanners of Leicester in the 16th century. I was finishing a year of study in the English Local History department, all funded by the Rotary Foundation (thank you!). I was going to be leaving England in about a month and I was frantically trying to get all of my research done for the thesis. I happened upon the vicar of the Anglican Church I was attending. He said, "are you coming to the Ascension service tonight?" I thought, "no, I'm much too busy for that." But I said, "I would try to be there." And then I realized, I knew, that my life had been changed forever because I really wanted to go to that service, to be in the church that night, every night. Just two months before I had started going to church for the first time in my life at the age of 24. I experienced God's love and came to know something about Jesus Christ and to feel the power of the Spirit.