With great gratitude, we acknowledge the life and work of Brian Mitchell, a longtime member of TCS and a central contributor to the work of sharing the good news of contemplative Christianity. Brian, who had struggled with debilitating illness during the last years, passed into the heart of the Beloved on Monday, April 8, surrounded by his family. We ask your prayers for Brian, his family, the contemplative community in Kamloops whom he led with such grace and skill, and all who have been touched by his humble and generous service.
April Greetings.
If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to register for The Faces of Mary: An Online Retreat with Rev. Matthew Wright coming up on Saturday, April 20. This event will be recorded and will be available for all registrants!
For our community members in Victoria, B.C you are invited to join the Abbey Church and The Contemplative Society for a unique in-person Zoom retreat experience of Holding our Planet: Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault from May 25-30.
Find the registration links below!
The Faces of Mary: An Online Retreat with Rev. Matthew Wright
When: Saturday, April 20th
Where: Online via Zoom
The Contemplative Society invites you to join us for an online morning retreat with Matthew Wright on The Faces of Mary. We will embark on a journey of contemplation and action inspired by Mary’s role (and our own) as Theotokos–God-bearer.
In this sacred space, we will delve into the profound significance of reclaiming the Marian icon for our own lives, ranging from her historical dimensions as a prophet of God’s fierce compassion, and, in her later years, a contemplative elder or “holy crone,” to her cosmic dimensions as Black Madonna and Womb of Creation.
Join us for this time of spiritual practice, teaching, and reflection as we draw on the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, the mysticism of Thomas Merton, Holy Scripture, and the writings of early saints, discovering Mary as a face of the God-birthing dimension of our own souls.
~The Abbey Church and The Contemplative Society present~
An in-person Zoom Retreat with unique in-person activities:
Holding our Planet – Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault
~With Centring Prayer Teachers: Heather Ruce, M. A., Joy Andrews Hayter, Ph.D., and Catherine Regan, Ph.D.~
When: Saturday, May 25th to Thursday, May 30th, 2024
Where: The Abbey Church, Victoria, B.C., Canada (formerly, First Metropolitan United Church)
The Abbey Church and The Contemplative Society present an in-person retreat gathering to intimately participate in the Holding our Planet: Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault, hosted at the Mercy Centre in California and accessed in Victoria, B.C. via Zoom. This Wisdom School is aimed at contemplatives of all spiritual pathways who share concern about global cultural and ecological challenges impacting human and other life on earth. Join us as we come together to deepen our capacity to bring “skillful means” to the situation: forbearance, strength, compassion, right timing, spiritual generativity, and personal mettle.
Summer Centering Prayer: Awakening to Oneness
When: Sunday, July 14, 2024, to Sunday, July 21, 2024
Where: Providence Renewal Centre
This retreat will include teachings on Oneness and Unitive Consciousness from Father Thomas Keating and Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault along with multiple daily periods of silence in Centering Prayer as a group. It will weave in teachings from Thomas Berry, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Matthew Fox, and provide opportunities to experience Forest Therapy and Lectio Terra so that we may come into a felt sense of communion with the living world. This shift in consciousness is vital in these times of ecological destruction and human divisiveness. This retreat will be in full silence with the exception of the opportunity to engage in meaningful reflections together after the teachings.
