About
This retreat was recorded live on Salt Spring Island in 1998 and re-released in 2018. This purchase includes an MP3 audio download with a total running time of approximately 1 hour and 17 minutes. In this pre-Lenten retreat, Cynthia Bourgeault explores the mystery of death and the wisdom gained through daily practices of letting go, culminating in the final surrender to death itself. She presents the cross as the meeting point of the temporal and the eternal, intersecting in the present moment. The spiritual challenge, she notes, is to remain fully present rather than drifting into past regrets or future imaginings. Drawing on the embodied gestures modeled by Jesus—abandonment, surrender, stripping, and death—she shows how these sacred movements reveal deeper spiritual truths. Participants are invited to embrace each moment with a wholehearted “yes,” including the ultimate yes to death itself. Referencing Ladislaus Boros’ The Mystery of Death, Cynthia reflects on how Christ’s death opened access to his mystical body, where form and formless, finite and infinite, converge. In this way, everything we are in our essence continues in the Body of Christ, and we can entrust ourselves to this place of Divine providence. Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, and internationally known retreat leader. She is the author of numerous books, including The Wisdom Jesus and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, and is recognized for her work in integrating the Christian contemplative path with broader streams of wisdom.