About
This retreat was recorded live in 2011 at Poet’s Cove on Pender Island, BC, and revised and re-released in 2015. This purchase includes an MP3 audio download with a total running time of approximately 10 hours and 11 minutes. In this immersive Holy Week retreat, Cynthia Bourgeault presents Mary Magdalene as apostle to the apostles, contemplative, wisdom teacher, and Jesus’ beloved companion. Drawing on both canonical and non-canonical texts, she restores Mary Magdalene as a central figure in the Paschal mystery. Cynthia shows how Mary embodies the transformed human heart that bridges the finite and the infinite—where eros is transfigured into agape and love is revealed as stronger than death. The retreat includes not only Cynthia’s teachings but also liturgy, chanting, and devotional practices that bring Holy Week to life. Retreatants re-enacted the anointing at Bethany, walked with Mary Magdalene through grief at the cross and bewilderment at the empty tomb, and celebrated the wonder of resurrection and her commissioning as apostle. Through this journey, participants discover how Mary’s witness of “substituted love” models the way of kenotic love, pointing to the human heart as the gateway to transformation. Key themes include conscious love, eros and agape, substituted love, the Paschal mystery, atonement theology, contemplative practice, imaginal reality, and the apostolic role of Mary Magdalene. Ritual enactments, chant, and embodied practices deepen the retreat experience, grounding scholarship in contemplative wisdom. Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, and internationally known retreat leader. She is the author of numerous books, including The Meaning of Mary Magdalene and The Wisdom Jesus, and is recognized for her pioneering work in integrating the Christian contemplative path with other global streams of wisdom.