April 2026 Newsletter

The Contemplative Society
8 hours ago
5 min read

"We must learn to speak according to our own inner truth, as far as we can perceive it. We must learn to say what we really mean in the depth of our souls, not what we think we are expected to say....”

- Thomas Merton in Spiritual Direction & Meditation

In This Month's Issue..

Reflect with Heather Ruce on The Great Easter Invitation.
Practice Visio Divina during this Easter season, through viewing TCS's new video on a Guided Visio Divina on the Stations of The Cross.
Become Stillness in Motion, through a 1-day, in-person, contemplative and energy-healing practices retreat with Kimiko Karpoff and Leslie Sandra Black, to be held on April 18, 2026 in Victoria, B.C., Canada.
Remember Derek Dunwoody, one of the early members of TCS who also helped build Cynthia Borgeault's home on Eagle Island.
Consider an Easter 2026 donation to TCS to deepen our contemplative activities and to be eligible for a draw that offers a $400 gift certificate from a community supporter.
Plan to join TCS at "Forthcoming Retreats" over Year 2026

The Great Easter Invitation

By Heather Ruce

Here we stand in the midst of Holy Week.

As we recollect the events that unfolded, we begin to sense that they are not only sacred stories, but living patterns that continue to reverberate within us and around us now.

Holy Week begins with celebration. A road covered with palm branches. A king entering the city.

On the surface, all appears well.

Yeshua (Jesus’s name in Hebrew/Aramaic) is hailed as king. His students must have felt a kind of relief, perhaps even vindication, that he was finally receiving the recognition they believed he deserved. And yet, Yeshua knew something they did not yet understand: he was not meant to be a ruler in the earthly realm (called World 48 in the Ray of Creation). The kingdom he embodied was of another world, what Cynthia Bourgeault has titled the Imaginal realm (also called World 24), which operates according to different laws.

He had been trying to show them all along that the Kingdom of God (World 24), the realm in which he lived and moved, was within them and among them. That this realm required a different organ of perception, a different inner platform from which to see and respond.

Yeshua also knew that the laws of the kingdom of the World 48 would inevitably come into conflict with the laws of the realm of God, and that this conflict would lead to his death. He saw that the people hailing his arrival down the palm-covered path would soon be the ones nailing him to a wooden cross.

Royalty Free Image by: Tanya Barrow.

Read Heather's full reflection here

"Guided Visio Divina on the

Stations of The Cross."

As Lent draws to its close and we approach the profound mysteries of Holy Week, TCS offers this guided Visio Divina practice, a potent way to engage more deeply with the Stations of the Cross from the comfort of your home.

This 13-minute practice video carries you through seven images from

Bernard O'Riley's Beautiful Pearls of Catholic Truth, moving from condemnation through to the tomb, using the four movements of divine seeing: Gaze, Meditate, Pray, Contemplate.

This practice is a rhythm especially potent in the Easter season, carrying the passion's quiet power forward.

For background on Visio Divina, you can also view TCS's earlier video of:

"What is Visio Divina."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Z1odMt_Dc

Present...

Stillness in Motion:

Weaving together contemplative and energy-healing practices.

This month:

Saturday, April 18, 2026

9am – 4pm

A retreat experience facilitated by

Kimiko Karpoff

and

Leslie Sandra Black.

A 1-day, in-person, retreat held in Victoria, B.C., Canada.

Hummingbird photo credit: Diane D. Miller

For more information or to register

Remembering Derek Dunwoody,

by Pat Manning

(herself a former longtime TCS Board member and President).

Derek Dunwoody passed away in Victoria, B.C., Canada on March 13, 2026 at the age of 92. He was an early and committed member of The Contemplative Society (TCS).

Derek first met Cynthia Bourgeault at a clergy conference in Saskatchewan and, along with some others, offered to help Cynthia build her place on Eagle Island. That it was right after 9/11 and very few planes were flying at the time didn’t deter him. He and others managed to make it over to the island and had in his words - an amazing time. One of the more amazing things was that he learned how to stack wood (and he a Dublin boy at that)!

After his ordination in 1963, Derek served in parishes in Ireland and then came to Canada in 1965 serving in parishes in Quebec. He and his family returned to Ireland but Derek later came back to Canada serving in parishes in Manitoba and Alberta. Upon his retirement in 1972 he came to Victoria where he could pursue his passion for sailing, a passion he shared along with Cynthia.

Derek joined a Contemplative Society Living Presence group that met at Heather Page's house and to which Cynthia would come to teach once a month from her home on Salt Spring Island. At one of those groups Derek announced that, after three tries, he’d finally done it right and was marrying Rhoda Brodie-Smith, the wife to whom he was very happily married for the last twenty years of his life.

Both Rhoda and Derek served on the board of The Contemplative Society and after attending a workshop on centring prayer that Cynthia gave in Vancouver, they taught centring prayer at St. John the Divine church in Victoria and carried on with that group for the next 20 years. Derek also started a Book Study which he and Rhoda had been leading and participating in right up to a week before Derek’s death. Derek and Rhoda were also very involved in a healing ministry and the laying on of hands.

Derek’s deep spirituality, his sense of humour, his guidance, and his warmth will be greatly missed. Thank-you, Derek, for your full and inspiring contemplative life in action.

Easter 2026:

Invitation to Support

The Contemplative Society.

In the spirit of transformation that is birthed within this Easter season, you are invited to make a seasonal donation to TCS to deepen our efforts in supporting personal transformation through Christian contemplation and the Wisdom tradition.

All donors who contribute $100 or more during our Easter 2026 appeal will have their names entered into a draw for a $400 gift certificate kindly donated by TCS supporter,

B FIT Personal Training.

The gift certificate is applied to a virtual (online) fitness and posture consultation & assessment, and to two (online) personal training sessions.

TCS thanks B FIT of North Vancouver, Canada for its generous support of our contemplative community.

TCS Easter 2026 Appeal - Donate here

"Forthcoming Retreats" with TCS

_________________________

"The SACRED FEMININE in a Fractured World,"

with Cynthia Overweg.

Thursday 24 September 2026, 6:30-9pm Pacific Time.

_________________________

"Why Ritual? The relationship of stability and openness in contemplative prayer,"

with Paula Pryce.

Thursday 05 November 2026, 6:30-8:30pm Pacific Time.

Forthcoming TCS retreats here

TCS is a non-profit society and registered charitable organization in Canada run by a volunteer board and a dedicated circle of contemplatives. It was formed in Victoria, BC, Canada in 1997 to serve an emerging contemplative renewal, and to support and spread the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault and other distinguished Wisdom teachers. We lovingly carry forward this work, adapting to the changing needs of the present and future, while anchoring ourselves in the ancient Wisdom tradition.

We would love for you to join us as a member and to help sustain and build our offerings with a donation of any amount.

Please visit our website to find out more about membership & support options.