Contemplative Outreach, Ltd.

An Introduction to Centering Prayer
2024-02-03 09:00 - 15:00 UTC | St. Mary Magdalen Mission of St. Margaret Church, 1716 Churchville Road, Bel Air, MD, 21015, United States
Let praying without words, in deep silence and openness, draw you closer to God. Come to realize the beauty of holiness in using what modern contemplative Thomas Keating called “God’s first language.” This retreat follows the international Contemplative Outreach Ltd. approach, combining short presentations, two Centering Prayer practice sessions and ample time for questions and discussion.
Hosted by Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington (COMW), this retreat is open to anyone, whether you have a longtime Centering Prayer practice or have never tried this form of prayer. There’s enrichment and insight for both.
Please see the link below to register.

An Introduction to Centering Prayer
2024-02-03 09:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | St. Mary Magdalen Mission of St. Margaret Church, 1716 Churchville Road, Bel Air, MD, 21015, United States
MEET GOD IN A NEW WAY
Attend our daylong retreat …
Presented by Benedicte Vibe Christensen and Marjorie Centofanti
Let praying without words, in deep silence and openness, draw you closer to God. Come to realize the beauty of holiness in using what modern contemplative Thomas Keating called “God’s first language.” This retreat follows the international Contemplative Outreach Ltd. community approach, combining short presentations, two Centering Prayer practice sessions and ample time for questions and discussion. This retreat is open to anyone, whether you have a longtime Centering Prayer practice or have never tried this form of prayer. There’s enrichment and insight for both.

Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes – Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounds of the Village - via Zoom
2024-02-03 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Denver) | Internet – Online
In Crisis Contemplation, the Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes will address two entry points into contemplation which have seldom been addressed: contemplation during crisis, and how we contemplate as community.
Engaging deeply with both history and current events, Holmes will address the emergence of crisis contemplation, especially through the lenses of BIPOC peoples. Dr Barbara will be exploring existing communal contemplative experiences. As she looks into types of crises (pandemics, earthquakes, and systemic abuses), she examines the resulting traumatic wounds which manifest across generations.
In the second half of the presentation, she will shift toward a village response to crises, addressing communal formation, belonging, resistance, and resilience. A deeper look at healing through memory and story, culture and ritual, will lead to a final chapter on envisioning different futures through liminality and bio-spiritual resurrection.
This event will include 20 minutes of Centering Prayer
Recording note: This event will be recorded. All registrants will receive a copy of the Zoom recording within 2 weeks of the event.
About Rev. Dr. Barbara A. Holmes
Dr. Holmes is a spiritual teacher and writer focused on African American spirituality, mysticism, cosmology and culture. She is President Emerita of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities (2012-2016). She also served as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Memphis Theological Seminary (2005-2010). She holds the title of Professor Emerita of Ethics and African American Religious Studies at that seminary. Currently, she is a core faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation founded by Fr. Richard Rohr.
Time listed is Mountain Time (Denver, Colorado)
Click the website link below to register
Scholarships are available.

Lectio Divina Introductory Workshop
2024-02-03 08:30 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road, West Hartford, CT, 6107, United States
This workshop introduces the method of Lectio Divina, to pray sacred scripture. Through reading, reflecting, responding, and resting in the Word of God, one’s relationship with God is nourished and deepened. Both individual and group experiences will be offered.
This program will be offered both in-person and online via Zoom. Information on how to access the program on Zoom will be sent to participants in advance.
Please register using the link below.

Introduction to Centering Prayer
2024-02-02 - 2024-02-04 | Bethany Retreat Center, 1031 Germania Rd, Frenchville, PA, 16836, United States
Introduction to Centering Prayer
Fostering Intimacy with God through Silence & Stillness
Presenter: Sr Ruth Ann Madera
Sourced from the depths of Christian contemplative tradition, Centering Prayer has emerged as a life-changing prayer practice for those who embrace it. Centering Prayer is a receptive method of Christian silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer; prayer in which we experience God’s presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. Its purpose is to foster a deeper intimacy with Christ through the silence and stillness of contemplative prayer.
Join us to learn the method or to renew your practice of this ancient form of silent prayer.
Please register using the link below.

Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop
2024-01-27 09:00 - 12:30 UTC | Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Road, Encino, CA, 91436, United States
Contemplative prayer is God’s personal and unique gift to each of us. If we are open to this gift, it will profoundly affect our lives and relationships with God, others, and our world. Centering Prayer is a form of contemplative prayer. It is a method of prayer that opens us to interior transformation and deeper intimacy with God and others. The workshop includes four presentations and the practice of Centering Prayer.
Fee: $40
For more information, please contact Marilyn Nobori at 818-815-4480 or centeringprayer@hsrcenter.com
Register at www.hsrcenter.com by January 19 with a non-refundable deposit of $10.00
Please arrive by 8:45am

BioSpiritual Focusing: Welcoming an Embodied Experience of Grace
2024-01-27 08:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road, West Hartford, CT, 6107, United States
Contemplative Enrichment Day with Donna O’Connor and Mike Smoolca
Deep wisdom and healing are accessible within us waiting for discovery. BioSpiritual Focusing offers access to the causal point for change, our feelings. We see that a loving and curious presence offered to disregarded and hidden feelings allows deeper meanings to emerge and a graced shift in the ways we hold life situations and live our lives.
This day is for beginners as well as those already introduced to Focusing. It includes teaching, participant sharing, and many experiential exercises that can open you to transformation.
This program will be offered both in-person and online via Zoom. Information on how to access the program on Zoom will be sent to participants in advance.
This program will include a morning and an afternoon session of Centering Prayer.
Donna O’Connor is the BioSpiritual Focusing Coordinator at Genesis Spiritual Life Center in Westfield, MA, a retreat leader and long-time spiritual director. Donna has a special interest in helping people who struggle with weight, body image, and eating disorders and is experienced in 12-Step Spirituality.
Mike Smoolca is a contemplative group and workshop facilitator and a dedicated teacher and student of contemplative practice and wisdom spirituality. He is a Contemplative Outreach presenter and coordinator for the Christian Contemplative Experience at Holy Family, Contemplative Outreach of CT, and the Northern CT Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society. Mike is a practicing spiritual director and supervisor as well as a BioSpiritual Focusing companion and teacher.
Please use the link below to register.

Contemplative Outreach Volunteer Connections – via Zoom
2024-01-26 21:00 - 2024-01-27 11:00 (America/New_York) | Internet – Online
The Chapter Support Team is hosting a Zoom gathering for volunteers serving chapters and local communities. All are welcome.
This gathering will take place twice to offer a choice of time for our global community of volunteers.

Friday, Jan 26 at 9 PM Eastern Time (UTC-5)
OR
Saturday, Jan 27 at 11 AM Eastern Time (UTC-5)

Once again, the Chapter Support Team invites all who serve their chapters or local groups to come together to listen to one another, to share with one another, and to encourage one another with how the Holy Spirit is furthering the knowledge and experience of God’s love in the consciousness of the human family.
We will begin with a short session of Centering Prayer, followed by a reflection and then words of blessing from Fr. Thomas. Next, we will break into small groups so that every voice may be heard as we share how the Holy Spirit is working in our areas. Finally, we will come back to the full group to bear witness to the love of God in our global community knowing that the good accomplished through Contemplative Outreach is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Please register here to receive the Zoom link.

Practices for Contemplative Living: Logging
2024-01-21 09:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | St. Walburga Monastery, 851 N. Broad Street, NJ, 7649, United States
Join a group of Centering Prayer practitioners to support each other on the contemplative path. Modeled after what was formerly known as the 9-month course, the program will be based on Julie Saad’s book, “Contemplative Life: Discovering Our Path to the Heart of God“. All are welcome. We meet the 3rd Saturdays of October 2023 through April 2024. Overnight accommodations are available. The January session will introduce the practice of logging.
Explore a different contemplative practice each month:
• October 22 – Fundamentals of Centering Prayer and Holy Listening
• November 18 – Guided Meditation (Stepping Stones)
• December 16 – Advent Day of Prayer with Fr. Carl Arico
• January 20 – Logging
• February 17 – Spiritual Reading
• March 16 – Going Deeper in Daily Life
• April 20 – Lectio Divina
Further information and registration are available at: https://centeringprayernj.com/events/, or email Eileen McCaffrey Schuman at coordinator@centeringprayernj.com.

An Introduction to a Wisdom Way of Knowing: A Wisdom Practice Series via Zoom
2024-01-20 09:30 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Internet – Online
An Introduction to a Wisdom Way of Knowing: Wisdom Practices Series
January 20th
This Sacred Path: Three Centered Knowing
This Sacred Surrender: Centering Prayer
January 27th
This Sacred Voice: Chanting
This Sacred Body: Gesture & Movement
February 3rd
This Sacred Self: Witnessing & Welcoming
This Sacred Heart: The Way of the Heart
This is a series introducing some key elements of the Christian Wisdom tradition, particularly as synthesized by Cynthia Bourgeault. Wisdom has ancient roots and tends to re-emerge in our awareness in times of great individual and collective transition and turmoil. Wisdom is about seeing through the eyes of wholeness and is anchored beyond the changing circumstances of life.
During this Wisdom Practice Series we will introduce teachings and practices that support us in the Wisdom Way of Knowing. These practices will include three-centered awareness, self-observation, Centering Prayer, sacred chanting, body movement, lectio divina, sharing and discussion. These are all in service of consenting to the presence and action of God in our hearts, the organ of spiritual seeing, and in our lives. The more we are able to put these into practice, the better our ability to respond to what is needed in the world.
Facilitators:
Heather Ruce, M. A. is a Wisdom Spiritual Director who offers Wisdom Practice Circles, Retreats, and Wisdom Schools focused on the expansive Christian Wisdom Tradition. She works within the lineage of Wisdom Teacher Cynthia Bourgeault whom she has been a student of for over a decade. Heather weaves her Masters in Marital & Family Therapy and training in Somatic Experiencing, Organic Intelligence & Spiritual Direction into her teaching and guidance in various Wisdom practices in service of waking up and putting on the Mind of Christ. Find out more at heatherruce.com.
Joy Andrews Hayter, Ph.D. is a spiritual director whose offerings include Centering Prayer and other contemplative practices of the Christian Wisdom tradition. These practices encourage us to lean into the Love that is constantly being offered within a relational web of Sacred Unity. As a scientist she sees in the physical world an expression of that love. Joy regularly offers retreats on Centering Prayer, often emphasizing the incarnational nature of the Christian path. She recently published The Cosmic Web: Hope for Our World Through Science and Spirituality. You can find more about her at joyfulfillment.com.
Catherine Regan, Ph.D. is a spiritual director, retired psychologist, and adjunct staff member at Mercy Center, primarily serving on the Centering Prayer team. She has a special interest in participating in the reclamation of the Christian Wisdom tradition and fostering the contemplative practices so urgently needed at this time in our world.
CONTACT
For further assistance, contact us at (650) 340-7474 or mcweb@sistersofmercy.org
These are unprecedented times. If finances are an issue, please fill out a learning grant form here for a grant. We want to make sure our offerings are available to everyone.

In Silence with Thomas Merton
2024-01-19 14:00 - 2024-01-21 13:30 (America/New_York) | Holy Cross Monastery – New York, 1615 Route 9W, West Park, NY, 12493, United States
Introducing a new retreat series with Br. Ephrem Arcement, OHC at Holy Cross Monastery: called “In Silence…”
THIS RETREAT IS CURRENTLY FILLED.
The hope for each of these retreats is to explore the life and spirituality of a given mystic of the Christian tradition and to begin learning how to put their wisdom into practice. Components to the retreat will be conferences on a given mystic, group sharing and Q&A, and contemplative prayer, along with opportunities for prayer and Eucharist with the monastic community.
The inaugural In Silence… retreat will explore the life and spirituality of the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. Thomas Merton is widely regarded as one of the foremost spiritual writers of the twentieth century whose influence extends well beyond the Cistercian monasticism or the Roman Catholicism which he called home. Join Br. Ephrem Arcement, OHC in encountering this profound figure who did so much to shape the contours of the contemplative and prophetic traditions in the church today.
Suggested reading for retreat: New Seeds of Contemplation
Register by e-mail or phone with our Guesthouse Manager, Donna Mallory at 845-384-6660 ext 1 or at guesthouse@hcmnet.org.

Back to Basics: Exploring the Why, What & How of Centering Prayer - via Zoom
2024-01-13 10:00 - 11:30, 2024-01-10 19:00 - 20:30, 2024-01-06 10:00 - 11:30 (Asia/Karachi) | Internet – Online
Free contemplative prayer workshop
Join to return to the sacred basic tenants of Centering Prayer.
“Silence is God’s first language. All others are just poor translations.”
— Thomas Keating
We’ll explore
• Opening to God and peace within
• Silence as the universal language of God
• How to practice Centering Prayer meditation
• Mystical union with God and why it matters
Presented by Keith Kristich, founder of Closer Than Breath. Certified teacher of meditation & contemplative prayer. Commissioned presenter of Centering Prayer through Contemplative Outreach.
Please register using the link below.

New Year Silent Saturday
2024-01-13 09:00 - 12:00 UTC | Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Road, Encino, CA, 91436, United States
Begin the new year by deepening your relationship with God. Join us for a quiet morning of Centering Prayer and silence. The day provides time for private journaling and reflection, communal Centering Prayer, a contemplative walk, and ends with a period of Lectio Divina. All are welcome. A brief introduction to Centering Prayer will be offered to those new to the practice.
For more information, please contact Marilyn Nobori at 818-815-4480 or centeringprayer@hsrcenter.com
Registration is appreciated but not required; register online at hsrcenter.com
A free will offering is gratefully appreciated.
Please arrive by 8:45am

Eight-Day Centering Prayer Retreat
2024-01-05 15:00 - 2024-01-12 11:00 UTC | St. Mary’s Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development, 770 St. Mary's Lane, TN, 37375, United States
This retreat is an opportunity for practitioners of Centering Prayer to deepen their contemplative journey in the contemporary world. It is a week-long experience of integrating contemplation and action through silence, solitude, and community.
The retreat offers two tracks. The intensive track is recommended for people who have completed the introductory workshop and who have a regular practice of Centering Prayer. The post-intensive track is for those people who have previously made an eight-day intensive retreat. The post-intensive offers increased silence and additional periods of Centering Prayer. Both the intensive and post-intensive Centering Prayer retreat provide daily experiences of silence, solitude, walking, hiking, yoga, and spiritual companionship to foster an ever-deepening level of interior silence and awareness of the presence of God in everyday life.
Scholarship Assistance is available for those with financial need. Please contact Reservations for application, Reservations@stmaryssewanee.org, 931-598-5342.

Blue Christmas Service - via Zoom
2023-12-21 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Internet – Online
Blessed are those who mourn …
– Matthew 5:4
Sometimes Christmas doesn’t feel so ‘Merry and Bright’, and you just don’t have the energy to ‘Deck the Halls’. This may be a difficult season for you and you’d rather skip over the month and go straight to the new year. If this resonates with you, I’d like to invite you to join our BLUE CHRISTMAS SERVICE.
This service is designed for those who are mourning, experiencing sickness, loss, grief or sadness. We will listen to songs, prayers and laments recognizing that sometimes Christmas is a struggle.
You are welcome to join us for a ZOOM gathering on the longest night of the year…
December 21st at 2pm and 7pm Central Standard Time
Both services are the same and last one hour.
Hosted by Nebraska Contemplative Outreach.
Please RSVP to Cathy.c@cox.net. You will receive a Zoom link one day prior to the service.
All are welcome, please share this information.

Back to Basics: Explore the Why, What & How of Centering Prayer - via Zoom
2023-12-20 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Internet – Online
Free Contemplative Prayer Workshop
Join to return to the sacred basic tenants of Centering Prayer.
“Silence is God’s first language. All others are just poor translations.”
— Thomas Keating
We’ll explore
• Opening to God and peace within
• Silence as the universal language of God
• How to practice Centering Prayer meditation
• Mystical union with God and why it matters
Presented by Keith Kristich, founder of Closer Than Breath. Certified teacher of meditation & contemplative prayer. Commissioned presenter of Centering Prayer through Contemplative Outreach.

Back to Basics: Exploring the Why, What & How of Centering Prayer - via Zoom
2023-12-18 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Internet – Online
Free Contemplative Prayer Workshop
Join to return to the sacred basic tenants of Centering Prayer.
“Silence is God’s first language. All others are just poor translations.”
— Thomas Keating
We’ll explore:
• Opening to God and peace within
• Silence as the universal language of God
• How to practice Centering Prayer meditation
• Mystical union with God and why it matters
Presented by Keith Kristich, founder of Closer Than Breath. Certified teacher of meditation & contemplative prayer. Commissioned presenter of Centering Prayer through Contemplative Outreach.

Back to Basics: Exploring the Why, What, & How of Centering Prayer - via Zoom
2023-12-18 08:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Internet – Online

Practices for Contemplative Living: Advent Day of Prayer with Fr. Carl Arico
2023-12-16 09:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | St. Walburga Monastery, 851 N. Broad Street, NJ, 7649, United States
Join a group of centering prayer practitioners to support each other on the contemplative path. Modeled after what was formerly known as the 9-month course, the program will be based on Julie Saad’s book, “Contemplative Life: Discovering Our Path to the Heart of God“. All are welcome. We meet the 3rd Saturday of each month from October 2023 through April 2024. Overnight accommodations are available. In December, Fr. Carl Arico will offer an Advent Day of Prayer.
Explore a different contemplative practice each month:
• October 22 – Fundamentals of Centering Prayer and Holy Listening
• November 18 – Guided Meditation (Stepping Stones)
• December 16 – Advent Day of Prayer with Fr. Carl Arico
• January 20 – Logging
• February 17 – Spiritual Reading
• March 16 – Going Deeper in Daily Life
• April 20 – Lectio Divina
Further information and registration are available at: https://centeringprayernj.com/events/, or email Eileen McCaffrey Schuman at coordinator@centeringprayernj.com.
Limited spaces are available to stay overnight at St. Walburga Monastery for a separate charge.

Advent One-Day Centering Prayer Retreat
2023-12-16 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | IA
Metanoia Journey is pleased to offer our first-ever one-day Centering Prayer Retreat. Centering Prayer is a foundational contemplative practice of our community. One’s participation in one-day, as well as multi-day Centering Prayer retreats, helps to deepen one’s spiritual practice. The day’s agenda as follows:
Welcome/Greeting
Centering Prayer
Periods of silence and solitude
Lunch (in community or in silence)
Centering Prayer
Communion in our circle
Closing comments
Please register using the link below.

Holy Breath: Centering Prayer & Ecstasy - online
2023-12-15 09:00 - 2023-12-17 16:00 (America/Denver) | Internet – Online
Centering Prayer and meditation are age-old techniques to put us in touch with what Jesus called ruha in Aramaic, the holy breath, a living and animating field that gives birth to psyche, to seed, storm and stellar nebulae. But what if there were an entire terrain of spiritual perception, a fluid and liminal continuum mapped by mystics, saints and shamans, inviting us to experience a living world that perceives us, a realm that invites us into our deepest longing?
Cynthia Bourgeault writes, “The imaginal is that quality of aliveness moving through this realm, interpenetrating, cohering, filling things with the fragrance of implicit meaning whose lines do not converge in this world alone but at a point beyond.” During this three day online intensive we will explore practices and group work that will help us deepen into different Centering Prayer practices inviting us to explore what Islamic scholar Henri Corbin called the Imaginal World. From the perspective of the neurobiology of the human body to wild landscapes and the more than human world, from ancient myths to the archetypal images found in scripture, trance states are common doorways of perception shared across time and place.
This introductory program will meet you wherever you are at in your own practice and hopefully expand and deepen your own journey offering practical seedings and practices you can further develop. Through consciousness-shifting practices and guided invitations we will deeply reconnect with the land and wonder together how deep eco-mysticism can help heal our relationship with Earth and one another.

Lectio Divina and the Four Senses of Scripture
2023-12-12 14:00 - 2023-12-16 13:30 (America/New_York) | Holy Cross Monastery – New York, 1615 Route 9W, West Park, NY, 12493, United States
This Praying Holy Scripture retreat offers Centering Prayer periods plus presentations based upon Fr. Thomas Keating’s teachings on the deepening levels of faith: the Four Senses of Scripture – literal, allegorical, behavioral/moral, and unitive senses. The presentations teach a contemplative way of listening to and reading Scripture known as the ancient monastic practice of Lectio Divina. During the retreat, one will experience the interplay of the silence of Centering Prayer and Praying Holy Scripture combined with the rhythm of this Episcopal Benedictine monastic community’s worship and prayer life including Holy Eucharist. This contemplative retreat welcomes those comfortable with silence and yearning to learn this ancient way of praying rather than studying Holy Scripture.
Check-in is from 2:00 to 5:00 pm Tuesday. Vespers begins at 5:00. Dinner then follows. Orientation begins at 6:45 pm. The retreat concludes with noon meal on Friday. (Daily Holy Eucharist is available at 9:00 a.m.). The suggested donation for the retreat is $430. The retreat fee includes a single room and all meals. Shared single occupancy bathrooms in the hallways.
Retreat Leader: Leslee Anne Terpay: As a Contemplative Outreach Commissioned Presenter of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina, Leslee shares Fr. Thomas Keating’s teachings on the Christian Spiritual Journey to Love in workshop and retreat settings. She is part of the Service Teams that steward Fr. Thomas’s teaching for serving Intensive Retreats and Lectio Divina. She is a spiritual director in Lone Tree, CO and a graduate of The Center for Action and Contemplation Living School.
To register, please contact our Guesthouse Office by phone (845-384-6660, ext. 3002) or email (guesthouse@hcmnet.org).

The Healing Power of Centering Prayer
2023-12-09 09:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | The Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle, 1725 Rhode Island Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 20007, United States
Presented by the Rev. Tim Grayson
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
– St. Augustine
Thomas Keating, one of the founders of the modern Centering Prayer movement, popularized the Centering Prayer process as “divine therapy” because it enables the healing of deep psychological wounds and promotes spiritual growth. According to Keating, this therapy leads to the “purification and healing of the unconscious, thus deepening the practitioner’s relationship with God.” Acknowledging and releasing troubling thoughts that bubble up from deep within helps deconstruct the false self that emerges in childhood from our efforts to find security amid damaging societal and familial influences.
In this retreat, Tim Grayson, a member of COMW’s coordinating team and an Episcopal priest, will review the work of renowned spiritual guides such as Keating, Basil Pennington, Thomas Merton, Cynthia Bourgeault, and James Finley, who have written extensively on the healing properties of Centering Prayer. The program will include three Centering Prayer sessions and ample time for discussion.
Tim is a longtime board member of Listening Hearts Ministries, which is dedicated to teaching the practice of spiritual discernment, and is an authorized Listening Hearts trainer. He also has a burgeoning interest in Christian mysticism.

The Healing Power of Centering Prayer
2023-12-09 09:00 - 12:00 UTC | Cathedral of St. Matthew, 1725 Rhode Island Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 20036, United States
Led by The Rev. Tim Grayson
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
– St. Augustine
Thomas Keating, one of the founders of the modern Centering Prayer movement, popularized the Centering Prayer process as “divine therapy” because it enables the healing of deep psychological wounds and promotes spiritual growth. According to Keating, this therapy leads to the “purification and healing of the unconscious, thus deepening the practitioner’s relationship with God.” Acknowledging and releasing troubling thoughts that bubble up from deep within helps deconstruct the false self that emerges in childhood from our efforts to find security amid damaging societal and familial influences.
In this retreat, Tim Grayson, a member of COMW’s coordinating team and an Episcopal priest, will review the work of renowned spiritual guides such as Keating, Basil Pennington, Thomas Merton, Cynthia Bourgeault, and Jim Finley, who have written extensively on the healing properties of Centering Prayer. The program will include three Centering Prayer sessions and ample time for discussion.
Location: The Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle
1725 Rhode Island Ave, NW, Washington, DC
(Please enter at the lower level through the door next to the garage, and note that the church garage is closed on Saturdays, but metered street parking is available, as well as two parking garages close-by.)

Advent Silent Saturday
2023-12-09 09:00 - 12:00 UTC | Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Road, Encino, CA, 91436, United States
As we enter the season of Advent, join us for a quiet morning of Centering Prayer and silence. The day is open to beginners as well as those experienced in contemplative prayer or silent meditation. The day provides time for communal Centering Prayer, a contemplative walk, private journaling and reflection, and ends with a period of Lectio Divina. All are welcome. A brief introduction of Centering Prayer will be offered for those new to the practice.
For more info, please contact Marilyn Nobori at 818-815-4480 or centeringprayer@hsrcenter.com
Register online at hsrcenter.com by December 1st
A free will offering is gratefully appreciated.
Please arrive at 8:45am

Finding Fullness Through Simplicity
2023-12-09 08:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road, West Hartford, CT, 6107, United States
Contemplative Enrichment Day with Mark Kutolowski
This day is an opportunity to rediscover simplicity of life as a path to finding fullness and contentment in God. Drawing from his long experience living in an off-grid intentional community, Mark will invite us into an audit of three fundamental areas of human life: our relationships with time and activity, possessions and space, and word and technology. In each, we will seek practical ways to empty out, to grow in simplicity, and to make room for God to be born anew in our midst.
This program will be offered both in-person and online via Zoom. Information on how to access the program on Zoom will be sent to participants in advance.
This program will include a morning and an afternoon session of Centering Prayer.
Mark Kutolowski is the co-director of Metanoia of Vermont, a lay contemplative community where residents and guests seek to follow the Way of Christ through work, prayer, and study in relationship with the land. Mark is an Oblate of Saint Benedict and a Centering Prayer teacher and has spent the past 25 years exploring the intersection of Christian faith, embodiment, and relationship with the natural world.
Please use the link below to register.

Silent Saturday with Sr. Carol Ann Spencer: The End of All that is not Christ - via Zoom
2023-12-09 08:30 - 14:30 (America/New_York) | Internet – Online
Virtual Silent Saturday with Sr. Carol Ann Spencer
The End of All that is not Christ
December 9 8:30-2:30pm Eastern Standard Time
Contemplative Outreach of Columbus is offering a Silent Saturday. A Silent Saturday provides a few hours that are set aside for Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, spiritual teaching and reflection.
“Come rest awhile with the Lord” in preparation for Advent. Advent begins a new year in the liturgical cycle and we are invited once again to renew our journey by pondering Thomas Merton’s statement: “The Advent Mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not Christ.” Sr. Carol Ann invites us to consider the wonders of the Incarnation. In Jesus, we are told that God and humanity are meant for each other. We are called to become more fully human as Jesus was fully human.
Sr. Carol Ann Spencer O.P. is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Peace. She has led countless workshops and retreats. She is also the founding director of WELLSTREAMS, a program for becoming a spiritual director, and the Spirituality Network. The day will begin at 8:30am and last until 2:30pm. EST.
Register by sending an email to Bob Gorman (below) and a zoom link and handouts will be sent to you a few days in advance.
The event is free. Nondeductible donations to Contemplative Outreach of Columbus to cover costs are welcome. They can be sent to the care of Tom Davis at 844 Franklin Ave Columbus OH 43205.

Advent Centering Prayer Retreat
2023-12-08 17:00 - 2023-12-10 12:00 (America/Chicago) | St. Mary’s Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development, 770 St. Mary's Lane, TN, 37375, United States
This weekend retreat will focus on how Centering Prayer can heighten one’s understanding and appreciation for the season of Advent.
Centering Prayer is a form of Christian silent meditation where one lets go of thoughts during periods of prayer typically lasting 20 minutes. It is rooted in the self-emptying love that forms the heart of Jesus’ teaching and life. The effect on those who practice it is an every-increasing awareness of the God’s action and presence in the course of ordinary life.
Scholarship assistance is available. Please contact Reservations for application, Reservations@stmaryssewanee.org, 931-598-5342.
