Top
Contemplative Outreach of Central Pennsylvania Newsletter
In This Issue
Food for Thought
Please Share!
Why Go To a Retreat?
Upcoming Retreats & Workshops
Unless otherwise noted, all retreats are at the Bethany Retreat Center

Sep 25 - 27 Centering Prayer Weekend

Oct 16 - 18 Centering Prayer Weekend

Oct 18  Contemplative Outreach of Central Pennsylvania Chapter Meeting. Lunch at 12:30 followed by 1:00 meeting.

Nov 13 - 15  Centering Prayer Weekend

Dec 4 - 6  Centering Prayer Weekend

Jan 22 - 24, 2010  Centering Prayer Weekend

Feb 19 - 21, 2010  Centering Prayer Weekend

Mar 12 - 20, 2010  8-Day Intensive Retreat

April 9 - 11, 2010  Centering Prayer Weekend

Jun 2 - 22, 2010 21-Day Centering Prayer Immersion Retreat

Jun 24 - 27, 2010 4-Day Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat

Jun 24 - Jul 1, 2010  8-Day Intensive Retreat

Jun 27 - Jul 1, 2010 5-Day Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat

Jul 25 - Aug 1, 2010 Centering Prayer 8-Day Post Intensive Retreat

Jul 28 - Aug 1, 2010 5-Day Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat
Join our list
Join Our Mailing List
Quick Links
August 2009
Welcome to the August (barely!) issue of the Contemplative Outreach of Central Pennsylvania newsletter. We are a chapter of Contemplative Outreach.

Many thanks to those who wrote their thoughts on the last issue's question, "Why go to a retreat?".

As you can see, there are many retreats already scheduled for the coming year. I always waffle about signing up for a retreat, thinking things like, "I shouldn't spend the money. I don't have time. I shouldn't leave my husband for the whole weekend. etc. etc." But I've always gotten so much from every retreat, and the world has always managed to keep turning without me for those few days. I guess I'd better pick one and sign up!

Please consider sending in a few words for the next issue.  We'd love to hear from you, whether it's for the first time or you've contributed in the past.

We will have a chapter meeting at Bethany Retreat Center on Sunday October 18 -- 12:30 lunch followed by the meeting at 1:00 pm. All are welcome. If you're interested in what has been discussed at past meetings, see the COCP Minutes. (Just fyi, these are stored on the COCP website, on the About Us. If you scroll to the bottom, you'll see the "Minutes" link.)

Please note that at the bottom of this newsletter is a Forward email link you can click to forward this newsletter to a friend.

If you have suggestions or comments on the newsletter, please send them! 

Gwen Stimely and Jet Schneider, Newsletter Co-Editors

p.s. This issue's photos come compliments of Jet Schneider, who took them at Mariawald Renewal Center near Reading.The iris comes compliments of Gwen's garden.
Food for Thought
Tall Trees From The Human Condition, Thomas Keating, Paulist Press, 1999.
The spiritual journey is not a career or a success story. It is a series of humiliations of the false self that become more and more profound. These make room inside us for the Holy Spirit to come in and heal. What prevents us from being available to God is gradually evacuated. We keep getting closer and closer to our center. Every now and then God lifts a corner of the veil and enters into our awareness through various channels, as if to say, "Here I am. Where are you? Come and join me." (p. 38)

From Manifesting God, Thomas Keating, Lantern Books, 2005.
...Through Contemplative Prayer -- through staying in our inner room -- we become willing to let go of our illusion that the way we see the world is the right way or what is worse, the only way. It isn't. (p. 24)

Back to Top
 PleaseSharePlease Share!
Why is living in the present moment important?Deer Prints
Please write a few words (or lots of words!) and send them to us. Submissions received by October 1st will appear in the October newsletter. Please include your town and note how you would like your name to appear - Anonymous, Initials, or Full Name.

Suggestions?
If you have suggestions for the newsletter, suggestions for "Please Share" questions for future issues, or comments of any sort, please send them to us.

Back to Top
Whygotoaretreat Why go to a retreat?
 
From John, Ferns
Ashland PA
No retreat is ever wasted; the Lord always shows up. The recent June retreat for me can best be summed up in the words "divine synchronicity." God spoke through his children, my fellow retreatants, and called me to note their blessedness shining in the silence. God spoke through the words of Thomas Keating, Sr. Terese, Sr. Rita, and Father Phil, and called me to see with my heart instead of my eyes. God spoke through the trees, the flowers and the animals. I'll always remember the bird who prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet with me, and also God's beloved dog, Shadow, who consoled me at just the right moment when I was suffering some existential fearfulness. Thanks be to Mary, who called both Shadow and I into her grotto to experience the love of her Son, our savior, Jesus Christ at that exact moment. And there was so much more! We who were there experienced it and felt it...God's love. We are beloved children.


From M.H.Sunlight Through Trees
To me, retreats are like tune-ups; they help me rebalance.  They trade day to day habits and busyness for extended silent space so I can listen and hear more deeply and clearly.  If the retreat is with a group, the synergy buoys me and expands my perspectives.


From G.S., Port Matilda, PAGeese
God is always present, but I'm not always present to God. My head fills up with useless chatter, my attention span shrinks, Centering becomes difficult. But then I go to a retreat, where the silence and the place and the people remove all that. This makes it sound a little like a treadmill, but not so -- every retreat makes lasting changes.

Back to Top