TopContemplative Outreach of Central Pennsylvania Newsletter
In This Issue
Food for Thought
Chapter Retreats a Great Success!
Reader Submissions
Blessings of Labyrinth Building - Beginning of Article
ONE: The Movie
Please Share!
Blessings of Labyrinth Building - Full Article
Upcoming Retreats & Workshops
Unless otherwise noted, all retreats are at the Bethany Retreat Center

Sep 15 and the following 6 Tuesday evenings. Seven Session Introduction to Centering Prayer Workshop. At Saint Joseph the Worker RC Parish Center, 720 W 4th St, Williamsport, PA. For info or to register, contact Claire Caputo at 814-323-1091 or ccaputo306@comcast.net

Oct 18-21 Centering Prayer Weekend. Presenter Fr. Bill Sneck, S.J.

Nov 4-9 Formation for Contemplative Outreach Service, Including Presenter's Training

Nov 16-18 Centering Prayer Weekend

Jan 11-13, 2013 Centering Prayer and Praying with Icons Retreat

Mar 1-3, 2013 Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina. Presenter Deacon George Welch.

Apr 11-14, 2013 Centering Prayer and Journaling. This Living Journal Retreat will be presented by E. Jane Martin.

June 6-13, 2013 8 Day Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat. Facilitators: Sr. Therese Dush, Sr. Rita Panciera, Fr. Philip Billotte.

Aug 4-11, 2013 8 Day Post Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat. Facilitators: Sr. Therese Dush, Sr. Rita Panciera, Fr. Philip Billotte.

Aug 2013 The Contemplative Dimension of the 12 Steps. With Nancy Cord-Baran. Exact dates TBA.

Aug 2013 A Welcoming Prayer Retreat. Presenter: Sr. Therese Dush. Exact dates TBA.

For a complete list of retreats and events at Bethany Retreat Center, click here.
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 September 2012
Welcome to the September 2012 issue of the Contemplative Outreach of Central Pennsylvania newsletter. We are a chapter of Contemplative Outreach.

Please consider sending us a few words on this month's question 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.

Please note that many new workshops and retreats have been scheduled for 2012 and 2013; they are listed in the left margin of this newsletter.

It's a funny thing. Every time I've ever signed up for a retreat, I've wondered if it was really ok to spend the money and time away from life's responsibilities. And every time I've ever gone to a retreat, I've felt the experience was worth far more than I spent, plus I felt far more able to manage life's responsibilities. More than that, I felt far more able to appreciate the gift of my life and more able to live it the way I want to live it. So I encourage each and every one of you to consider this gift for yourself.

As always, if you have suggestions or comments on the newsletter, please send them! 

Gwen Stimely and Jet Schneider

p.s.  The butterfly photo came from this site. The labyrinth photos came from Jet and Don Schneider. The remaining photos were generously provided by Oedi Oudshoorn. They are photos of the Japanese Garden in The Hague, which is the oldest Japanese garden in Europe.
Food for Thought
From Open Mind Open Heart, Thomas Keating, Continuum, New York, 1999, p. 88.  

 

Japanese Garden with Flowers We are made for happiness and there is nothing wrong in reaching out for it. Unfortunately, most of us are so deprived of happiness that as soon as it comes along, we reach out for it with all our strength and try to hang on to it for dear life. That is the mistake. The best way to receive it is to give it away. If you give everything back to God, you will always be empty, and when you are empty, there is more room for God. 

[. . . ]

The innate tendency to hang on, to possess, is the biggest obstacle to union with God . . . Since nothing is more desirable or delightful than the feeling of God's presence, that, too, has to be a thought we are willing to let go of.

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Chapter Retreats a Great Success!
Contemplative Outreach Logo
COCPa hosted two retreats in August at Bethany Retreat Center in Frenchville, Pa: The Spirituality of the 12 Steps and The Welcoming Prayer. We had thirty one participants from as far away as Ohio, Washington, New York, as well as Pa.

This is the fifth year we have offered a 12 Step Retreat where we teach Centering Prayer as an 11th Step Practice for people working the 12 Steps as a spiritual program of recovery from addiction.  The Eleventh Step from AA is: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out." We had thirty one participants from as far away as Ohio, Washington, New York, as well as Pa.

Sister Therese Dush from the Bethany Retreat Center led the Welcoming Prayer Retreat and it was fantastic! The Welcoming Prayer is a wonderful companion practice to Centering Prayer and helps us to live the other 23 hours of the day.

We plan to offer these retreats again next year and it is a wonderful way to enrich your spiritual life as well as to support your chapter.

Other ways to support the chapter include buying Angel Cards or Contemplative Music and Silence CDs.

Angel Watercolor by Jet Schneider
Purchase Angel Notecards 
CO Logo in Watercolor
Purchase a CD of Contemplative Music and Silence for Centering Prayer 
 

Or make  donation
We are currently seeking additional funds to send our co-coordinators, Nancy Cord-Baran and Tim Reddington to the Annual Conference of Contemplative Outreach.  This year's conference is especially important for coordinators to attend as it is most likely the last International Conference. It will be held in Snowmass CO  with Fr. Thomas Keating and Fr. William Menninger as the keynote speakers.  Donations of any amount are appreciated.

You can make checks out to COCPa, and mail them to
our treasurer, Claire Caputo, at 920 Main Street. Apt. 22 South Wiliamsport, Pa. 17702


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answersReader Submissions  
Japanese Garden with Sculpture In our last issue, we published Principles 3 through 6 of the Theological Principles of Contemplative Outreach:

3. Listening to the word of God in Scripture through the practice of Lectio Divina is encouraged, particularly its movement into contemplative prayer, which a daily practice of Centering Prayer facilitates.

4. The source of Centering Prayer is the Indwelling Trinity. Its practice consists of responding to the call of the Holy Spirit to consent to the Divine presence and action within.

5. The Divine presence affirms our basic core of goodness made in the image of God.

6 The Divine action is the process of transformation in Christ which inspires and deepens our consent.

We asked you to share your thoughts on what these principles mean to you personally. 


from H. W.
All I can say is that these statements fill me with an immense sense of awe and gratefulness- reading them, I am reminded that: we humans have a basic core of goodness, are made in the image of God (statement #5) , the indwelling Trinity lives in us (statement #4), and we are transformed in Christ through the Divine action (statement #6) within us. Comments on each of these statements alone could fill the pages of an entire book, or none at all...to me, words cannot express what the statements truly mean at a heart level: words cannot describe the Mystery.

In addition to practicing centering prayer, Lectio Divina (praying with Scripture - see statement #3) can help our hearts become more open to receive the true awareness of this most Wonderful Gift.

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WritinganIconBlessings of Labyrinth Building - Beginning of Article
Completed Labyrinth with Growing Grass Submitted by Jet Schneider

After several years of letting the idea of building a labyrinth in our back yard grow in our minds and hearts, it happened this summer:our community peace labyrinth became a reality.

 

Click here to read the full article at the bottom of this newsletter 

 

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 IntroductoryWorkshopONE: The Movie
Japanese Garden Monk Sculpture ONE: The Movie (2005) is an independent documentary about the meaning of life, created and directed by Michigan filmmakers Scott Carter, Ward M. Powers and Diane Powers. The team asked and filmed  anyone who wanted to answer their list of 20 questions about the meaning of life: many people on the street, as well as spiritual teachers Thomas Keating, Richard Rohr, Deepak Chopra, Robert Thurman, Thich Nhat Hahn, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, et al.  The movie was originally released in movie theaters and throughout North America via hundreds of community events in late 2005 through 2007. An English version was released on DVD in 2007.

Here is a short excerpt of the movie, an interview with Fr. Thomas Keating. 

The movie can be watched free of charge (in twelve parts) on Youtube, and the DVD is available on Amazon. 

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 PleaseSharePlease Share!
Japanese Garden Fern In Food for Thought above, Thomas Keating discusses the importance of letting go of happiness in order to have it. If you have experience doing this, please share your story and/or how you go about doing this. 

Please write a few words (or lots of words!) and send them to us. Selected submissions will appear in the next newsletter. Please include your town and note how you would like your name to appear - Anonymous, Initials, or Full Name.

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 LabrynthFullArticleBlessings of Labyrinth Building - Full Article
Completed Labyrinth with Growing Grass After several years of letting the idea of building a labyrinth in our back yard grow in our minds and hearts, it happened this summer: our community peace labyrinth became a reality.
 
The Journey began with walking the great labyrinth at the Bethany Retreat Center many years ago and eventually attending a labyrinth-walking weekend there. Walking the labyrinth, a form of body prayer, resonated deeply with me in both its simplicity and profoundness: everyone could do this, regardless of religious background, and find the spiritual in walking a spiraling path to the center and out again into the world*.  The seed was planted to perhaps build a labyrinth in our back yard one day.
 
Now and then a gentle nudging would come: wouldn't it be wonderful if we could build a labyrinth?  Where in the back yard would we build it?  My husband Don and I had an idea for a possible location, but was it right? One evening several years ago we walked in the garden with a spiritually very sensitive friend, and asked her where would be a good spot to build one. After walking down the hill to a flat area largely surrounded by trees she remarked, "Do you notice it being a little warmer here? This would be a good spot." The question of where to build a labyrinth was answered; our friend's answer had affirmed what Don and I had thought. Now the questions of
what kind of labyrinth, which building materials, and especially who could help us build it, could be addressed.
 
It wasn't until after completing my studies at Oasis Ministries for Spiritual  Development three years later (where, among many things having to do with Spiritual Direction, I had also learned more about labyrinths), and beginning my ministry of offering Spiritual Direction, that the nudging came that it was time to continue the project. Don and I had talked about a simple labyrinth which would be easy to maintain. One day we came upon a picture of a labyrinth with the lines made out of bricks, which were dug into the ground flush with the grass, while the paths were made out of grass, so the labyrinth could simply be mowed for easy maintenance. We didn't know labyrinths could be built this way, and it exactly met our needs! We also loved the kind of labyrinth that was in the picture - a classical, 7-circuit Cretan labyrinth, a very ancient design.
 
Who could help us build the labyrinth? We wanted this to be a community building project where everyone who wanted to could participate in building the labyrinth in their own way - some by praying, others by digging lines and/or placing bricks. But we knew we also needed an expert to supervise and guide the project.

Tom**, a very kind and gentle fellow parent we met when the children were in elementary school, is a contractor. He had recently lost his wife Jane**, and was searching for ways to help him in healing his loss. We described the project to him and asked if he could be our expert supervisor, and he said yes.

Labyrinth Layout Announcements about "Labyrinth Building Evenings" were made, and the project was under way! Don had designed a labyrinth layout with exact measurements on the computer, Tom had spray painted the design on the grass, and then people came to help us - people of very different ages, backgrounds, and all over the political and religious spectrum, all working together harmoniously on building the labyrinth. We never knew who would appear on a given evening; people would just come, build, drink some lemonade, and enjoy each other's company. It was such a blessing and a wonderful practice of healing for many of us, a practice of peacemaking. Friend Justine** offered advice on how to build a labyrinth (she had built labyrinths before, as we found out later), and mentioned there had to be water close to the surface in the center of the labyrinth (something we were unaware of when laying out the labyrinth- it just "felt right" where it was, to us). After dowsing, she discovered there indeed was water close to the surface - yet another confirmation that it was the right spot.
 
As we were starting to build the labyrinth, friend Mary**, a gifted spiritual director and healer, informed me that her church in the Carlisle, PA area had been looking into building a labyrinth there. She asked if they could please use the information  /knowledge we had gathered so far in how to build. A sister labyrinth is now in the process of being built there.
 
One evening it started raining, which felt very refreshing after the heat of the  previous days, and then it started pouring! All builders that evening were soaked to the skin, and rediscovered the joy of playing in the rain, like little children enjoy  doing. 

Labyrinth Under Construction The labyrinth holds all, a paradox of both joy and sorrow. One evening while working on a flower bed near the partly-dug-out labyrinth (the trenches were about 8 inches deep to accommodate a layer of gravel with a brick on top), I accidentally stepped into a trench and dislocated my elbow while trying to catch myself. Literally falling into the labyrinth (as our oldest son pointed out), I  realized there were lessons to be learned. It helped me to become much more aware of the suffering around me, in all the fellow builders, and also in the world.
 
As the hot summer days continued into the dog days of August, building in the evening was becoming more and more difficult for Tom (who helped us with the labyrinth after working his outside day job where he was exposed to the relentless heat), and for the volunteers alike.  Don and I had just started to privately wonder if the labyrinth would be completed before the ground would freeze, when our gardener brought over his friend Henry** to look at our garden to possibly trim some of our tall bushes.

Henry was very excited about the labyrinth as a way of prayer, and then mentioned quietly that he was a contractor and would be happy to help Tom by coming over with a small crew and finish the work for us in the course of a few days.  After thinking about it, talking it over with Tom, noticing that people weren't able to
help as much anymore because of the heat, and hearing from friend Mary** that
my injured arm really needed rest, I decided to give Henry a call. He and his crew Mark** and John** finished the labyrinth for us - a new experience for all of them.  They did a beautiful job, and we're extremely grateful to Tom, Henry, Mark, John, and all the volunteer builders for all the hard work they put in to build the labyrinth.
 
Red Spotted Purple Butterfly The day the labyrinth was finished, we noticed beautiful, purple butterflies flying over the labyrinth - an instant reminder of Tom's wife Jane's outdoor memorial service two years before, where purple butterflies appeared out of nowhere, flying among the rows of people gathered. Purple was Jane's favorite color, and seeing the butterflies flying over the labyrinth that Tom helped build (and that contains a little of Jane's ashes) was a wonderful affirmation that All is One, and we are all connected to the same Source (whatever we may name it) beyond our physical boundaries, time and place. As the Native Americans say: "As Above, So Below," or in Christian tradition "On earth, as it is in heaven..." The labyrinth serves as a poignant reminder of this. 

We had never before seen purple butterflies in our garden, and yet here they were,  flying only above the labyrinth, and nowhere else.  The next day when Henry was adding grass seed to the labyrinth, a purple butterfly flew between him and his rake. We waited 3 weeks before walking the labyrinth to allow the grass to grow. The day I started walking the labyrinth, I noticed another purple butterfly.
 
Now the labyrinth is completed. We are planning to have a dedication ceremony on Saturday, September 22 at 10 am - a date chosen for its proximity to the International Day of World Peace (Friday September 21st) and the Autumn Equinox. All are welcome (please let us know if you are intending to attend).

After September 22, Don and I intend to have the labyrinth be available for whomever wants to walk it - all we ask is a phone call the day you intend to come and walk. 

Labyrinth in Morning Sunlight

We are deeply grateful for all the guidance, help and blessings we received in  unexpected places along the way in bringing this project to fruition.  Blessings abound....may all who walk the labyrinth be blessed, and may the labyrinth help them to be open to nurturing Peace in themselves and thus in the world.

In gratitude,
Jet Schneider
 
Contact information for the labyrinth:
Don & Jet Schneider
814-238-0010
 
*For people who are suffering from an ailment that prevents them from
walking, there are finger labyrinths on the market based on the same principle,
while some labyrinths are wheelchair accessible, as well.

** Names changed to protect privacy.

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