 Contemplative Outreach of Central Pennsylvania Newsletter
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Upcoming Retreats
& Workshops
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Mar 16, United in Prayer DayApr 11-14, Contemplative Prayer and Journaling. Presenter E. Jane Martin May 12-19, 8 Day Intensive Contemplative Prayer Retreat. Facilitators: Sr. Therese Dush & Fr. Philip Billotte May 28 - Jun 2, Formation for Contemplative Outreach Service Including Presenter's TrainingJun 2-9, 8-Day Intensive Contemplative Prayer Retreat. Facilitators: Sr. Therese Dush, Sr. Rita Panciera & Fr. Philip Billotte Jun 2-15, 14-Day Intensive Contemplation in Action RetreatJun 21-23, The Contemplative Dimension of the 12 Steps. With Nancy Cord-Baran and Roberta White Aug 4-11, 2013 8 Day Post Intensive Contemplative Prayer Retreat. Facilitators: Sr. Therese Dush, Sr. Rita Panciera, Fr. Philip Billotte. Aug 23-25, A Welcoming Prayer Retreat. Presenter: Sr. Therese Dush. For a complete list of retreats and events at Bethany Retreat Center, click here.
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Welcome to the March 2013 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 2013; they are listed in the left margin of this newsletter. We are so fortunate as a chapter to have Bethany Retreat Center close by. We encourage you to go to their website to see a complete list of retreats and workshops they offer which include, but are not limited to, Contemplative Outreach programs. There are three events held at Bethany that are specifically sponsored by our chapter, Contemplative Outreach of Central PA. Click the links to see more info about them at the bottom of the newsletter. As always, if you have suggestions or comments on the newsletter, please send them! Gwen Stimely and Jet Schneider p.s. The beautiful photos in this issue came from Tim Reddington and Nancy Cord-Baran, who brought them back from their visit to the Annual Conference of Contemplative Outreach, held in Snowmass, Colorado. Photos are from Snowmass and from St. Benedict's Monastery, a Trappist monastery where Thomas Keating has lived for many years. |
Annual United in Prayer Day
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 What: A day of prayer in community with members of Contemplative Outreach around the world. Groups in 39 countries will gather on this day. The day will include Centering Prayer, silence, community, and a DVD "God is All in All" with Fr. Thomas Keating, Abbot Joseph Boyle and David Frenette, recorded at the recent Annual Conference in Snowmass, Co.
When: Saturday, March 16, 10 am to 4 pm
Please Bring: A bagged lunch
Suggested Donation: $10 to $20 (as you are able)
To Register: Please contact Nancy Cord-Baran by email or by phone, 814-237-1002.
Accommodations are available if you'd like to extend your stay on either end. If interested, contact Nicole at Bethany Retreat Center by email or by phone, 814-263-4855.
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Food for Thought
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From Contact with God, by Anthony De Mello, Doubleday, p. 5
 "For tomorrow morning's prayer and, if you wish, for the whole of tomorrow's prayer, I want to recommend to you an attitude and a practice. The attitude is one of great expectation. St. John of the Cross says that people receive from God as much as they expect from God. If you expect little you will generally receive little. If you expect much, you will receive much. Do you need a miracle of grace in your life? Then you must expect a miracle to happen. How many miracles have you experienced in your personal life? None? That is only because you weren't expecting any. God never lets you down when your expectations of him are high; he may keep you waiting, or he may come at once, or he may come suddenly and unexpectedly like a "thief at night," to use Jesus' expression. But come he surely will if you are expecting him to come."
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The Place Where We Are Right, a Poem by Yehuda Amichai
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From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring. The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard. But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.
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Contemplative Outreach International Conference in Snowmass, Colorado
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Nancy and Tim
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Our co-coordinators, Nancy Cord-Baran and Tim Reddington, attended the conference in October 2012 in Snowmass, Co. It was fantastic! Highlights included a business meeting, a tour of St. Benedict's Monastery, connecting with people practicing Centering Prayer from all over the world, and wonderful speakers. A presentation was held in January at our Day of Prayer in State College to share the experience.
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Fr. Thomas Keating
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We were able to learn from two of the fathers of Centering Prayer, Fr. Thomas Keating and Fr. William Meninger as well as from Abbot Joseph Boyle from St. Benedict's and David Frenette, author of the recent bestselling book The Path of Centering Prayer: Deepening Your experience With God. We also heard from Pat Johnson about the history of St. Benedict's Monastery, and the special relationship between the Monastery and Contemplative Outreach.
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David Frenette
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The Contemplative Outreach website offers video clips from Thomas Keating's newest work, The Gift of Life: Death and Dying, with a new video clip each week and archives available. The complete work will be available later in 2013. Fr. Thomas looked great and was so happy to be with everyone, old friends and new.
If you would like to hear from the conference speakers directly, plan on attending the United in Prayer Day on March 16th at Bethany Retreat Center where we will be viewing the DVD - God is All in All. After the day it will be available for loan in our chapter lending library.
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| Reader Submissions |
| In Food for Thought in our last issue, we published a quote by Thomas Keating discussing the importance of letting go of happiness in order to have it. We asked, "If you have experience doing this, please share your story and/or how you go about doing this."
from G. S.
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Rafters at St Benedict's Monastery
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Thomas Keating wrote, "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."
My dictionary defines happiness as "quality or state of being happy." Synonyms are "beatitude, blessedness, contentedness." The antonym is "wretchedness."
Trying to hang on to happiness replaces my feeling of happiness with a feeling of wanting. Wanting by itself isn't bad. It's essential. I wouldn't accomplish anything if I never wanted anything.
But wanting can be troublesome. For example: Why can't I feel happy? I was happy before, I should be happy now. Or... I want xyz. I deserve it. I worked hard for it. The fact that I don't have it means there must be something really wrong, probably really wrong with me. Or... I want xyz and don't have it. But Miss HappyPants over there does have it. Why does she get to have it and I don't? Or... I can never be truly happy unless xyz happens.
If this doesn't describe wretched, I don't know what does. I've spent way more time in this state than I'd like to admit. But I've also gotten relief from it. The first step is to recognize that it's happening. I can be so focused on whatever it is I want, that I don't realize that the real problem is the nature of my wanting. Next, I try to look at the wanting objectively. When I do this, I always find that there's some illogical/distorted thinking in the stew pot. Often, I just don't want to accept a reality that's different from the one that I want. That's understandable, but it's not logical.
And last, I ask God to help me have the right attitude. If I really want God's help in this matter, the help always comes. There is a huge difference between asking God to help me get what I want, and asking God to help me have the right attitude about what I want.
from Jet Schneider
 Perhaps Thomas Keating means that by practicing centering prayer we practice letting go of everything - even the feeling of happiness. By hanging on to the feeling of happiness, or grasping at it (happiness for the sake of happiness?), we will, ultimately, become unhappy. True happiness, a deep peace beyond understanding, permeating our whole being can only be received as a gift, by letting go, and by sharing this deep love and peace with others. I recently experienced the sudden loss of my beloved therapy cat Moortje, and while grieving for past happiness she brought to my life and that of countless others, I can now begin to see that she embodied what Thomas Keating is talking about - a true sharing of unconditional love, trust, friendliness, great happiness and playfulness wherever she went. With her constant, loud, raspy purring she calmed everyone, people and animals alike, while she seemed to instinctively know who needed her attention - the vet called her "Mother Theresa" because of this.
I can now also begin to feel a deep gratefulness and joy for the glimpse of Love that was given me to take care of these past 3 1/2 years, the love that remains, and a sense of deep peace. I don't know how you go about doing this - the peace is a grace, a great gift from the Source of All.
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New Angel Note Cards Now Available
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 | | "Angel of Loving Kindness" Jet Schneider 2013 watercolor/ colored pencil |
Jet Schneider has designed a beautiful new angel card. Boxed cards will be available at United in Prayer Day. The lettering on the angel is from the Buddhist Metta practice and reads:
May I be happy, may I be well,
may I be safe, may I be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy, may you be well,
may you be safe, may you be peaceful and at ease.
Each box will contain 5 blank cards, size 5x7, with envelopes. Price is $10, and the proceeds go to our chapter.
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The Contemplative Dimension of the 12 Steps
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 What: A retreat for people in 12 Step Recovery programs to introduce or expand and deepen the experience of Contemplative Prayer as part of a daily 11th Step Practice.
Retreat Facilitators: Nancy Cord-Baran and Roberta White
When: June 21-23
More about the retreat: Centering Prayer is a simple method of prayer rooted in ancient Christian practice that opens us to God's presence and divine healing. It is simply moving deep within ourselves, in silence, saying nothing, asking for nothing, just being and allowing our Higher Power to be with us. The retreat will offer an environment of solitude and silence in community with time for reflection, fellowship, and a 12-Step Meeting. For those new to Contemplative Prayer, the retreat is an Introductory Workshop on Contemplative Prayer in the context of 12-Step recovery. For those with an established Centering Prayer practice, there will be the option of reviewing any part of the Introductory Workshop or participating in a Track Two if there is enough interest. (Please let us know when you register.) Retreat staff have been active in 12-Step programs for many years. They have completed Formation for Contemplative Service Commissioning process of Contemplative Outreach as well as the formation training for presenting and leading retreats for Contemplative Prayer and the 12-Steps. For More Information: Contact Nancy Cord-Baran by email or phone, 814-237-2001. Or see the chapter website. Back to Top
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Welcoming Prayer Weekend Retreat
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What: The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to God's presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions to events and situations in daily life.
The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is to deepen our relationship with God through consenting in ordinary activities. The Welcoming Prayer helps to dismantle the emotional programs of the false-self system and to heal the wounds of a lifetime by addressing them where they are stored-in the body. It contributes to the process of transformation in Christ initiated in Contemplative Prayer.
Participants will be introduced to the actual method of the Welcoming Prayer and provided with opportunities to practice. Discussions will include the human condition and the false-self system as the conceptual background of the Welcoming Prayer practice. There will be time for focusing, working with what is happening in our bodies, and practicing the prayer.
Where: Bethany Retreat Center
Retreat Presenter: Sr. Therese Dush, C.A. Sr. Therese is an experienced retreat director and spiritual director. She has many years of experience in directing contemplative retreats. Sr. Therese is Director of Bethany Retreat Center.
When: August 23-25
For More Information: Contact Nancy Cord-Baran by email or phone, 814-237-2001. Or see the chapter website.
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Please Share!
| |  In Food for Thought above, Anthony De Mello discusses the idea of having an attitude of great expectation -- expecting God to come. If you have experience with 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. Back to Top |
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