Spirit Journal - January 2016 -

Preview

In this first issue of the new year, we invite your participation in an important “Discernment Day” on March 5 to help plan future directions for our organization, and we also ask for a special favor: please take a few minutes to complete a quick survey that will help us create an expanded lineup of 2016 programs.

This issue also includes Part 2 of Alan Krema’s discussion of the Wisdom School, important news about our upcoming Winter Weekend Retreat, information about new activities at Healing Gardens, an introduction to the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey, and insights from Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Merton, Sheng-Yen, and Thomas Aquinas.

As always, we invite you to help us make Spirit Journal a more valuable and interesting forum for Chicago-area contemplatives. Use the e-mail address at the end to send your ideas, contributions and feedback.

Discernment Day: Please Join Us on March 5

We hope you will get involved and help plan Contemplative Outreach-Chicago’s future. On Saturday, March 5, we will be meeting for a day of visioning and discernment, an opportunity for all persons attending Centering Prayer groups or interested in learning about Centering Prayer to gather together to assess our needs as a developing contemplative community.

This is your chance to get involved and help plan future growth and direction for Contemplative Outreach in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana region. We are excited about this day and encourage all to attend.

The day will include large and small group processes, led by Susan Komis, a skilled and experienced group process facilitator, who is a leader of Contemplative Outreach at the national level. All participants will have an opportunity to offer input and be a part of planning for our future as a Contemplative Outreach community.

One key decision we will address is the selection of a new Coordinator for Contemplative Outreach-Chicago. Phil Jackson’s two-year term in this important leadership role is coming to an end, and the March 5 meeting will include a careful process to choose Phil’s successor. It would be very helpful to have a large turnout of Centering Prayer practitioners to participate in making this decision.

Our Discernment Day will take place Saturday, March 5, 8:30am – 3:00pm at Mary Seat of Wisdom Church in Park Ridge. Lunch will be provided. RSVP: If you can join us, please e-mail Phil Jackson at coordinator@centeringprayerchicago.org so that we can plan for the right number of participants.

We look forward to seeing you on March 5!

The Wisdom School – Part 2: The Wisdom Way of Knowing

Cynthia-Bourgeault-The-Contemplative-Society-986x1024 — Cynthia Bourgeault

by Alan Krema

(In our newsletter last month, Alan introduced the Wisdom School as a means of enhancing and deepening our experience and attentiveness to the divine indwelling, which is the core of the Contemplative Outreach vision. This month, in Part 2, he provides an overview of the true meaning of wisdom, and in later newsletters will describe the core elements of wisdom as taught in the Wisdom School. – Ed.)

Cynthia Bourgeault’s book, “The Wisdom Way of Knowing” (WWoK) is an excellent starting point and introduction to Wisdom. She describes Wisdom as, “a specific and precise lineage of spiritual knowledge…an ancient tradition, not limited to one particular religious expression but at the headwaters of all the great sacred paths.”

If you feel called to work with this Wisdom tradition, I will invite you at the end of this article to respond to that call and join a practice group.

The wisdom practice engages our entire being. This includes three centers: the intellectual center, the heart center, and the moving center. To deepen our experience of the methods of centering prayer, lectio divina, and the welcoming prayer, we practice observing these three aspects of the self. This leads to a way of knowing that engages the full self, not just the brain or intellect. In seeking wisdom, we must also use the knowledge of the heart and the body to become more deeply aware.

Read more...

Centering Prayer is the core practice, and envelops all the other Wisdom School activities. It is the method we use to search for, and hopefully discover, our True Self. The primary element of Centering Prayer is our intention to consent to the divine presence and action within. In WWoK, Cynthia writes, “When our center begins to wobble, it’s a pretty sure bet that what is lacking is not means but depth. Depth is obtained by engaging more of our self in our experience… Using the ancient tools of Wisdom, we discover once again just how precious these tools really are. Mindful work, sacred chanting, meditation, prayer, and above all an intentional rhythm and balance to the day: these are not just activities; they are gateways of perception – floodgates of perception, in fact.”

WWoK describes seeing with the heart as the flow of divine energy and love into our living form. It is possible to train this ability — we have to see, or know, with our heart. Our heart is an instrument of spiritual perception. The heart lies deeper in our being than the mind or the emotions. The heart is the source of psychic awareness, intuition, wisdom, a sense of unity, aesthetic and creative faculties, and image-forming and symbolic capacity.

The heart is our connection to the cosmic mind. We so often sense connections to the cosmic human family. We are so connected today, informationally, that our mind has difficulty managing it all. Have you ever thought you need to stop spending so much time on Facebook? But because of the information, we can readily connect to Syrian refugees, the spread of terrorism, the violence perpetrated in our cities. Too often our interpretation of these connections is helplessness or fear. This is because of the inadequacy of rational explanation and management of the whole of the world.

When we are able to train our heart to perceive, we connect to others in a way that is pure and simple. We hold a resonance with others, and compassion is the result. From the point of this deep connection, right and mindful action will take place.

In the introduction to the WWoK, Thomas Moore calls out: “You don’t need factual knowledge nearly as much as you need the special kind of wisdom described in these pages. Take the vision offered here and create your own path, guided by centuries of sharp, perceptive insight into the spiritual life. Be serious about your spiritual ideas and practice. Take a radical position in relation to your secular milieu. Most important of all, do everything you can to nurture your spiritual intelligence. It is your only genuine source of hope, direction, meaning, and comfort.”

The deepening of our Centering Prayer practice is the place to begin, and to begin again, as a practice of Wisdom. We have in our newsletter this month an opportunity for you to provide your input and feedback about programs we are considering to offer to our chapter. Please take a moment to respond to the survey. Also, if you feel you are drawn to participate in a Contemplative Outreach Wisdom practice group, you can email me at alkrema@gmail.com.

Please Help Plan Our 2016 Programs

Contemplative Outreach – Chicago is currently evaluating two programs we may offer later in 2016. Each program would consist of a series of Saturday workshops beginning in fall 2016 and extending through spring 2017. We will almost certainly offer one of the programs, and may offer both if there is sufficient interest in participating. (Note: These activities would be in addition to our annual Fall One-Day Workshop, not in place of it.)

Please help us by clicking this link to complete a quick survey (less than five minutes) that will help us gauge the level of interest in each program and decide how to proceed.

The Living Flame Program

One of the programs we are considering is called The Living Flame. This long-established Contemplative Outreach program has been well-received when previously available in Chicago, but hasn’t been offered here in about ten years. Based on Thomas Keating’s writings and programs, Living Flame is appropriate for anyone who has a new or well-established Centering Prayer practice and is interested deepening the contemplative experience.

Read more about the programs...

Living Flame includes seven all-day Saturday sessions of in-depth spiritual study presented by commissioned presenters from Contemplative Outreach. Designed to teach the vital conceptual background needed to support a faithful practice of Centering Prayer, the program also offers encouragement and support in a small community setting, heightens the awareness of the purification process, helps discern when psychological skills can be helpful tools, and provides the opportunity to give and receive spiritual companionship.

While prices for the programs have not yet been finalized, to cover expenses, the cost of participating in the Living Flame program will be about $280, including all seven sessions. The intention is for all participants to take part in the complete series, in order to receive the full benefits. Scholarships will be available for anyone who would find the cost to be a hardship.

Living Flame workshop themes include:

Lectio Divina: Scholastic method, Christian prayer rooted in Scripture, relationship

The Refinement of Centering Prayer: Exploring the sacred symbols (word, breath, glance), active/breath prayer, minute book

The Human Condition: True self/false self, emotional programs for happiness

Divine Therapy: Understanding the Spiral Staircase, the healing process initiated by Centering Prayer

The Dark Night of Sense: Signs/temptations, mourning

The Welcoming Prayer Practice: Consent on the go, Mary and Martha

The Discernment Practice: Advantages/disadvantages, refining our question

The Living Wisdom Program

The second program we are considering is called The Living Wisdom Series. This new program is designed to supplement Centering Prayer and other spiritual practices.

The vision and hope of the program is to deepen the contemplative wisdom in each participant. Many of the themes are core pillars of the Wisdom School as taught by Cynthia Bourgeault. These themes are awareness methods, which help us to do our traditional methods with more of our whole being. Alan Krema, who is developing this program for Contemplative Outreach – Chicago, has been a student of the Wisdom School for the past six years.

The Living Wisdom Program would offer a series of five all-day Saturday workshops. While prices for the programs have not yet been finalized, to cover expenses, the cost of participating in the Living Wisdom program will be about $200, including all five sessions. The intention is for all participants to take part in the complete series, in order to receive the full benefits. Scholarships will be available for anyone who would find the cost to be a hardship.

The themes of Living Wisdom are:

Rhythm of Life: Benedictine Monastic Model. Introduction of the role of Centering Prayer, Conscious Work, Communal Prayer, Communal Work. Emphasis on the contemplative wisdom way of knowing. Guest: A visiting monk from the Benedictine Monastery at Snowmass, CO.

Sacred Breath and Sacred Chant. Touching and sensing our interior through breath and chant. Breath as divine indwelling and divine exchange. Divine presence and action within. Body awareness and conscious work. We will explore contemplative chanting through guided group practice as a means of: expanding attention and presence; deepening embodied spiritual awareness; freeing body, mind, and emotions from habitual ‘blocked’ energies and conditioned attitudes. Guest: Darlene Franz, D.M.A., whose chants are used in Wisdom Schools throughout the United States and beyond.

The Thomas Gospel. The Thomas Gospel is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. It is not a narrative gospel like the more familiar texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John— that is, it doesn’t tell the story of Jesus. Instead, it presents itself as a collection of his teachings, which coalesce around three themes: attention (or conscious presence); divine immediacy (the “nowness” of God’s kingdom); and “singleness” (what we might call “wholeness” or “the unification of being”). Guest: Matthew Wright. The Rev. Matthew Wright is an Episcopal priest working to renew the Christian Wisdom tradition within a wider interspiritual framework. He lives with his wife, Yanick alongside the brothers of Holy Cross Monastery.

Heartfulness and Wholeness. In this workshop, we will look at the heart as an organic system of perception, including spiritual perception. We will explore incorporating a practice of heart awareness in daily life, in the practice of Centering Prayer, and in relation to Thomas Keating’s teaching of the internal True Self – False Self dichotomy. Guest: Alan Krema. Alan Krema has been a student of Cynthia Borgeault in the Wisdom School lineage for the past six years and is a Wisdom School facilitator for introductory groups. He is also a student in the Living School of Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation, and has been involved in Contemplative Outreach in the Chicago area for the past 15 years and serves on the Chicago Chapter Circle of Service.

Welcoming Prayer and Conscious Work. Welcoming Prayer practice deepens our relationship with God through consenting in ordinary activities. It helps dismantle the emotional programs of the False-Self system and 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 Centering Prayer. Mary Mrozowski, one of the founders of Contemplative Outreach, formulated the welcoming prayer based it on the seventeenth century French spiritual classic Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade as well as Fr. Keating’s teachings. Guest: to be determined.

Winter Weekend Retreat: Lodging Waitlist and Commuter Registration

Understanding and Navigating the Dark Night: February 5-7 at the Portiuncula Center

This year’s retreat, led by the Rev. Dr. Shawn Kafader at the Portiuncula Center in St. Francis Woods, Frankfort, Illinois, will explore St. John of the Cross’ concepts of the Dark Night of the Senses and the Dark Night of the Spirit — together these have come to be known as The Dark Night of the Soul.

Lodging for the retreat is full, but we are maintaining a waitlist, in case of cancellations. Also, “commuter” registrations are still available. To join the waitlist, please e-mail Alan Krema at alkrema@gmail.com. To sign up as a commuter, click this link and mail in the registration form by February 2.

2016 Events Scheduled at Healing Gardens

Healing Gardens, a lovely two-acre expanse of woodland and perennial gardens in Saint Charles, Illinois, has announced a number of contemplative events during 2016. Plans include two opportunities to take part in introductory Centering Prayer workshops, the first on Saturday March 19, and five scheduled Silent Saturdays, the first on March 5. For more information, visit the Healing Gardens website.

Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey – Chicago Community

by Kate Manos

The Lay Cistercians are a group of committed Christians who feel called to follow the Cistercian charism and spirituality of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky. We are ordinary people living ordinary lives who give ourselves over to the seeking of God’s will in our lives through spiritual formation that leads us to become people of prayer. We strive to practice the Liturgy of the Hours, Lectio Divina, praying often and listening to the silence so that, through God’s grace, we may receive the gift of a contemplative prayer life.

We study the Rule of Benedict and the Cistercian values to guide us as we seek insight into our lives and relationships. In doing so, those values mold our modern lives towards simplicity, silence, prayer and community. Our Chicago group is one of eight Lay Cistericans of Gethsemani communities. Others are located in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, as well as other parts of the United States. All communities exist with the blessing of the Abbey of Gethsemani and are guided by their counsel to ensure our lay Cistercian presence in the world reflects the monastic call to love and sacrifice through work and prayer for God Alone.

The Chicago community meets on the second Saturday of every month for an afternoon of Lectio Divina, prayer, sharing and discussion of common reading. Additionally, all eight communities participate in an annual retreat at the Abbey of Gethesmani.

Find out more at Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani or contact me at kpmanos@att.net.

Insights

Nature is full of genius, full of divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.

– Henry David Thoreau

No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.

– Thomas Merton

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the steam. Have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.

– Sheng-Yen

Creation is the primary and most perfect revelation of the Divine. The immense diversity and pluriformity of this creation more perfectly represents God than any one creature alone or by itself.

– Thomas Aquinas

Your Turn

Do you want to comment on or add to any of the items in this month’s newsletter? Are you aware of an upcoming event you think other contemplatives should know about? An inspirational quote you’d like to share? A book, website, podcast, or video to recommend? If so, please contribute by emailing the newsletter editor at news@centeringprayerchicago.org.