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Fall 2012 We welcome you to this, our Fall 2012 newsletter. Our 2011-2012 year was rich in experience, with major events featuring Fr. William Meninger in November and Fr. Martin Laird in April. We have no speaker dates for the remainder of 2012, but are working on a presenter for November 2013. We call your attention to the many ongoing activities that provide support for the practice of Centering Prayer. Several of these are amplified in this newsletter. Foremost are the individual practice of Centering Prayer and its encouragement through Introductory Days and in the many small groups meeting in homes and churches for weekly reinforcement and community in quiet. For information about scheduling an Introductory Day, contact Sr. Rachel, and for prayer group listings see our web site (www.contemplativeoutreach- phoenix.org). We also note the new contemplative prayer sessions at St. Francis parish in Phoenix and the ongoing activities at St. Barnabas in Paradise Valley. Two more of our ongoing activities are featured in these pages. Look for an explanation and invitation regarding our monthly core meetings, and for Jeannie Lashinske’s piece about the “Why” of making an Intensive Retreat (and for 2013 retreat dates as well). Other opportunities include events at the Franciscan Renewal Center (www.thecasa.org), for example, the retreat titled “The Process of Forgiveness” by Fr. Meninger, scheduled for November 9-11, 2012. The newsletter also includes a poem by Kate Brophy, a review by Dave Murray of Fr. Laird’s A Sunlit Absence, and a summary of last Spring’s “United in Prayer” day by Tina Murray. We take this chance to remind you of some of the resources of the Contemplative Outreach international organization. Its web site (www.contemplativeoutreach.org) will lead you to many presentations, archived newsletters and Fr. Thomas’ articles published over the years. Also accessible are event schedules in the U.S. and the world. October 25 and 26 this year will be the gathering of the annual Contemplative Outreach Community Conference in Snowmass to celebrate the community’s relationship with Saint Benedict’s Monastery. This promises to be a joyful celebration with Fr. Thomas and his Cistercian brothers present to the greater community. As we assemble this newsletter, we are reminded that the Phoenix chapter of Contemplative Outreach has been blessed by 20 years of faithful service, and looks to the future with optimism and hope. If you are able to help with your energy or with your resources (for example, by augmenting funds available for retreat scholarships as costs rise) please let us know. In any event, be assured of our interest and prayers for your continued spiritual nourishment. Your Core Community of Phoenix Contact People The following may be contacted for information about Contemplative Outreach programs and meetings in their area. • Rick & Kathy Kramer-Howe....Phoenix 602.955.6057 • Robert Johnson.........................Prescott 928.717.2441 • Phil and Mary Leonard.............Phoenix 480.966.7558 • Rusty Swavely ..........................Sedona 928.300.2949 Dear Contemplative Outreach Community Members, We welcome your input to this newsletter. Please send any suggestions or comments to Kathy Kramer-Howe at [email protected] or Rusty Swavely at [email protected]. If you would like to write an article on Centering Prayer or related topic please contact Kathy Kramer-Howe. 1
Transcript
Page 1: Newsletter Fall 2012contemplativeoutreach-phoenix.org/files/Contemplative... · 2016-09-13 · Fall 2012 We welcome you to this, our Fall 2012 newsletter. Our 2011-2012 year was rich

Fall 2012

We welcome you to this, our Fall 2012 newsletter. Our 2011-2012 year was rich in experience, with major events featuring Fr. William Meninger in November and Fr. Martin Laird in April. We have no speaker dates for the remainder of 2012, but are working on a presenter for November 2013. We call your attention to the many ongoing activities that provide support for the practice of Centering Prayer. Several of these are amplified in this newsletter.

Foremost are the individual practice of Centering Prayer and its encouragement through Introductory Days and in the many small groups meeting in homes and churches for weekly reinforcement and community in quiet. For information about scheduling an Introductory Day, contact Sr. Rachel, and for prayer group listings see our web site (www.contemplativeoutreach-phoenix.org). We also note the new contemplative prayer sessions at St. Francis parish in Phoenix and the ongoing activities at St. Barnabas in Paradise Valley.

Two more of our ongoing activities are featured in these pages. Look for an explanation and invitation regarding our monthly core meetings, and for Jeannie Lashinske’s piece about the “Why” of making an Intensive Retreat (and for 2013 retreat dates as well). Other opportunities include events at the Franciscan Renewal Center (www.thecasa.org), for example, the retreat titled “The Process of Forgiveness” by Fr. Meninger, scheduled for November 9-11, 2012. The

newsletter also includes a poem by Kate Brophy, a review by Dave Murray of Fr. Laird’s A Sunlit Absence, and a summary of last Spring’s “United in Prayer” day by Tina Murray.

We take this chance to remind you of some of the resources of the Contemplative Outreach international organization. Its web site (www.contemplativeoutreach.org) will lead you to many presentations, archived newsletters and Fr. Thomas’ articles published over the years. Also accessible are event schedules in the U.S. and the world. October 25 and 26 this year will be the gathering of the annual Contemplative Outreach Community Conference in Snowmass to celebrate the community’s relationship with Saint Benedict’s Monastery. This promises to be a joyful celebration with Fr. Thomas and his Cistercian brothers present to the greater community.

As we assemble this newsletter, we are reminded tha t the Phoenix chapter of Contemplative Outreach has been blessed by 20 years of faithful service, and looks to the future with optimism and hope. If you are able to help with your energy or with your resources (for example, by augmenting funds available for retreat scholarships as costs rise) please let us know. In any event, be assured of our interest and prayers for your continued spiritual nourishment. Your Core Community

of Phoenix

Contact PeopleThe following may be contacted for information about

Contemplative Outreach programs and meetings in their area.

• Rick & Kathy Kramer-Howe....Phoenix 602.955.6057 • Robert Johnson.........................Prescott 928.717.2441 • Phil and Mary Leonard.............Phoenix 480.966.7558• Rusty Swavely..........................Sedona 928.300.2949

Dear Contemplative Outreach Community Members,

We welcome your input to this newsletter. Please send any suggestions or comments to Kathy Kramer-Howe

at [email protected] or Rusty Swavely at [email protected]. If you would like to write an

article on Centering Prayer or related topic please contact Kathy Kramer-Howe.

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Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix Fall 2012

News from St. Barnabas, Paradise Valley ➟Monday Centering Prayer group, 7pm in the Music

Building, will resume on September 10. Following a 20 minute sit, the initial presentations will be a series of DVD’s featuring Richard Rohr, OFM and Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, Ph.D., entitled GOD AS US! -the Sacred Feminine & the Sacred Masculine. Contact Ethel Sickert at [email protected] with questions.

➟Tuesday Centering Prayer Meetings are held from

9:00-10:30am in the Learning Center in St. Matthews Room. Following a 20 minute sit, segments of the video series JESUS and the BUDDHA, by Richard Rohr, OFM and James Finley are discussed. For further information contact Susan McDaniel at 602-765-8880.

➟Quiet Days will resume Saturday, September 15,

9:30am-1:00pm. Fr. Jim Clark will give a reflection followed by time for personal reflection and a 20 minute sit. Quiet days are held the 3rd Saturday of each month. Contact the St. Barnabas office at 480-948-5560 for details.

➟An introductory session on Centering Prayer will be

held on Saturday, October 6, 9:30am -3:00pm in the sanctuary at St. Barnabas. Fr. Jim Clark will be the presenter on developing a Centering Prayer practice. Follow-up sessions will be held on the next five Tuesdays at 7:00pm in the Music Building. Registration is required. Contact Liza Bell at [email protected] or 602-527-6161.

➟The 6th Annual Silent Retreat will be held November 29-December 2 at Redemptorist Retreat Center in Tucson. This is a silent, self-directed retreat. Cost is $339.00 for a single occupancy and $296.00 for double occupancy. For information regarding this retreat, contact Ethel Sickert at [email protected]. For registration contact Barbara Pickrell, Registrar, at [email protected] or 480-945-0469.

News from Sedona ➟A six session course on Centering Prayer, the

Prayer of Consent, begins on Thursday, October 4, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at St. John Vianney. This course includes the Centering Prayer Introduction and follow-up sessions. For more information or to register for the course please contact Rusty Swavely at 928-300-2949 or e-mail her at [email protected].

News from Flagstaff ➟On Saturday, October 6, the Episcopal Church of the

Epiphany in Flagstaff will host a Day of Prayer and Reflection in Two Parts.

Part 1 A Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop will be offered from 9am to noon. Part 2 An afternoon of prayer and reflection will be offered from 1pm to 4pm and include a DVD presentation by Fr. Thomas Keating. Participants may attend either the morning or afternoon session or both. To register or for information about the program and lunch options please contact Sue Norris at [email protected] or call her at 928-526-6684 (home) or 520-491-0132 (cell)

Event Announcements

Centering Prayer Small GroupsThe intent of Contemplative Outreach is to foster the process of transformation in Christ in one another through the practice of Centering Prayer. Most people find the small Centering Prayer Group a great support for their practice. Please see the website www.contemplativeoutreach-phoenix.org for locations, meeting dates and times, and contact people for each small group. You may also call one of the contact people listed on the front page for information. To report any changes to the information for a Centering Prayer Small Group listed on the website please contact Kathy Kramer-Howe, [email protected], 602.955.6057

Introductory Centering Prayer WorkshopsContemplative Outreach of Phoenix has trained presenters who are available to present Introductory Centering Prayer Workshops to anyone who is interested. The workshop is generally four hours long and consists of several presentations and practice sessions. There are six Follow-up Sessions which assist participants in understanding the workshop concepts more fully. Please contact Sister Rachel or another member of the Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix Core in order to arrange a presentation. We will come to your church or facility to make the presentations. Workshops presented at various sites are generally posted on our website. There is a donation of $20 for the workshop. Contact: Sister Rachel Torrez at [email protected] or call 602.944.2728.

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by Mary Leonard

From time to time this question comes forth: how does Contemplative Outreach operate or who runs Contemplative Outreach? Or even, what is Contemplative Outreach?

Let us start with the last question. The National Contemplative Outreach webpage puts it succinctly this way: “The intent of Contemplative Outreach is to foster the process of transformation in Christ in one another through the practice of Centering Prayer.”

Here is the local history. In the early 1990’s Fr. Thomas Keating gave a Centering Prayer retreat at the Casa. From that retreat experience and other budding contemplatives in the Valley and Tucson, there was interest in a Formation workshop, a week- long seminar on teaching Centering Prayer. The National Office from New Jersey sent a trained team comprised of Centering Prayer practitioners from around the US (Maine, Texas and Colorado to name a few) to present a training workshop to over 20 participants. After a rigorous session, some participants agreed to form a group to establish, teach and support Centering Prayer in the Valley.

A group gathered in a private home for Centering Prayer, a pot-luck and planning for Introductory Days. Each month the group gathered, ate together and shared the good news. Little by little small prayer groups were sprouting in the Valley and beyond. Little by little the word was getting around. We were invited by various communities ---- Episcopal, Lutheran and Catholic among the invitations --- to present Introductory Days. From these presentations, more prayer groups evolved either at a church setting or in a private home. From the monthly group we had members going to Snowmass for intensive retreats. The monthly group decided to do an annual 4-day retreat for the greater community. Twice we invited Fr. Thomas to

come to the Valley and do a major presentation for the greater community of Phoenix and the state of Arizona. Small group communities pitched in and helped as we had hundreds of people attending these events.

The small group continued on. Now we met in a church room for prayer and crock pots of soup and bread provided by group members. We continued on supporting the cause --- teaching and supporting Centering Prayer. Some people left and others came. Sometime along the way we began calling ourselves the core community. We had two coordinators in the

beginning, along with a secretary and a treasurer. Eventually we moved to one coordinator and finally we found ourselves operating in a new way --- no coordinator but a month ly cha i rpe r son who coordinates the meeting, and someone who agrees to take the meeting notes and send them on for the next meeting. When it comes to money matters we still have a treasurer!

The updated version follows: every 4th Tuesday from August through May, a small core community (6-14 members) gathers at Central United Methodist Church at 7:00 pm for Centering Prayer and a meeting to discuss how we can support Centering Prayer in the month(s) ahead. Within this group are individuals who plan and teach Centering Prayer Introductory Days,

order the books, invite and plan presentations by well -known speakers, work on intensive retreats, write the newsletter, update the web page - to name some of our recent activities. Each person gives where s\he can. Often times it is a matter of bringing a suggestion and opening it to the group, asking for approval and assistance. We try to operate by consensus, the method that the National Office uses. To some it might not appear very organized or structured, but to those who participate, the core group has evolved into a caring community that bands together to “foster the process of transformation in Christ in one another through the practice of Centering Prayer.” If you want to support our mission, come and see.

...the core group has evolved into a caring community that

bands together to “foster the process of

transformation in Christ in one another through the

practice of Centering Prayer.”

The Core Community

Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix Fall 2012

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by Jeannie Lashinske

  Every   winter   Contempla1ve   Outreach   of  Phoenix   offers  an   Intensive  Centering   Prayer  Retreat  at  Santa   Rita   Benedic1ne   Abbey   in   Sonoita,   Arizona   (40  miles  SE   of   Tucson).     This  opportunity,   for  anyone  who  has  been  centering   for  at   least  6  months,   is  a  powerful  way  to  become  deeply   rooted  in  the  prac1ce  and  fruits  of  Centering  Prayer.    The  retreat  features  Parts  I,  II,  and  III  of   the  “Spiritual  Journey”  DVD   series  by   Fr.  Thomas  Kea1ng.     The   flow   of   the   day   consists   of   mul1ple  Centering   Prayer   sessions,   the   DVD’s,   free   1me   for  hiking,   journaling,   reading,   drawing,   etc.,   and  opportuni1es  to  join  with  the  sisters  at  Santa  Rita  Abbey  in  their  services.       The   schedule   Contempla1ve   Outreach   of  Phoenix  adheres  to  on  our  retreats  is  the  same  schedule  that  Fr.  Thomas  Kea1ng  developed  with  the  retreat  team  in  Snowmass,  CO   in   the  early  1980’s.     It   has  stood   the  test   of   1me   and   enfolds   the   wisdom   of   Fr.   Thomas.    

Retreatants  con1nually   express  their  deep  gra1tude  for  having   said  yes  to   this  1me  of   luxury  where  they   allow  for   a  week   away   from   the   busyness   of   daily   life   and  invest   1me   in   God,   themselves,   and   their   prayer  prac1ce.    Paradoxically  incredible  community  bonds  are  created   amongst   the   retreatants   in   the   silence   and  depth  of  the  prayer.   Meanwhile   the   full   richness   of   the   “Spiritual  Journey”  DVD’s  provide  the  mental  nourishment  in  the  form   of   explaining   so   clearly   the   Psychological   and  developmental  growth  that  occurs  due  to  our  consent  to  this  deep  rest  we  call  Centering  Prayer.   Finally   par1cipants  speak   of   feeling   very   loved  and   nurtured   by   the  beau1ful   bounty   of   food   that   is  prepared  for  each  meal.     So  perhaps  this  is  the  year  to  treat  yourself  in  a  most  loving  and  sweet  manner  by  giving  yourself  the  gi\  of   a  retreat.    Come  taste  and   see  the  goodness  of   the  Lord!   (Par1al  scholarships  are  always  available)

by Janet Shreve ...And Jesus said, "Come apart with me to a desert place." As I drove south from Tucson on Hwy 83 through the lovely soft-colored foothills toward Santa Rita Abbey, I thought of the many wonderful 3-4 day retreats that I'd attended sponsored by Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix. I was embarking on my first 8-day Intensive Retreat and was so looking forward to it. When I arrived for the retreat, I was struck by the beauty of the setting. The retreat center and abbey are situated at the base of the snow-capped Santa Rita Mountains. On that first day and every day of the retreat as I walked on the grounds, the "quiet" was so profound except for an occasional sound of a bird, the wind or the bells of the abbey. This was truly a holy place. We started our day early each morning (while it was still dark) as we met in the candlelit chapel for our first "sit." It was one of my favorite times of the day on the retreat and I continued this ritual when I returned home. It's a wonderful way to start the day. Previously, I rarely centered more than once a day. Following the retreat, I felt compelled to do two sessions of Centering Prayer daily. Also, a 20-minute

session seemed short after becoming accustomed to the longer sessions of the retreat. The experience of the Intensive has deepened my relationship with God. When I hear the gospel read in church it is more "alive" for me and I feel closer to Jesus. Fr. Keating said the gospel is to be lived and to be internalized at a deep level. "When the gospel is read in church, Christ is present. Sometimes its message goes straight to the heart because you already know it inside and it comes to light." These daily videos with Fr. Keating at the retreat were very enlightening. Attending lauds and sharing Eucharist with the sisters and hearing their sweet voices as they chanted were another special part of the daily ritual. As always, centering as a group was powerful. When praying and working together a relationship develops, even in silence. The loving and selfless team who served us exuded some of the qualities I see as an important part of the contemplative path - love, humility and faithfulness. As I continue on the path, these are qualities I strive for. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend this Intensive Retreat and hope to return at some time in the future.

Intensive Retreats - Silent RetreatsContemplative Outreach of Phoenix Fall 2012

What is an Intensive?

Reflection on an Intensive

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Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix offers 8 day, silent intensive retreats to those who are interested in renewing and deepening their relationship with God through Centering Prayer. The retreats take place in Sonoita, AZ at the Trappistine Monastery,* with a lovely setting on high desert terrain. There are seven single rooms; one room can accommodate two retreatants, if two people want to share. Each room has its own bath.

The retreat food is vegetarian.

Santa Rita Abbey, Sonoita, AZ

Intensive Retreats - Silent Retreats - 2013

*Check out the Santa Rita Abbey webpage: santaritaabbey.org

Intensive Retreat: January 4th – 12th

The retreat is open to all who have a 6 month Centering

Prayer practice. We will have 3 one hour prayer sessions

daily and listen to 2 Fr. Thomas Keating Spiritual

Journey DVD’S. Plus we will share in Lectio Divina.

Also available is the opportunity to participate daily in

Lauds, Liturgy (Communion Service) and Vespers with

the Trappistine Sisters. There will be talking at the

evening meal.

Post-Intensive Retreats: January 25th–February 2nd February 2 2nd – March 2nd.Pre-requisite: Must have attended an intensive retreat. This retreat consists of 4 one hour prayer sessions daily. There is time for individual quiet time: writing, sketching, walking, etc. We also share in the sisters’ prayers of: Lauds, Liturgy, Vespers and Compline. This is a totally silent retreat.

Registration: Beginning September 1, 2012:

Write, call or email Jeannie Lashinske at: 5728 E. Orange Blossom Phoenix, AZ 85018Phone: 480 423 1645 Email: [email protected]

The retreat fee is $500.00. This is the first time we have raised the fee in the many years we have been doing the retreats. With food prices continuing to move upward, we are in need of more resources. Scholarships are available. If you have a need, please talk to Jeannie Lashinske when you register.The shared room will be 425.00 each.

A non-refundable $100.00 registration fee reserves your room. Please make out check to Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix. Questions? Ask Jeannie or email Mary Leonard: [email protected].

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reviewed by Dave Murray In a follow-on to his earlier book Into the Silent Land, Martin Laird’s A Sunlit Absence weaves together the deep insights of Christian saints, mystics and poets with case studies of everyday people and Laird’s own deep awareness of the contemplative path to provide a powerful guide for those seeking a deeper level of contemplative awareness. Laird transitions us from his previous work by reminding us that contemplation is a prayer art that seeks God not by active searching in the way one would search for an ordinary object, but instead surrendering ourselves and allowing God in his Grace to reveal an awareness beyond words and thoughts; an expansive, pure and enlightened state, “a sunlit absence”. While disengaging our minds from the distractions of our exterior life, which have the power to otherwise devour us is central to this practice, Laird underscores that contemplative prayer is not a means of escaping our lives. Instead it works within the context of our lives to form an integrated dynamic to open us. Laird best expresses this by saying “As our practice matures and deepens, so will our experience of ordeals, sorrows, and joys of life, however they happen to be at any given moment, also expand into generous, receptive maturity”. In short, we learn to pray contemplatively through our difficulties, not around them. Laird introduces basic tools honed throughout the centuries by Christian mystics. Fundamental among them is the awareness that certain patterns of life, with potential to ensnare us into compulsive and disruptive behavior, can pull us from the contemplative path. These thoughts, first codified by Evagrius, a 4th century Egyptian monk, are known as the eight deadly sins or “afflictive thoughts” and are identified here as gluttony, impurity, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory and pride. It is not “if” but “when” we are caught up in the whirlwind of emotion churned up by these thoughts that we lose contact with reality grounded in our true selves and God. Rather than despair, Laird instead shows how this seemingly hopeless state, when coupled with our contemplative practice, can be transformative. Emphasizing this, Laird cites St Isaac of Nineveh who tells us that “Without temptations, God’s concern is not perceived, nor is freedom of speech with him acquired, nor is spiritual wisdom learnt, nor does the love of God become grounded in the soul”. Much is said about silence. While, physical silence facilitates focusing the mind into resonance with stillness, it is merely a catalyst in opening the door to the deeper expanse of internal Silence. It is this internal Silence that is the bedrock awareness we seek. Its

limitless expanse cradles and permeates the physical and emotional realm, embracing both the turbulent and tranquil, the quiet and noisy, providing a context wherein we can be of the world yet not be consumed by it. To this point, Laird cites Meister Eckhart speaking to his students of this inner Silence “if he is in the right state of mind, he is so whether he is in church or in the market place”. Having pierced the veil of compulsive and obsessive thought that opens us to the ground of awareness, we face the challenge that this awareness extends beyond any capacity of the thinking mind to grasp, for we have now entered into the unknowable referred to by the 14th Century classic The Cloud of Unknowing. The resulting stage of spiritual growth is what St. John of the Cross terms the “night of the senses” and is many times accompanied by a spiritual aridity or boredom. Laird notes “that with nothing for the thinking mind to do, it feels bored or even anxious”. Far from an excuse to abandon the consolation of our once juicy prayer practice, this stage of growth is a positive signal according to Laird that “our prayer is going deeper than

where our thoughts and feelings reach”. It is in this phase of our journey that we are called to begin abandoning ourselves unconditionally to God and through the continued vigilance of our practice enter deeper within this Mystery as we slowly learn to “walk by faith and not by sight” as St Paul instructs us. Possibly the greatest obstacle to our contemplative journey is our vainglory and pride or ego, played out in scenarios that St John of the Cross termed “sharp trials of the intellect”.

Rather than oppose the grace that seeks to displace it, our ego slyly embraces it as its own and then smothers it in the way a boa constrictor suffocates a sleeping prey; slowly and silently without struggle, almost undetected until the end. This underlies a key trait of the ego, it simply does not want to let go which is diametrically opposite to the contemplative path. Here, Laird points out that boredom, “serves to pry loose ego’s grip on whatever it is holding on to”, and that illustrates that once the role of the ego is illuminated by our practice that “This humbling self-knowledge is a crucial component to the deepening of our practice”. Turning again to St. John of the Cross who “insists that this light we are filled with is a ‘very loving light’ ” but for lengthy stretches of the spiritual journey, as our practice deepens, this “ ‘very loving light’ enables us to see aspects of ourselves that we would rather not see but nevertheless bear our name”. It is at this stage of the journey we must rely solely upon faith alone to direct and sustain us, as our senses, manipulated by the ego, tell us that our lives are falling apart at the sight of what we see in ourselves. In the end it is this very faith that is one of contemplations greatest gifts.

‘A Sunlit Absence’ by Martin Laird

Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix Fall 2012

...contemplation is a prayer art that seeks God ...by surrendering

ourselves and allowing God in his Grace to reveal an awareness

beyond words and thoughts; an expansive, pure and enlightened

state, “a sunlit absence”

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Spending a day with Fr. Laird

Father Martin Laird returned to Phoenix last April 14 and spent the day with 107 contemplatives at Central United Methodist Church praying with us and presenting his thoughts on stillness and silence. The title of the day was a quote from Evagrius, a fourth century spiritual writer on asceticism, “Let Stillness be the Criterion for Assessing Everything.” Fr. Laird spoke in a quiet gentle voice and shared from the rich depth of his own stillness. His second book, A Sunlit Absence, is reviewed by Dave Murray in this newsletter. Fr. Laird referred to a story told by Kathleen Norris in her book Amazing Grace. She asked a class of school children to make as much noise as possible and then to be as silent as possible when she gave a signal. After a few tries with this exercise she observed that “the silence became a presence in the classroom”. She then had them write about the silence and she noted how

making silence liberated the imagination of so many of the children. Fr. Laird commented that “out of silence imagination and creativity are born.” Another statement by Fr. Laird is “Once we get acclimated to the ordinary liberating boredom of our prayer a new dynamic will begin. We can see something we need to see - maybe humiliating self-knowledge or even deep pain.” Thus the silence and stillness of our prayer overrides our expectations and opens us to what God wants us to hear. Fr. Laird answered a question on pain and suffering. He said there is a silent center to pain but what gets in the way is our commentary on the pain. It is this commentary which causes our suffering. In referring to his own experience with pain, Fr. Laird said silence and solidarity are one and “when I sit in prayer I sit in solidarity with all people who suffer”. The day left me with many things to ponder. I appreciated Fr. Laird’s presence, and recommend spending quiet time with his new book.

Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix Fall 2012

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a reflection by Rusty Swavely

United in Prayer Dayby Tina Murray

On March 17th, 2012 Contemplative Outreach of Phoenix was honored and blessed to host the United in Prayer Day at the beautiful Central United Methodist Church in Central Phoenix. This was the 20th Annual Contemplative Outreach United in Prayer Day. This event had its humble beginnings in 1992 and was presented to the Contemplative Outreach Worldwide Community as a means of joining together in a silent bond of prayer and enrichment. Since that time, thousands of participants have taken part in this yearly event. I have only been involved in the United in Prayer Day for the past few years. I am always touched by the number of people who make the drive from all over Arizona to share this day with their brothers and sisters in Christ. The sprinkling of eager folks who are new to the practice and full of thought provoking questions and new awakenings adds much to the day.

As always, we were blessed with a glorious day and began with a 20 minute period of Centering Prayer. The first presentation was a 44 minute DVD titled “The House of God, The Womb of God”, a talk by Fr. Thomas Keating, as well as a revealing interview with Fr. Thomas. His topics were, “The House of God, The Word of God”, “Offering Self to God”, “Levels of Consciousness” and “Dispositions of Centering Prayer". After viewing the DVD, we gathered in small groups for some wonderful, engaging discussion followed by another 20 minute period of Centering Prayer. The second presentation was a 16 Minute DVD entitled "Reflections on Lectio Divina” by Fr. Micah Schoenberg. We gathered in groups once again to discuss and reflect on Fr. Schoenberg’s insights on Lectio Divina. We closed with a prayer of gratitude for all of the gifts in our lives today and for another opportunity to take our relationship with God just a little bit deeper. We said our goodbyes, and most of us will surely gather together next year to once again come together to share in prayer, reflection and silence.

Page 8: Newsletter Fall 2012contemplativeoutreach-phoenix.org/files/Contemplative... · 2016-09-13 · Fall 2012 We welcome you to this, our Fall 2012 newsletter. Our 2011-2012 year was rich

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The Quiet Journey by Kate Brophy I pray for golden wingsto carry me beyond the sunto hold me safeacross the silver nightto the other side of the moonwhere there is no fearand freedom givessafe harbor in thedark nights of life I pray for quiet journeyinto hopewhere life and death are oneand in each momentthe curtain riseson a new and splendid placewhere beauty never endsand joy sings wild songsto keep eternity alive

from One Equal Eternity (Poems of Passage, 2009)


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