CONSD offers local retreats, days of prayer, and formation events online and in-person. At the worldwide Contemplative Outreach Ltd. website, you can find the latest information on online and onsite retreats offered nationally and globally — see THIS LINK and click on the “Events” tab at the top right.
———–UPCOMING LOCAL EVENTS———–
The recording of this event will soon be available. Look for it in our “Resources: Videos by CONSD” tab.
———–SOME UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE U.S.———–
ONGOING: OPENING MINDS, OPENING HEARTS: A Podcast Series by Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., first launched in November 2022. With Colleen Thomas and Mark Dannenfelser. Seasons 1 and 2 of this podcast series are complete and available HERE or through your favorite podcast provider platforms. Interviewees include Carl McColman, Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown, Fr. Adam Bucko, Pastor Tia Norman, Fr. Greg Boyle, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Heather Ruce, Dr. Rory McEntee, and others.
The Spiritual Journey Program for Young Contemplatives, with COL’s Young Contemplatives Community. The Spiritual Journey Program is a series of teachings structured in five parts. The program consists of 100 videos, all of which are accessible online. These teachings provide a backbone for the contemplative life and the psychological background for the work of Centering Prayer in the formation of our spiritual lives. Beginning Saturday, July 13th 2024 and each Saturday after, facilitators from our Young Contemplatives community will hold space for our 40s and under community to journey together through the program. Each Saturday for one hour, 10:30am – 11:30am (Eastern Time US) a facilitator will guide a small group through the program. The hour will consist of a short Centering Prayer sit, viewing of the video teaching from the week’s session, followed by a time of faith sharing and discussion around the week’s themes. These are open, drop-in meetings. No pre-registration is required. Anyone is welcome to join as often as possible! We recognize it may not be feasible to come every Saturday but do encourage you to follow along with the sessions, viewing the videos for the previous week(s) you may have missed. We ask that those who join do so with their camera-on. The Zoom space will be monitored by the facilitator(s) to create a sacred and safe space. If you are not able to be fully present and participatory with your camera on we kindly ask that you complete the session on your own and join us another week! For more info and to access the Zoom link, please click HERE.
Contemplative Living I: Contemplative Practices in Daily Life, with Julie Saad. This four-month long online course is experiential, guiding participants to deepen their experience of the abiding presence of God by cultivating their contemplative capacities. Participants will learn and integrate contemplative spiritual practices into daily life within a community of seekers through monthly meetings, a weekly online prayer chapel, personal practices, and monthly Holy Listening Circles (group spiritual direction). Contemplative practices are the doorway into the gift of contemplative prayer where the journey that begins in the silence of our hearts leads us into the heart of God. As we cultivate contemplative practices in ordinary daily life, we begin to experience oneness with God and all creation. Online, Sept. 1 to Dec. 1, 2024. For more info and to register, please click HERE.
Living Flame 2 Program, with COL’s Living Flame Service Team. Living Flame is a seven-day in-depth spiritual formation program presented over seven months by commissioned presenters of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. It’s designed to heighten the awareness of the dynamics of Centering Prayer in the context of the spiritual journey. This year’s Program (LF2) includes seven additional topics and is being offered globally on Zoom. Individuals and small in-person groups of five people or fewer are invited to participate. LF 2 is open to everyone who has participated in LF 1 as well as to those who have had a daily Centering Prayer practice for a year or more and who have reflectively read Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating. Registration and participation in the program is a commitment to all seven sessions. Topics for the Living Flame Program are noted in the Living Flame brochure. Each retreat-like day is facilitated in a five-hour scheduled format which includes: two periods of Centering Prayer; two presentations with Q&A; small group sharing; silent breaks, and time for a meal. Dates: 2024 – Sept. 7, Oct. 5, Nov. 2. 2025 – Jan. 11, Feb. 1, Mar. 1, Apr. 5
Time: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM Eastern Time (-5 UTC). For more info and to register, please click HERE.
The Spiritual Journey Series, with Contemplative Outreach of Colorado. Based on Thomas Keating’s Spiritual Journey video series, this program guides participants to the transformative awakening and healing to be found along the contemplative path of consent to God’s presence and action within each of us. It incorporates psychological, as well as spiritual, aspects of dysfunction and healing as a means to make the mystical more accessible to 21st century pilgrims. This Spiritual Journey series consists of an Introductory Workshop followed by eight courses based on the video series by Fr. Thomas Keating, designed to support the daily practice of Centering Prayer. These courses are an attempt to provide a road map, as it were, to the journey that begins when Centering Prayer is seriously undertaken. It seeks to point to the recognizable landmarks on the journey as well as to its ultimate destination. The richness of the material presented by Fr. Thomas does not age or lose its impact. Those of you who have had a Centering Prayer practice for several years will be enriched as you hear Fr. Thomas from a new place in your heart. On Zoom — initial workshop begins on September 14, 9:00am to 12 Noon Mountain Time. Continuing course sessions begin on September 17 and continue through the fall of 2024. For more info and to register, please click HERE.
Embracing Life: The Welcoming Prayer, with facilitators from Contemplative Outreach. This is a new and revised version of a very popular e-course with step-by-step instructions on a letting-go prayer to use in the midst of everyday life. The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit — the Divine Indwelling. Through the Welcoming Prayer, we consent specifically to what we experience in our bodies as we react to what happens to us and around us in daily life. The Welcoming Prayer helps us greet these automatic reactions with compassion and replace them with more measured and loving responses. This e-course includes these components: • Videos covering the essentials including the method of the Welcoming Prayer and key underpinnings of the practice. • 12 emails (sent Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week), reviewing core teachings and supporting practices. Monday and Wednesday emails explore key topics further. Friday emails answer frequently asked questions. • Step-by-step instructions on the Welcoming Prayer with a guided audio version to assist your practice. • A one-hour live Zoom call (also recorded) featuring the e-course leaders from Contemplative Outreach. • Mini-practices to root the Welcoming Prayer in your daily life. • E-Course facilitators addressing your questions and comments in the online Practice Circle. Online, Nov. 4 – 29. For more info and to register, click HERE.
Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop. Centering Prayer is a receptive method of Christian silent prayer which deepens our relationship with God, the Indwelling Presence…a prayer in which we can experiences God’s presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. Give yourself and those you love the opportunity to settle in, let go, and let God be God. Everyone is welcome; no previous experience required. In person at Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church, Mission Viejo, CA, on Nov. 9, 9:00 AM to Noon Pacific Time. For more info and to register, please click HERE.
Thomas Keating: Centering Prayer and Spiritual Transformation, with Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington. “The spiritual journey,” writes Thomas Keating, “ is not a career or a success story. It is a series of humiliations of the false self that becomes 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.’” –The Human Condition, p. 38. During this online retreat we will engage in Centering Prayer, watch Thomas Keating’s teachings on the emotional energy centers, and reflect on our own spiritual journeys. Father Thomas Keating was a Cistercian monk, abbot, spiritual advisor, and founder of Contemplative Outreach Ltd. Through his writing and teaching he brought the practice of Centering Prayer to the contemporary world. On Zoom, Nov. 16, 9:00 AM to 12 Noon Eastern Time. For more info and to register, please click HERE.
**************************************************************************************************
Scholarships to attend retreats and events are available from CONSD and from Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. Please email consdinfo@gmail.com to inquire.
For more information on CONSD events, call Linda Dollins at (760) 743-8297 or Mary Williams at (760) 822-3916.
For information on COSD (Contemplative Outreach of San Diego) events, see the COSD website, www.contemplativeoutreachsd.org