Living the Beatitudes: Discovering the Mystical Truth of Jesus’ Words

Living the Beatitudes: Discovering the Mystical Truth of Jesus’ Words
Hybrid retreat: On site* at Mercy Center and Online

May 27-31, 2021
Begins Thursday at 4:00 p.m. and concludes Monday at 12 p.m. (Pacific Time)
$400 *on-site, $400 online (Learning grant funds available on request.)

“Consider that the [Aramaic] word Jesus uses, which we have traditionally translated as ‘kingdom,’ is related to the word for the ‘Great Mother’ in the Middle East; the word we translate as ‘daily bread’ means nourishment of all kinds and derives from the roots for the divine feminine and for Holy Wisdom or Sophia.” — Matthew Fox

Emergence from this very difficult year of pandemic can be seen with the eyes of the heart as a great birthing of a new world. How do we align ourselves with this vision, join in this “one great act of giving birth?” What could be better guidance than the Beatitudes, Jesus’ instructions for realizing the Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth. And when we revisit his teachings with the help of Neil Douglas-Klotz’s translations from Aramaic, Jesus’ own language, we are brought home to a transformed relationship with the cosmos.

Join us as we give ourselves―body, mind and emotion―to this labor of love.

How will the hybrid retreat work?
You are invited to join us from your own home OR AT MERCY CENTER in Burlingame as we practice integrating prayer with our life, in our circumstances as they are. Teaching sessions will include experiential, participatory, and embodied exercises to draw us more deeply into the healing, contemplative space. Breaks will be provided for further integration.
Program Features
• Live Online Centering Prayer Sessions – Join via Zoom (at Mercy Center or at home) at scheduled times or practice on your own.
• Live Online Teaching Sessions – Join us live via Zoom (at Mercy Center or at home) or view recordings at a later time.
• Live Online or in-person Small Groups – for experiential processing (not recorded).
There will be teachings on the Beatitudes by Catherine, Heather and Joy.

You can participate in one of three ways:
1) From home online. The retreat is designed so that you can choose as much or as little of it as fits in your life, on any given day.
2) In person* at Mercy Center, participating online from your laptop in your own room and enjoying the beauty and peace of the grounds.
3) In person* at Mercy Center attending in a spacious room together with masks and social distancing. Bring your laptop, reusable beverage container, a yoga mat (optional). We’ll meditate in that same room, so you can bring your meditation cushion if you like.
Meals will be served in eco-friendly containers and can be eaten in the conference room, in your room, or outside on the patio.

Everything will be on Zoom so we’ll all be sharing the retreat no matter where we are. Be met, trusting that God’s love surrounds all of it, all of us, exactly as we are.

*On-site participants must be fully vaccinated for COVID 19 and follow our onsite COVID protocol.

Optional reading: We will be presenting some material from the book “Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus” by Neil Douglas-Klotz. You are welcome to purchase it ahead of time if you like, but it will not be necessary – we will provide supportive handouts for the retreat.

Catherine Regan, Ph.D. is a spiritual director, retired psychologist, and adjunct staff member at Mercy Center, primarily serving on the Centering Prayer team. She has a special interest in participating in the reclamation of the Christian Wisdom tradition and fostering the contemplative practices so urgently needed at this time in our world.

Heather Ruce, M.A. is a wisdom spiritual director with a background as a therapist and training in a neurophysiology based approach to trauma resolution. She loves working with individuals as well as facilitating groups and retreats focused on learning and practicing the Wisdom Tradition.

Joy Andrews Hayter, Ph.D. is a spiritual director, and Centering Prayer coordinator at Mercy Center. Joy is dedicated to fostering contemplative practices such as Centering Prayer and others within the Christian Wisdom tradition that help us become aware of God’s ever-present love. As a scientist (and dancer, writer, and hiker) she sees in the physical world an expression of that love.

Please register at www.mercy-center.org or telephone 650-340-7474
Registration closes May 26, 2021