Offered by Martin Laird, O.S.A.

Thursday, May 23 – Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Cost: $625   (Scholarships available)

“A Darkness all of Light”. This line from a poem by Franz Wright serves to focus our days dedicated to the practice of contemplation, conference, discussion, and silent table fellowship.

Silence itself has no opposite. For the silent mind, sound is as silent as no sound. For the decluttered mind, despair and delight manifest the very same silence we incessantly bodyforth by the simple fact that we are. But for the cluttered mind, such things seem to be at odds. To explore this, among other things, Fr. Martin will consider such challenges as: the inner noise generated when we try to use contemplative practice to acquire something we think we lack; or get rid of something we would rather not have in our lives; or how the practice of “mindfulness” risks leaving us fixated on ourselves as our own contemplative projects; as well as other special challenges for the maturing contemplative.

Register for this retreat.

Fr. Martin Laird is no stranger to the Episcopal House of Prayer where he has led several retreats over the years. He has lectured and led retreats throughout the US, UK, and Republic of Ireland. He is Professor of Early Christian Studies at Villanova University near Philadelphia and the author of Into the Silent Land; A Sunlit Absence; and An Ocean of Light from Oxford University Press.

https://www.pbs.org/video/religion-ethics-newsweekly-father-martin-laird-on-contemplation/