Sacred Practice 2022

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Exploring our own everyday experiences of God through the life experiences and spiritual practices of some mystics; Etty Hillesum, Theresa of Avilla, Meister Eckhart, and Teilhard de Chardin.

Program runs monthly on Thursdays February 24, March 24 and April 21.

Director(s):

Sr Ita Connery, FCJ, has been in the ministry of Spiritual Direction and retreat work for over 30 years. Her specialty areas cover dreams, Celtic spirituality, retreats on various spiritual topics, Ignatian spirituality, typology, the Enneagram, and personal growth. Ita uses art, quilting and mandalas as tools for exploring questions about life, faith, and spirituality. Trained in Myers-Briggs Typology and in Ignatian spirituality, Ita also holds a Certificate in Jungian Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland and is also a Mid-life consultant.

Patricia Harasym, a member of the FCJ Centre Resource Team, offers spiritual direction, individual and group retreats, and courses at the FCJ Centre. Patricia is on the National Council for the Canadian Community for Christian Meditation and facilitates Christian Meditation groups through the FCJ Centre. Patricia received her training in Ignatian Spiritual Direction at the FCJ Centre Calgary and her Master’s and Ph.D. level training in Communication and Culture from the University of Calgary. Her passion for compassionate and equitable communication underlays her deep desire to find God in all things.

Monthly Topics:

February 24, 2022 with Sr. Ita Connery FCJ

TERESA OF AVILA - A MYSTIC FOR OUR TIMES 1515-1582

Teresa, contemplative nun, spiritual director, gifted writer and saint was also a practical, down-to-earth woman with a sense of humour and immense courage. She is a wise guide to the blessings and pitfalls of the spiritual journey and the practice of prayer. Her images of the soul as a garden fed by four waters, or as a castle surrounded by a moat and with concentric layers or prayer places leading ever inward toward the indwelling Christ will inspire and help us this evening as we explore her images and her life. Teresa encourages those who are fearful, anxious or discouraged to keep on seeking and to believe that all things are possible. She writes:

“Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing upset you.

Everything changes. God alone is unchanging.

With patience all things are possible.

Whoever has God lacks nothing.

God alone is enough.”

March 24, 2022 with Patricia Harasym

MEISTER ECKHART  – The Birth of God in the Soul

For Meister Eckhart, the spiritual life does not consist primarily of activities or practices, but rather as “Life” - a journey back home to the Source of all life. Eckhart was fond of using the metaphor of birthing to express the energetic, albeit hidden ground of one’s being. “Something”, Eckhart says, pushes up from the heart, fills each and all parts within, and then cannot help but pour forth into the outer world. We will consider, with Eckhart, the ways in which we find ourselves drawn to the One Source. Eckhart writes:

“Likeness and fiery love draw up the soul and lead it and bring it to the first source of the One. Here, God’s ground is my ground, and my ground is God’s ground. Here I live from my own as God lives from his own”

April 21, 2022 with Ita Connery FCJ

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN: A World Illuminated from Within - 1881 – 1955

Fr. Pierre Teilhard De Chardin sees the whole universe contained within the burning heart of the Cosmic Christ. His ability to integrate his scientific knowledge with his belief in a God present in all creation challenges us today to enlarge our vision of our role in the universe story and how we may integrate our spirituality with the increasing discoveries of science. Teilhard, a Jesuit, lived and practiced a spirituality of “finding God in all things”.

Teilhard sees matter and all of creation as a manifestation of God’s presence, as lit from within with a fire- the fire of God’s love. He sees all of humanity as immersed in a holy Presence, the Divine Milieu.

With Teilhard we will ponder the mystery of the holiness of everyday things, of work, of prayer and of times of diminishment.

He writes: Since once again, I have neither bread nor wine, nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole world my altar and on it I will offer you all the labours and sufferings of the world.”