Retreat on the Mystics

Thomas Keating and Mary Mrozowski

Discover how Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO, created a new way for ordinary people to reach God and deepen their relationship with him through Centering Prayer. Find out how one of his early disciples, Mary Mrozowski, a lay contemplative living in Chrysalis House, in Warwick, New York, wrote the Welcoming Prayer. We will learn how Fr. Thomas’ work on the human condition heals us to grow closer to God while practicing Centering Prayer and the Welcoming Prayer.

Images: Keating image by Christopher, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Mzorowski image from www.marymrozowski.com

Henri Nouwen

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) is considered one of the great spiritual teachers of the 20th century. A Catholic priest born in Holland, Nouwen taught in the prestigious Divinity schools of Yale and Harvard before, at the age of 54, he answered a vocational call to join L’Arche Daybreak, an intentional community for people with intellectual disabilities close to Toronto, Canada. A self-described lonely and anxious person with a gift for honest exploration of his interior world, we’ll find in him a possible model for “creating space for God” in and among the messiness of life.

Image: Nouwen image by Frank Hamilton – www.henrinouwen.org, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Presenter

Maggie Winfrey
A contemplative for 46 years, Maggie has guided adult spiritual enrichment classes, retreats, and contemplative groups. A commissioned presenter of Contemplative Outreach Centering Prayer Introductory Workshops, she is the chapter coordinator of Contemplative Outreach Atlanta as well as the Atlanta representative for the International Thomas Merton Society. Her current writing projects include poetry and decoding contemplation and the wisdom of the mystics for everyday audiences.

Presenter

Gabrielle Earnshaw
Gabrielle Earnshaw is the founding archivist of the Henri J. M. Nouwen Archives and Research Collection at the University of St. Michael’s College, a position she held from 2000 to 2016. She holds a BA (Hons.) in History from Queen’s University and a Master’s of Archival Studies from the University of British Columbia. Earnshaw has been the adviser to the Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust for twenty years and is consulted throughout the world on Nouwen and his literary legacy. She is the editor of numerous posthumous works by Nouwen and recently authored Henri Nouwen and The Return of the Prodigal Son: The Making of a Spiritual Classic (Paraclete Press, May 2020). Earnshaw lives in Toronto, Canada.