Retreats

In 2015 Pope Francis published the encyclical Laudato Si, issuing a call to Catholics to reflect on how consumerism and irresponsible development impacts environmental degradation and climate change. It is also a call, not only to Catholics, but to all people of Earth to take “swift and unified global action.” The release of the encyclical purposely coincided with the gathering of the nations for the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.

Six years later, how are we doing? In California we have been increasingly distressed during our “fire seasons,” as are our neighbors in Colorado, Oregon, and as far as Australia. Given our prayer with Pope Francis during this retreat day, we will be each have the opportunity to reflect on our own responsibility and response to this ecological crisis.

This morning of presentation, reflection, and dialogue is co-sponsored by Santa Sabina Center and the Friends of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. 

Sr. Pat, a Dominican Sister of San Rafael, is the hosting manager here at Santa Sabina Center. Sr. Pat, a trained meditation teacher and retreat leader, has served in congregational leadership, and most recently was executive director of the Dominican Sisters Conference. She is a member of the Sophia Zen Sangha and enjoys sharing how Zen and Christianity complement each other.

We speak of the Incarnation, the gift of God present in and through Jesus the Christ. Rightly we stand in awe before the gift. Yet, there is more to this gift, that is the call to recognize in and through our baptism that we are each the ongoing Incarnation at work and play in the world. As we grow in the imitation and love of Christ, we incarnate evermore deeply the holy and allow God’s gift to come to fullness in us. By divine design we are to become the fullness of the Incarnation, the very Body of Christ.

Join us as we contemplate this marvelous call. Our Dominican preaching team – Sisters Patricia Bruno, Margaret Diener, Pat Farrell, Raya Hanlon, and Father Jude Siciliano – will break open the Word, manifest in Scripture, Creation and Community during our time together. Each day will provide opportunity for presentations, prayer together and privately, and Eucharist.

Where do we find meaning, connection, and a sense of the sacred in a challenging and divisive time? The future is pressing in. How do we move past disillusionment and discouragement and maintain our zest for living as we move into the future?

More than ever, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s understanding that humanity and, in fact, the entire universe is “going forward” toward a transformative consciousness, the Noosphere, which provides the basis for a renewed faith in human development.

Join cosmologist Brian Thomas Swimme in an exploration of spiritual pathways to a deeper understanding of evolving consciousness as a foundation for hope. The weekend’s presentations will reflect Brian’s personal journey, i.e. the shaping of his life and view of the Universe and the Noosphere. There is, indeed, a reason for hope in Cosmological Consciousness that can reshape and empower our lives, too.

Brian, Director of the Center for the Story of the Universe and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, is a long-time friend of Santa Sabina Center. It is a joy to welcome him for our final weekend retreat at the Center.  Brian is the author of The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, and The Universe is a Green Dragon. He is co-author of The Universe Story, which is the result of a ten-year collaboration with cultural historian, Thomas Berry. Swimme is also the creator of three educational video series: Canticle to the Cosmos, The Earth’s Imagination, and The Powers of the Universe. He co-wrote and hosted the 60-minute documentary film Journey of the Universe (2013), broadcast on PBS television stations nationwide. His newest book will be released in November and will be available at the retreat.