The Great Silence: Invitation to Community

Don't be ashamed of tears.

The earth's tears keep her flowers blooming.

~Rabindranath Tagore

Those who shed tears as they plant will sing for joy

when they reap the harvest.  Psalm 126:5

Well, I don't cry much.  I seem to hold all of my tears stored within me for a time when I am able and able is not always and never at the drop of a hat!  It just doesn't work that way for me or perhaps I just don't allow it.  What holds me back?  What always holds me back is that I might be taken to a place where I will get lost in them, a place that I cannot return from but it is really that I won't return without having been transformed and that is ... just a tiny bit scary maybe.  It could be 1 million, 1 thousand things really.  Maybe I don't like to feel lost, even though I think I am lost a lot but I don't let it show.  Sometimes, I wonder if I'll ever be found ... my mind is a maze (not a labyrinth) and my heart is easily overwhelmed.  Ahhh ...

Almost time to go home, at the end of our retreat, we sent forth our retreatants with a love feast and a time of gentle sharing.  Lo and behold, as I began sharing my journey through the silence, grief and guilt with this community, the gift of tears were mine.  And it wasn't scary at all.  It was good, it still IS good.  

I've been touched in my inner being through this community of caring contemplative "BEings" and it is good, very good. 

Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.
~Anthony J. D'Angelo 

And our little community of contemplatives care about the world, too.  As we made our journey of silence, we prayed for peace in the world through our Intercessory Prayer World Map ... for a contemplative is never complete without action!  If you look closely you will notice the small "jewels" with which we adorned our world map to symbolize our prayers. 

and my joy is complete for our 2015 Great Silence!  Amen and Amen!

Perhaps you might like to attend The Great Silence next year.  Email me and ask to be put on my Monthly Newsletter List and you'll get all the up to date news for The Great Silence, other retreats and offerings of MOSAIC Spiritual Formation Ministry:  Email Cindy 

To begin this journey from the beginning, take this link:  The Great Silence