We turn our attention and longing to a 5-day silent retreat with time alone and together.
With guest teacher Eric Erickson.
Cost: Four nights, single room and board, $650. Commuter rate: $290. FMI: office@alcyoncenter.org.
This Silent Week retreat will focus on the most influential text on contemplative life and prayer ever written in English, The Cloud of Unknowing. A masterpiece of simplicity, The Cloud distills the ancient Christian tradition of advanced, contemplative practice toward union with God by emptying the mind of all images and concepts, reducing it to its barest essentials.
Its anonymous 14th century author refers repeatedly to contemplation as “the work of love,” the most important exercise one can do, not merely for ourselves but for the welfare of every human being and, indeed, for the well-being of the planet. In undertaking this practice, the author says, we fulfill Jesus’ teaching of the Great Commandment by taking up our cross as he did for the welfare of the whole world.
During Silent Week, the most vital questions are the ones we bring to our dialogue with Silence, with the support of our fellow retreatants. With Silence at the center, each day we will engage in five, 25-minute periods of contemplative prayer, about 90 minutes group discussion of excerpts from The Cloud, free time in the afternoons with the opportunity for individual spiritual guidance, while taking most meals and our evenings in Silence. One of the great, modern champions of The Cloud, Evelyn Underhill, summarized its method as “the loving discernment of Reality.” Our attention will be on what this means for us in our daily lives today.
Alcyon Silent Week 2021 Retreat Schedule
The Cloud of Unknowing (Readings Monday through Friday)
1 Chapters 1-9, 32-33 The Basics of Practice
2 Chapters 13-26 Contemplative Virtues: Humility & Charity
3 Chapters 34-44 (46-47), 69 Spiritual Journey: From beginner to advanced
4 Chapters 48-51, 54; Formation in Christ: Enacting kenosis
Privy Counseling 4, 8
5 Chapters 59-60, 67-75; Ascension: Embodying Christ in the world
Privy Counseling 19-24