Contemplative Outreach News
Volume 20 , Number 1 · Spring/Summer 2005

The Wedding Feast at Cana ||From the President || Contemplative Life Program
20th Anniversary Fundraising Tour || Reader's Reflections || In The News
The Spanish Corner || Chapter Updates || Contemplative Outreach News Home

The Spanish Corner
by Ilse Reissner

We recently received several significant donations that have made a tremendous impact on Contemplativa Extensión. Thank you J.R.,Maria T.,John, and Elizabeth. Thanks also to the members of our board, who have always been our main supporters. Our blessings continue as Mexico and Nicaragua were recently recognized by their local cardinals, a big step forward.

Mexico: Many activities and events were held these last months, following Fr. Thomas’s visit in August. Our coordinator couple, Judith and Julio, offered Introductory workshops and retreats in many cities. Fr. John Martin and his local group have been busy in the Yucatan Peninsula. The cardinal in Mexico requested workshops and retreats for the Mexican clergy and seminarians. This is a BIG change from this same cardinal’s opposition to the teaching of Centering Prayer when Judith first tried to introduce it there five years ago.

Nicaragua: Something very similar happened here, the cardinal asked the local coordinator, Aida Maria Herdocia to direct their annual clergy retreat, to include the cardinal himself. Fr. Gilberto Walker, who is building a contemplative community in Cuba, accepted our invitation and obtained permission from his Provincial to go to Nicaragua in November, accompanied by Adalberto Henriquez. This is a significant event. We ask for your prayers in support of this five-day retreat. Puerto Rico and Venezuela: Our coordinator in Puerto Rico, Marilú Asón, is now overseeing our work in Venezuela. Please see the letter from Venezuela below.

Our blessings continue 
as Mexico and Nicaragua were recently recognized 
by their local cardinals, a big step forward.

Formation for Presenters Workshops: In El Salvador, the team will be Leila Membreño and myself, along with two locals who attended our 2002 Formation Workshop in Orlando. Following the Annual Meeting of Contemplative Outreach in Austin, in October, there will be a presenter’s workshop on the “Refined Essentials”. We ask all our presenters to try to attend the Annual Meeting and then stay for this. Last, but not least, we have another Formation in Mexico, November 16 to the 23rd. The cost for the workshops in El Salvador and Mexico are very reasonable.

Extensión Contemplativa de Venezuela 
by Fr. Beda Hornung OSB

It is a pleasure for me to present to you the new branch on the tree of Contemplative Outreach: Extensión Contemplativa de Venezuela. This year, from February 4 to 8, the first retreat on Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina was given in Venezuela. It was held at the Benedictine Abbey of San José, Güigüe (pronounce: “Weewe”), just south of the Lake of Valencia. The long weekend of carnival gave us enough time to become familiar with this discipline. The time table and the choir office of the monastery were of great help in our efforts to remain centered.

Since the middle of last year, Mrs. Belkina Gamboa, Caracas, and Fr. Beda Hornung OSB, Güigüe, began to organize this retreat. Including Fr. Beda, monk of the Benedictine community, there were 20 participants. Besides a majority of women, participants came from very different walks of life, and different professional and pastoral activities. Most of them had read the book, Open mind, Open Heart; and everyone showed great interest in the presentations and the practical exercises. Because of the limited number of rooms available, quite a few people could not participate and will have to wait for another opportunity, hopefully in the near future. In our country there is much hunger for serious and deep spirituality combined with practical help to put it to work. 

Our guides into Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina were Mrs. Marilú Asón and Sister María Milagros Carbonell, both from Puerto Rico. Marilú, with her fine humor, came across very well. And Sister María Milagros touched us with her simplicity and depth. With the help of both, we really got the best out of this retreat. On Monday evening, they told us how to organize the prayer groups. There will probably be two groups: one in Caracas, from where nine of the retreatants came, and another one in Valencia, about 150 km (100 miles) west of Caracas, from where eight other people had come. The other three have no one nearby in their areas. Marilú will be the Coordinator for Venezuela, and Belkina Gamboa will be the local contact person. Everything related to Extensión Contemplativa de Venezuela will be her responsibility. 

The group wanted to invite a number of people for another retreat in the future. But, being new in this and with little experience, we decided to wait until the end of the year, practicing faithfully twice a day our Centering Prayer, and allowing the Lord to transform us. By the middle of October, all of us will meet again for a weekend at the Abbey, to share our experiences of Centering Prayer and Lectio, and to deepen some aspects, if necessary. From then on, we will see what happens. Our thanks go to Extensión Contemplativa who sent us two very qualified persons and who, to a large extent, provided for their travel expenses. Our thanks, with a special greeting, go also to Fr. Thomas Keating who has dedicated several decades of his life to rediscovering the great gift of contemplation and to making it accessible to modern people like us. All of us have the privilege of harvesting the fruits of what he has sown. Thanks, Father, and God bless you!

The Wedding Feast at Cana || From the President || Contemplative Life Program
20th Anniversary Fundraising Tour || Reader's Reflections || In The News
The Spanish Corner || Chapter Updates || Contemplative Outreach News Home