PLACES AVAILABLE ON NOVEMBER RETREAT 7-10 NOVEMBER AT VOLMOED

2 Places have become available on the November retreat due to folk not being available. If you are interested and would like to come please give me  call or drop me an email asap and I will send you a form.

Contact details: 021-9198322 (h)
                            0725865241  (c)
                            newtond@telkomsa.net

Next Silent Retreat Nov 2016

The next 3 day Individually Guided Silent Retreat will be on 5-8th November 2016 at Volmoed in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley near Hermanus in the Western Cape. Unfortunately this retreat has already been fully booked but Please would you contact Rev. Dave Newton at newtond@telkomsa.net or on 0725865241 if you would like to be put on a waiting list. Please call and do this even though it is already fully subscribed because if there are enough on the waiting list then we could consider another retreat before year end.

A Definition of Prayer from Richard Rohr

"Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It is, rather, a stance. It is a way if living in the Presence. It is, further a way if living in awareness of the Presence, even enjoying the Presence. The full contemplative is not just aware of the presence, but trusts,allows and delights in it."

From Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

What our world is looking for ......

What the world longs for from the Christian faith is the witness of men and women daring enough to be different, humble enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burned in the fire of love, real enough to make others see how unreal they are. Jesus, son of the Living God, anoint us with fire this day. Let your word not just shine in our hearts, but let it burn. Let there be no division, compromise, or holding back. Separate the mystics from the romantics, and goad us to that dare-devil leap into the abyss of your love.

From Reflections for Raggamuffins by Brennan Manning

A TIMELY REMINDER FROM ANTHONY DE MELLO

Here then is another reason why apostles withdraw to make a retreat; they need to be charged with the Holy Spirit.The Holy Spirit is given to those who watch and pray and wait patiently, those who have the courage to get away from everything and get to grips with themselves and with God in solitude and silence. No wonder every one of the great prophets, and indeed Jesus himself, retired to the desert for long periods of silence, prayer, fasting, wrestling with the forces of evil. The desert is the furnace where the apostle and the prophet are forged. The desert and not the marketplace. The marketplace is where apostles function. The desert is where they are formed and seasoned and receive their commission and their message for their world, "their" gospel. (Emphasis mine)

-From Contact with God by Anthony De Mello

Classic Nouwen quote: Solitude

"Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Jesus himself entered into this furnace. There he was tempted by the three compulsions of our world; to be relevant ("turn stones into bread") to be spectacular ("throw yourself down") and to be powerful ("I will give you all these kingdoms"). There He affirmed God as His only source of His identity. ("You must worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.") Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great encounter - the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the living God who offers Himself as the substance of the new self.......

.......Solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather, it is a place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the new man and woman occurs."

-From The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen

Please note that the March 3 day retreat is full. There is a growing list for the June retreat so if you are interested in your name being added please let Dave Newton (contact details on previous posts) know.

FIRST 3-DAY SILENT RETREAT FOR 2016

The first 3-day Individually Guided Silent Retreat will be at Volmoed, a Retreat Centre in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley just outside Hermanus from 14-17 March 2016. As always this retreat will be a time of connecting with God, yourself, and your particular call or vocation, in the silence, and the emphasis is on your journey with God rather than any program or agenda. Taking time to re-connect with the Source of our lives, i.e. God, should empower us to touch our broken world with renewed passion and energy. If  you would like to know more or to receive forms please contact Dave Newton at newtond@telkomsa.net, or on 0725865241. Total cost per person R1099.