We make journeys. We take journeys. Sometimes journeys take us. Geographical journeys move us from one address to another – across the city or across the world. Life journeys take us from one season to another – we grow up and leave home, get married and unmarried, start a career and end a career.
Now in this last third of our lives we embark on another journey – we are pilgrims. It is the journey of coming to ourselves – stripped down, unencumbered, gently guided by God’s spirit through the blessings and challenges of this time of life.
Mark Nepo reminds us that:
To journey without being changed is to be a nomad.
To change without journeying is to be a chameleon.
To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.
In this eight-week course we will be guided by The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within written by Christine Valters Paintner (publisher: Sorin Books). Paintner is a Benedictine oblate and the online Abbess at AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery integrating contemplative practice and creative expression. She is a poet and the author of 16 books on the spiritual life. Christine lives on the wild edges of Ireland with her husband, John, where they lead retreats and other programs online for a global ecumenical community (From U. S. Catholic webpage )
As we journey on this pilgrimage, we will seek wisdom from each other and from our own souls. We gather as an online community for eight Thursdays starting September 8, 4 to 5:15 p.m. (Central time)
- You are welcome to join us online by emailing Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com. Or you may undertake the study on your own. Either way, you will need to buy your own copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within by Christine Valters Paintner .
Our weeks will include
Click the title of each week for the material.
Questions? contact Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62 @gmail.com.
(To support independent book retailers, order this book from St. Mark’s Bookstore at www.stmarksbookstore.com. Have questions or need help? Contact Carla Pineda at stmarksbookstore@gmail.com. )
The Wisdom Years 