Immersed in Your Beauty
Presenter: Sr Nory Ordiz, CM
“Let us rejoice, Beloved, and let us go forth to behold ourselves in your beauty…” (Stanza 36, Spiritual Canticle)

St John of the Cross sees each person as gifted, with great potential. Reflecting on his poems, especially the Spiritual Canticle, he will lead us to the discovery of our true and authentic self which is full of God’s beauty.

Artist’s Retreat
Presenters: John Charadia & Guest Tutors
The Light of Hope and Peace @ Mt Carmel Retreat Centre

Christmas – the birth and ongoing growth to maturity of our faith in Jesus. In the words of Verna Holyhead,
“flesh and spirit, concealment and revelation, time and eternity, divine glory and vulnerability: these contradictions are all wrapped in the holy gift of Christmas.”

Participants will explore this timeless gift while illustrating, painting and expressing personal artistic reflections on the scripture.

Hope in the face of terror
Presenter: Fr Paul Chandler, OCarm
Where is joy and hope when life can seem to be at its worst?

We live with bad news. The media bring us daily reports that range from sadness to horror, and dread becomes a sort of background noise to our lives.

This retreat will explore the possibilities of hope and joy when times seem at their worst. The Risen Lord, who plumbed the very depths of human sorrow, is our guarantee of a life full of meaning, peace, and wonder.

Love: the Flowering and Touchstone of the Christian Life
Presenter: Fr Gerard Moran, OCD
As Christians we are deeply loved and called to become lovers. In turn our life in God depends on how we open ourselves and respond to love.

The retreat will draw on the Word of God and the Wisdom of the Church and its Saints to open up this reality to our minds and hearts.

Lord, what do you want of me?
Br Emmanuel Noel, OCD
Am I being called to the priesthood or the religious life? Should I remain single, or get married?

Do you sometimes fancy being a priest, standing at the pulpit preaching or perhaps considered living a religious life (as a Sister/Brother), helping the poor, doing overseas missionary work, etc? Yet, at times, do you also see yourself married and having your own children? But also on other occasions, you just want to be happily single, living your own life with no worries and attachments to anyone. In sum, you feel unsure, confused!
We understand that such lifelong decision-making can be scary. If you are between 18-40 years of age, regardless of gender, and would like to further discover God’s plan for you, come to this weekend retreat where we will share our vocation stories and journey with you in prayer to better understand how you can respond to your vocation call to religious life, or married life, or singlehood.

Mary, Beauty of Carmel
Presenter: Fr Ferdinand de la Cruz, OCD

As listener to and the bearer of the Word made flesh, Mary is a model and a teacher

This day retreat will help us explore the spirit, doctrine, and way of life of Carmel exemplified by Mary our lady and mother.

Seeking a more intimate union with Jesus
Presenter: Bishop David Walker
How do I grow in my faith life?

The arch can be a symbol of the faith life: the keystone of the arch, which enables it to stand, is prayer. However, the sides of the arch are necessary to keep the keystone in place: they represent the transformation of our life i.e. to live as Jesus lived. These two, prayer and transformation of life, are inseparably intertwined. This retreat will challenge participants to reflect on their faith life in terms of these two essential characteristics of it.

On the Road with Jesus in the Gospel of Mark
Presenter: Michele Connolly
What can I learn from Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem for my own journey in life?

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus makes one great journey to Jerusalem. On the road with him, Jesus’ disciples hear wisdom from him and see him in his true glory. We will read some stories from this journey in a reflective way that can lead us into prayer, to encounter Jesus the risen Lord and to learn wisdom for walking our own life journeys.

Painting Salvation
Presenter: Steven Miller
The Giotto frescoes in the Scovegni Chapel of Padua.

A retreat using a cycle of frescoes painted by Giotto around 1305 for a small chapel in the Italian city of Padua. The themes of these frescoes are the Life of Christ and the Life of the Virgin. Divided into 37 scenes, these extraordinary artworks are not just objects of beauty in themselves, but are rich meditations on the history of salvation.

Marriage: Dark Nights in Married Life
Presenters: Geoff Stumbles & Janine Wilson
And things are not the same: Darkness and light in marriage.

Married life today presents enormous personal challenges. No longer is it the case that both people in a marriage conform to stereotypical roles that shape the way they live out their commitment. There is more emphasis today on the importance of individual growth and communication within the faith journey that is marriage.

What of those dark nights that are an inevitable part of this marital journey? How do I deal with the chronic illness, physical or mental, of a once healthy partner? How do I manage the conflicting aspirations of two professional careers in one marriage; the loss of financial security; the death of a child; betrayal; or an affair? Is being married preventing my growth in the Spirit?

The Carmelite spiritual tradition has been a rich source of inspiration and wisdom about finding an intimacy with God in the depths of the challenges, the pain and the suffering that are an inevitable part of life. In this weekend of reflection, we will be exploring this tradition to discover how it resources us on the spiritual pathway through the dark nights of marriage.