2024 Advent Retreat via Zoom
“St. Augustine says, ‘What does it avail me that this birth is always happening, if it does not happen in me? That it should happen in ME is what matters.’ We shall therefore speak of this birth, of how it may take place in US” (emphasis added).
~ Meister Eckhart, O.P.
Giving Birth to God
The incarnation offers us a blueprint that invites imitation, not admiration. Mary is the model of faith. What she did, each of us is also called upon to do, namely, give birth to God in our lives. As St. Francis of Assisi wrote long ago, “We are all mothers of Christ.” Christmas is for marveling at what once took place when the Word of God became a human baby, but it’s also for remembering the Gospel call to become Christ, remembering that Christians are to continue to give God flesh in the world.
For God to take on real flesh and power in the world we must first do something. What? The answer lies in the way Jesus was born. Over 20 years ago, Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, pointed our a four-fold pattern.
Impregnation by the Holy Spirit. Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, an event that occurred unseen by human eyes in which Mary herself couldn’t have understood all the implications of her YES. We too are invited to allow God’s spirit to fill us with life, trusting that God will become visible – incarnate – through us.
Gestation of God within one’s body. Pregnancy was not followed immediately by childbirth. The long, slow process of gestation took place in the silent recesses of Mary’s heart and body (as it does in ours). How do we protect and nurture the divinity – God’s grace, God’s divine life hidden within us until it becomes strong enough to move out into the world?
The agony of giving birth. Only with much groaning and stretching of the flesh can a child emerge into this world. How do Christians navigate the slow process of bringing God to birth in the world today, a process filled with increasing discomfort, with “false labor,” and with unexpected danger, but also with helpful friends and neighbors as well as caring professionals?
Nurturing an infant into adulthood. Both the mystic Caryll Houselander and the novelist Annie Dillard offer insights into helping the Christ born in and from us come to maturity. They update the call heard first in the writings of St. Augustine about the importance of this birth taking place within US. Like Mary who gave birth to a baby who was divine, we too are invited to nurture the life of God born from our partnership with the Holy Spirit.
Join us for this year’s Advent Retreat on Saturday, December 14th from 10:00 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. (EST) on Zoom. The retreat day will include times of reflection, small group sharing, and an opportunity to meet with one of our spiritual director interns to process and unpack what the Holy Spirit reveals to you during the retreat.
Donation: The requested donation for this retreat is $50. Partial scholarships are available by emailing exec.director@wvis.org.
Registration Deadline: December 12, 2024
Questions: email Sr. Cheryl Clemons, cheryl.clemons@maplemount.org or call (270) 244-0394.
WVIS is a 501 (c)(3).
Contact
1601 Virginia Street East
Charleston, West Virginia 25311
304.345.0926 (main)
304.345.8206 (fax)
Information contained on this site is for the sole use of members of The West Virginia Institute for Spirituality community and may not be used for commercial purposes. All content, unless otherwise specified, is the property of The West Virginia Institute for Spirituality and may only be used with permission. © 2025 The West Virginia Institute for Spirituality.