If you’ve ever wondered what Mary and Eve would talk about if they met, a retreat by the Benedictine nuns at Jamberoo Abbey might give you some answers.
Led by Sr Antonia Curtis osb, the online offering held on 16-17 July will provide participants with an opportunity of self-reflection of the Mary and Eve within each of us and if one is stronger than the other.
Sr Antonia said the two-day retreat titled Prodigal Mother and Daughter would look at our own conflicting prodigal tendencies.
She said the word ‘prodigal’ has two meanings in Hebrew – one is extravagant and lavish and the other is undisciplined and wasteful – and how we determine how they sit within us.
“This retreat is a lot of imaging and wondering, it’s about a dialogue between Mary and Eve that never happened but more what they might have said to each other if it did,” she said.
“We’ll look at how we can encourage the Mary in us to become stronger in how she relates to the world but also look at Eve with compassion, and enable us to embrace our own weaknesses and vulnerability and tendency to be prodigal.”
“It’s not Scripture-based but a Lectio Divina process where we open it up a little and wonder.
“Mary was so extravagant and lavish in some many ways including compassion, love, wisdom and gentleness while Eve was undisciplined and got caught up in pride and was prodigal in that sense which is what we will discover.
“We’ll look at how we can encourage the Mary in us to become stronger in how she relates to the world but also look at Eve with compassion, and enable us to embrace our own weaknesses and vulnerability and tendency to be prodigal.
“This retreat is for anybody, so men shouldn’t be put off by the fact that we are looking at the Mary in ourselves because they also have a Mary and Eve within each of them.”
As part of the retreat, there are limited opportunities for a 30 minute one-on-one Zoom session with Sr Antonia where anything from clarification of the material, a sharing of your journal or spiritual guidance can be explored.
For more details or to enrol go to the retreat section on the Jamberoo Abbey website https://www.jamberooabbey.org.au/retreats/online-retreats/
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