Eve gave us the world as we know the world: beautiful, yet needing care; full of the Creator’s energizing Spirit yet calling for humanity’s cooperative co-creation. Eve models a most serviceable blueprint for human maturation. Without Eve, there would be no imaginable imperative for us to desire Wisdom.
Sheba holds a similar desire for wisdom, as her geographic territory beckons beyond a Garden of Eden, the original cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia, to encompass the Arabian Peninsula and Africa and points beyond. Sheba, like Eve, models women’s status as equal to men’s in humanity’s desire for wisdom.
Both Eve and Sheba will speak to us in her first person voice. Also every retreatant will receive a Wisdom satchel containing: ancient written documents (The Enuma Elish for Eve and The Kebra Nagast for Sheba); historical context; scripturally-inspired narrative poetry; authoritative wisdom regarding the deep connections of biblical, scientific and evolving faith consciousness; a study-prayer guide for The Song of Songs; and much more!
The intention of this retreat is to pursue wisdom as that unfolding process, begun for all of us at the moment of Creation, continuously unfolding through the ages to our present time and into the evolving, yet unknown, future!
The retreat will include presentation, group discussion and time for personal reflection.
This is a women’s retreat, presented by Mary Ellen O’Dea, OP. Check-in begins at 4pm and the retreat will begin after dinner.
Sr. Mary Ellen O’Dea is a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa and life-long student of the scriptures. Her ministries have included teacher, principal, director of religious education, founder of family faith programs, coordinator of small faith communities in parishes and at universities, creator of feminist biblical interpretation studies, university campus chaplain, founder of The Magdala Project (a hands-on preaching empowerment process), spirituality coordinator, preacher and retreat facilitator in feminist biblical interpretation mode throughout the United States. Sr. Mary Ellen holds Master’s Degrees in Religious Education, in Adult Christian Community Development, in University Ministry and in Biblical Spirituality.