Ancient people recognized the autumn season as a liminal time, as the days shorten and twilight and darkness increase. It was seen as a time when the veil between this world and the spiritual world was thinner, enveloped into the Christian tradition in the commemorations of Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls. Nature, one of our best teachers, shows us by the brilliant colors and falling leaves how beautiful and poignant the graces of aging are — and how “letting go of the way things have been” is an essential part of the spiritual journey.
Autumn is a deepening season in which we celebrate the brilliance and fullness of nature’s glory while our awareness moves to the transience of life on Earth. Autumn communicates many lessons to the soul…some people love the season, and others struggle with it. Autumn is an invitation to reflect on both beauty and impermanence and their place in our spiritual landscape. It is also harvest time, in which we gratefully reflect on the joys, losses, and wisdom gleaned by our living. This retreat will be primarily in silence, inviting us into prayer and creative reflection in solitude and in nature, with several guided sessions of prayer and reflective sharing with the group during the weekend.
Check-in begins at 4pm. There will be a brief welcome session at 5:30pm, followed by dinner at 6pm. The retreat begins after dinner at 7pm on Friday and concludes before lunch on Sunday. Mass will be celebrated in the Chapel on Sunday morning for those who would like to attend.
Amy Sorensen Kulesa, M.Div., MSW serves as the Director of Associates for the Sisters of Bon Secours, USA. She earned a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Master of Social Work from Rutgers University. She is a graduate of the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Bon Secours Spiritual Direction Institute. She is also a certified therapeutic breathwork facilitator. A Secular Franciscan, Amy offers spiritual direction and enjoys facilitating retreats in which participants have the opportunity to discern the narrative of their own lives within the larger story of God’s abundant healing, grace and mercy.