Contemplation in Teilhard's Universe
A Retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault and Ilia DelioNow Available: Recording of the Sold-Out Event!
Contemplation in Teilhard’s Universe:
A Retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault and Ilia Delio
This pre-recorded contemplative retreat offers opportunities to learn about and engage in Teilhardian contemplation alongside the spiritual companionship of Ilia Delio and Cynthia Bourgeault. The Teilhardian framework from which Delio and Bourgeault offers an expansive milieu wherein contemplative practice can break out of popular individualistic therapeutic models and play its unique role in cosmic and cultural evolution. This retreat as something for all levels of experience — regular contemplative practitioners and those hoping to learn more will all grow through this spiritual retreat.
Included with the Recording:
- 4 guided contemplative sessions with Cynthia Bourgeault
- 3 talks on Teilhardian contemplation with Ilia Delio and Cynthia Bourgeault
- A panel discussion with retreat attendees and leaders
- Exclusive interviews with retreat attendees, who offer insight into contemplation in the 21st century
- And more!
This retreat recording is an opportunity for self-paced, personal practice for all those seeking to deepen their contemplative lives.
Practice and learn with spiritual masters, Cynthia Bourgeault and Ilia Delio!
Purchase now for instant access to the retreat!
From Ilia Delio’s Praying in Teilhard’s Universe:
Teilhard’s vision of contemplation and evolution is a movement beyond the ego, a surrendering of self to the power of matter. Matter invites one to let go of the self and hand oneself over to an attractive power beyond the self. I do not leave the world to find God; rather God is the power of matter into which I am pulled. From the heart of matter, God calls to the heart of the contemplative, and from the heart of matter, the contemplative is drawn to see more deeply because matter radiates truth, and in truth, matter finds its meaning. Matter calls to matter; heart calls to heart. To contemplate God Omega is to enter into matter. As matter takes hold of me and I surrender myself to it, something new breaks open in me, a creative freedom to become something more with matter; and becoming something more in and with matter is becoming my true self, at home in the universe.
Teilhard reframes contemplation within a new paradigm of evolutionary consciousness. As the universe is being formed, the human person is being formed, and as the human person is being formed, so too the universe is being formed. God is the ineffable power of love who is within every aspect of created existence and the future of that which exists. To give oneself over to the power of God is to give oneself over to the power of matter, and to give oneself over to the power of matter is to give oneself over to God. God is truly one with creaturely existence, its creative power, so that as the creature forms and changes, so too does God. Evolution is the rise of God in such a way that God is revealed as evolution progresses. In this respect, the fullness of revelation has yet to be, for God will be fully revealed only at the highest stages of consciousness toward which evolution is oriented.Read the entire article here.
Retreat Leaders
Ilia Delio
Ilia Delio s a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC and American theologian specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics and neuroscience and the import of these for theology.
Ilia currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University, and is the author of twenty books including Care for Creation (coauthored with Keith Warner and Pamela Woods) which won two Catholic Press Book Awards in 2009, first place for social concerns and second place in spirituality. Her book The Emergent Christ won a third place Catholic Press Book Award in 2011 for the area of Science and Religion. Her recent books include The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love (Orbis, 2013), which received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award and a third place Catholic Press Association Award for Faith and Science. Ilia holds two honorary doctorates, one from St. Francis University in 2015, and one from Sacred Heart University in 2020.
Cynthia Bourgeault
Cynthia is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader. She divides her time between solitude at her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths. Cynthia is a core faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation alongside fellow teachers and colleagues James Finley and Richard Rohr.
Cynthia is a member of the GPIW (Global Peace Initiative for Women) Contemplative Council and recipient of the 2014 Contemplative Voices award from Shalem Institute. She is a founding Director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School. She continues to contribute to The Contemplative Society in her role as Principal Teacher and advisor.
Cynthia is the author of several books: The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, The Wisdom Jesus, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Chanting the Psalms, and Love is Stronger than Death. She was a principal collaborator with Ilia in producing Personal Transformation and a New Creation: the Spiritual Revolution of Beatrice Bruteau(Orbis, 2016), contributing the biography of Bruteau plus a major essay on Teilhard. Her explorations of Teilhard also figure prominently in the most recent edition of Oneing, published by the Center for Action and Contemplation, and in her forthcoming book, Another Intensity: Exploring the Imaginal Realm(Shambhala, 2020).v
About Our Partners
Trust for the Meditation Process
The Trust for the Meditation Process is a 30 year-old charitable foundation that supports the teaching and practice of meditation, mindfulness and contemplative prayer. They provide grants to non-profit organizations renew contemplative Christianity, promote health and wholeness, and bring silence and stillness to a hectic world.
Daylesford Abbey Spirituality Center
In an environment of hospitality and inclusivity, Daylesford Abbey’s Spirituality Center assists all individuals longing for a deepening sense of personal and communal spiritual growth.
The Center offers a variety of faith-nurturing experiences and programs. In the spirit and charism of St. Norbert, known as a minister of peace & reconciliation, the Center’s goal is always to foster that same reconciliation — with God, self and others.