Friday, May 18, 7 - 9 p.m.
Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson St., between Christopher & Barrow
Julian of Norwich: A Mystic for the 21st Century
Born into a time of church-state tension and economic upheaval, Julian of Norwich, the anchoress, mystic and theologian, speaks to us across six centuries. She is a living example of the contemplative attitude, her "Revelations" a concrete manifestation of how a contemplative views God, neighbor, sin, death, hell, punishment, forgiveness, mercy, the Church, the Trinity and the feminine in God. Join Fr. William Meninger, author of Julian of Norwich: a mystic for today, for this talk on Julian's relevance today.

Saturday, May 19, 9 - 12 / 1 - 4 p.m.
Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson St., between Christopher & Barrow
Models of Contemplation: Theological Background of Contemplative Prayer and Meditation
Trappist monk Fr. William Meninger has been studying, practicing and teaching forms of contemplative prayer and meditation for over 40 years. Join him in this special day-long workshop exploring different methods and approaches to contemplative prayer and meditation, including Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich, The Cloud of Unknowing, St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, with references to Buddhist and Hindu approaches to meditation. Beginners and longtime practitioners of Centering Prayer are welcome.

Sunday, May 20, 1 - 5 p.m.
St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, 371 Sixth Avenue
The Process of Forgiveness and Centering Prayer
"Forgive men their trespasses," Christ commanded us, and He demonstrated its importance in the final act of his earthly life.  But how do we forgive?   What if the emotional trauma is so deep, the hurt so bad, the wounds so hideous, the offense so vivid that forgiveness seems beyond our power?  Why do some people say, "I want to forgive but I cannot?" Join Father William Meninger as he offers practical insights, drawn from his extensive experience as a pastor and counselor, in how to move beyond the pain and anguish we have suffered and let the Loving Spirit of Christ teach us how to forgive. Centering Prayer, the "work of love," teaches us to embrace God, one another, and the past, present and future.

Father William Meninger 

In 1974, Fr. William Meninger, a Trappist monk and retreat master at St. Josephs Abbey in Spencer, Mass. found a dusty little book in the abbey library, The Cloud of Unknowing. As he read it he was delighted to discover that this anonymous 14th century book presented contemplative meditation as a teachable, spiritual process enabling the ordinary person to enter and receive a direct experience of union with God.

This form of meditation, recently known as 'Centering Prayer' (from a text of Thomas Merton) can be traced from and through the earliest centuries of Christianity. Centering Prayer centers one on God. Later, his workshop was taken up by his abbot, Thomas Keating, and Basil Pennington, both of whom had been looking for a teachable form of Christian contemplative meditation to offset the movement of young Catholics toward Eastern meditation techniques.

Like Abbot Keating, Father Meninger takes a limited time each year from his silent monastic life to travel the world and teach contemplative prayer. His book, The Loving Search For God is an effort to bring the message of The Cloud of Unknowing to men and women of the 21st Century.

All tickets purchased after April 23 are subject to a 20% processing fee in addition to the purchase processing costs if refunded. Any tickets purchased after May 11th are non-refundable.