mindfulness of God.” – Diadochus of Photike, The Gnostic Chapters
Saturday January 17, 2026
Cherrylake Tree Farm
7836 Cherry Lake Road
Groveland, FL (Just west of Orlando)
Location Map: Cherrylake Tree Farm map link
9:00 am to 3:00 pm, optional mass at 4:00 pm
Registration starts at 8:30am
$ 35 via zoom only (all in-person space is full)
In this retreat, Father Bill will invite us to enter the inner room of the heart, where true spiritual perception
awakens. Through practices such as centering prayer, the welcoming prayer, Lectio Divina, intentional breathing, and forgiveness, we learn to move beyond the ego and cultivate heart perception. This compassionate capacity to listen intently with the heart is essential to living a full human spiritual life and allow God’s presence to reveal true reality.
Who Should Attend: Anyone longing to deepen their spiritual life by learning to listen with the heart, and
wanting to experience the transformative presence of the Spirit.
Fr. Bill Sheehan, OMI, is an experienced retreat director who has led many Centering Prayer workshops and retreats. Since 1983, he has been involved with Contemplative Outreach, founded by Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO, practicing Centering Prayer and guiding others in this way of prayer. He participated in the original Lama retreat from which the Centering Prayer movement arose. He has a Masters Degree in Formative Spirituality from Duquesne University. He is a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate order and lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Registration Information
Register Online or by mail.
To register Online, complete the form below.
To Register by mail, download the form below, fill it out and mail to Alice Logan. Note: All in person space is full. We are only accepting Zoom registrations.
Download Flyer for Zoom only registration
Keith Kristich is a writer and retreat leader bringing an interspiritual approach to spiritual teaching, integrating wisdom from various contemplative traditions while highlighting the often-forgotten mystical teachings of Christianity. Keith is a commissioned Presenter of Centering prayer through Contemplative Outreach,
trained with the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in leading contemplative prayer groups and retreats, and is a certified teacher of meditation and the Enneagram. Keith Kristich is the founder of Closer Than Breath, an online interspiritual community dedicated to the teaching and practice of contemplative
prayer.
Join us at 7:00 a.m. the first Mondays of each month for a 20-minute Centering Prayer sit with our friends and neighbors in the Central Florida chapter of Contemplative Outreach. As we continue to move forward out of the pandemic, we want to reconnect informally with our facilitators and prayer groups.
Please let the folks in your prayer group know about this opportunity to do their morning sit with friends from the chapter this and every first Monday of the month at 7 a.m.
Please enter in silence. There will be an opportunity to linger afterwards for greetings, conversations, and wherever the Holy Spirit leads. Looking forward to it!
Look for your recent COCFL email for Zoom links or email Dan Wagner dwagner119@gmail.com.
]]>The Living Flame Program is a seven-day offering of in-depth spiritual study and enrichment presented over seven months by commissioned presenters of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. It is designed to heighten the awareness of the dynamics of Centering Prayer in the context of the spiritual journey. Participation in this program is for the entire series that will include seven topics supporting the practice of Centering Prayer.
Topics for the seven sessions include:
Deepening Our Centering Prayer Practice; Lectio Divina; Soul Friending; The Human Condition; Divine Therapy; The Dark Night of Sense; The Welcoming Prayer
Each session is presented on Zoom in a five-hour retreat-like format. The Living Flame 1 session includes: two periods of Centering Prayer, two presentation periods and small group sharing, as well as breaks and mealtime.
An established Centering Prayer practice and familiarity with the books of Thomas Keating, particularly Open Mind, Open Heart will allow full participation in the Living Flame program.
Dates: 2024: Jan. 6, Feb. 3, Mar. 2, Apr. 6
Time: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM EST (-5 UTC)
Fee: $60 USD. Scholarships are available.
Click here to register. Fee is due with registration.
Number of participants will be limited.
Email Judy Sharer jsharer@bbtel.com or phone +1-270-304-7684
You can read more about the program here in this brochure
Andy Rawls of the Contemplative Outreach of Central Florida produced a five minute video about The Living Flame, hosted by our own Rickey Cotton.
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This formation program is a revisioning of Fr. Thomas’ Spiritual Journey video series with 100 individual lessons, which weave many different teachings and voices together on each of the various topics. The implementation of this Spiritual Journey offering is based upon a 2018 online course offered in conjunction with Spirituality & Practice, which was based on the original Spiritual Journey video series.
You can go through this formation program on your own or with your Centering Prayer group. A Centering Prayer group can add the lessons to their gathering after prayer time. The group can view the weekly videos together or watch the videos ahead of time to leave more time for a faith sharing. After some moments of quiet reflection, take time to share how the materials touched and informed each individual’s spiritual journey. This sharing can be very supportive, as others in the group may be experiencing or have experienced something that is going on for you. Fr. Thomas says in Open Mind, Open Heart that “The group not only serves as a source of encouragement but also can normally solve problems that might arise regarding the method. The collective discernment of the group tends to be well balanced.”
The program includes not only the videos but introduction to the topics, Scripture passages that can be used to begin the Centering Prayer time, meditations, and a section called To Practice which is a guide through the lesson and suggestions for applying the teachings to your own life. For those who want more study, most lessons include suggested readings from Fr. Thomas’ books. There are downloadable options for those who prefer to read or listen to the video content in the form of transcripts and audio files. The video files can be downloaded to your computer which is a real bonus if your prayer group does not meet in a place with internet connection or you are traveling and want access to the videos.
As the program is self-guided, you have all the time you want to watch, read, ponder, journal and receive Thomas’ teachings beyond your mind. Read, reflect and rest in the teachings by letting them enter deeply into your heart. Take your time. The spiritual journey is not to be rushed but explored and lived.
]]>Mattews wrote that, as a spiritual guide, Merton offers invaluable counsel regarding the significance of contemplative prayer, not just to quell our anxious souls but to invigorate them. The thrust of the day-long workshop was to encourage the acceptance of this dare: to run the risk of withdrawing from the commotion and embracing, instead, Merton’s beautiful challenge of taking up the long art of contemplation and its promise to open as well as transform our lives.
Dr. Matthews is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Memphis. He has served the International Thomas Merton Society (ITMS) as a member of the Board of Directors, membership committee, site coordinator for the 2007 ITMS conference of Memphis, coordinator of the Memphis ITMS Chapter, and immediate past co-editor of The Merton Annual and has published articles in the Merton Annual and Merton Seasonal. He is also a member of the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani.
Thomas Merton: The Commotion and the Long Art of Contemplation with Gray Matthews, Ph.D.
Presented on Saturday, February 28, 2015
Divine Mercy Catholic Church, Merritt Island, FL 32953
Presented by Contemplative Outreach of Central Florida
Click this link to view on YouTube in 10-15 minute segments suitable for Zoom Centering Prayer groups.
Click this link to listen/download workshop audio: Play Audio Segments Page
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April 17th 9AM to 11AM CST,; 10AM to 12PM EST Reflections on the Spiritual Journey: A Conversation via Zoom
Presented by Tom Ward. $50.
April 17th 9AM -Noon EST Half-Day Online Retreat Series: “Invitation from God” Revisiting the Fundamentals $15.
April 17th 9:30AM-1:30PM CST; 10:30PM-2:30 EST. Welcoming Prayer Zoom Retreat $45
May 1st 8:30AM-12:30PM EST Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop on Zoom $30
***May 20 @ 9 am-May24th @5:30 pm EDT Virtual retreat God is Love: A Centering Prayer Online Retreat $300
]]>Centering Prayer One-Day Virtual Retreat
Centering Prayer One-Day Virtual Retreat Mar 24th, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm Central (Dallas) time, offered by The Church of Conscious Harmony via Zoom. All are welcome to register to participate in this 1-day Lenten retreat. In addition to Centering Prayer periods in the morning and afternoon, there will be unscheduled time in the morning
Free
Fr Carl Arico has mentioned this church before in his videos and endorsed them.
Please let your prayer group know. Thank you !
]]>presented by Patty Merlo, MPM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2021 8:40 AM – 3:00 PM
OFFERED BY CONTEMPLATIVE OUTREACH OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
SUGGESTED DONATION: $10.00
All of the major religious traditions tell us to forgive. In fact, most of us struggle with forgiveness. Painful events from our past continue to poison our present thoughts and/or feelings. But the struggle does not mean that our desire is insincere, or that we are unable to forgive. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn what leads to the peacefulness and holistic benefits of forgiveness. Participants will learn how to forgive –whether the hurtful event occurred yesterday or years ago — and what to do when the hurtful behavior is likely to continue into the future.
- what forgiveness is/is not
- the benefits of forgiveness
- the process of forgiveness
- rituals of forgiveness
Patty Merlo, MPM, holds a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from Madonna University, trained as a hospital chaplain and has completed the internship in Spiritual Direction and Ignatian Spirituality at Manresa Jesuit Retreat Center. She has taught on the high school and college levels, served as a DRE and currently ministers as a spiritual director and retreat leader.
A very important reason to forgive is our own happiness. Isn’t it strange that the reason we hold on to unforgiveness is that, in some perverted way, we convince ourselves that not forgiving will contribute to our happiness. We must see that it won’t. We must see that our negativity, our deficiencies, our weaknesses, and our low self-esteem all come from a long series of wounds and hurts that we have experienced and out of which we are acting (or hiding). The actions of a broken person will be broken acts. The life of a victim will be itself victimized. When we allow ourselves to remain wounded, bitter, resentful persons, we contaminate not only ourselves but everyone we contact. Our family, our children, our friends, our community, our society, our very world is marred, soiled, and degraded. We shrivel our own capacity to love and be loved, to trust and be trusted, and affect also the abilities of those around us to love and trust. When I do not forgive someone who has injured me, I simply continue that evil and allow it to affect the well-being of everyone else.“
– William Meninger, The Process of Forgiveness, 27-28
Registration deadline: January 31, 2021
Click here to go to the EVENT PAGE Online Registration and More Information
]]>with Fr. Carl Arico
Video Series for Zoom Centering Prayer Groups
Father Carl Arico:
Fr. Carl Arico is a founding member of Contemplative Outreach and is active on the Gift and Special Project committees. He is honored to have known Fr. Keating since 1969 and was present for the first intensive Centering Prayer retreat that Fr. Keating offered at the Lama Foundation in San Cristobal, New Mexico in 1983, which many founding members of Contemplative Outreach attended. Fr. Arico has been an integral part of the development of Contemplative Outreach from a wish to the organism it is today. “The growth that has taken place in Contemplative Outreach,” he observes, “is a miracle of God’s grace and the power of prayer.” He has traveled extensively in the United States and internationally to present workshops and direct retreats. He is the author of the book A Taste Of Silence, a guide to the fundamentals of Centering Prayer and is well known to the contemplative community for the Q&A with Fr. Carl Arico that we all enjoy reading in Contemplative Outreach e-bulletins.
An Invitation from Father Carl
“The retreat is the fruit of a 10 day intensive retreat which I served in 2015. The scriptures of the Mass seemed to explode into deeper meaning than I had expected. The Spirit was speaking through me as I preached each homily. When the retreat was over, I became aware that the Holy Spirit had revealed marvelous pieces of a mosaic that revealed what, ‘Putting on the mind of Christ’ was all about in a contemporary setting. Since then I have pondered these passages, lived by them and watched them let me see with new eyes. It is my desire to share them in the embrace of a silent retreat with women and men who are open to consenting to God’s presence and action in their lives.”
Full audio recordings of this retreat are available below. With Fr. Carl’s blessing, the video of the retreat has been divided into approximately 15 minute segments suitable for use with on-line Zoom Centering Prayer groups during the pandemic. These videos are posted on YouTube and accessible with this playlist in the box below. The retreat has been edited into 21 short sessions. Only references to breaks and in-house issues have been edited out of the video. Attempts have been made to break the sessions at logical transitions. The YouTube playlist that links all the sessions is below. We have used these videos at the Epiphany Port Orange Centering Prayer group and have been inspired, informed and delighted in Fr. Carl’s quiet humor.
Full-length audio recordings of this retreat are available on the EVENT PAGE: LISTEN TO FULL AUDIO – CLICK HERE
CLICK BELOW FOR YOUTUBE PLAYLIST & VIDEOS.
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