Julian of Norwich in Conversation with Mother Mary: An Advent Retreat with Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Julian of Norwich loved Mother Mary; she was drawn to her warmth of love and her tenderness of heart.

For many years I have prayed with both Julian of Norwich and Mother Mary and this year felt a nudge to bring these two powerfully devotional women into conversation together during Advent. What do these amazing lovers of Christ offer us during this sacred season? What is the vastness of their love that they offer to each one of us individually and also as a gift for our world.

Let’s join together and allow these two women to pray with and through us this Advent season.

Madame Julian of Norwich has said:

LOVE was the meaning.

Who revealed this to you? LOVE.

What did the Holy One reveal to you? LOVE.

Why did the Holy One reveal it to you?
For LOVE.

-The Showings of Julian of Norwich, Mirabai Starr Translation

<<<<More Information and Registration Here>>>>

Event Details

When: Monday December 15, 11:00 – 1:00pm ET

Where: Online, Zoom

Cost: $30, $45, or $60

Registration: https://www.marcellak-g.com/event-details/julian-of-norwich-in-conversation-with-mother-mary-an-advent-retreat

Event Facilitator: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo is a Wisdom Leader, Spiritual Director, Wisdom Waypoints board member, and a Mom.

A Wisdom Message for Our Times & End of the Year Appeal From Cynthia

Dear Wisdom friends,

It’s a wild ride out there just now, and Wisdom teaching has never been more needed. To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes (from Clarissa Pinkola Estés), Wisdom was made for these times. The underground river has come above ground and is running full tilt.

What is the distinctive Wisdom message for our times? Someone dubbed it “contemplation with grit.” In distinction to a conventional contemplative stance, which may surrender a few steps too soon; or traditional activism, which burns itself out in anger; or the despair voiced by many that we are helpless, victims, impotent, scattered, fragile, Wisdom has offered a powerful middle ground, calling forth the quality I have called mêtis—bold, skillful holding of the present moment, sometimes in action, sometimes in quiet, always in demonstrable connection and receptivity to a higher infusing power. Melding traditional contemplative surrender with perennial reference points in mindfulness and the infusing power of divine providence, Wisdom Waypoints has stepped up to the plate. People are finding their way to our offerings: to replenish hope, banish fear, relearn resilience and trust, and form intentional networks circling our globe through which this new energy is being radiated outward.

Here’s how “contemplation with grit” was recently described in a seminar I led:

“As our world and planetary systems reel in the grip of what many sense to be a thickening pandemic of evil, the Wisdom perspective is urgently needed. We believe that only from this broader cosmic and integrative perspective can sufficient leverage be found to work effectively with the escalating disintegration—political, cultural, ecological, spiritual—so apparent in our own times.”

The response has been electric, to say the least. Our website is as busy as ever before—with people joining for online webinars, meditation sessions, book study circles, liturgical events, teaching events. It is fair to say we have become a new “singular attractor” (as they say in physics), a center around which new energy and vision can gather.

This didn’t happen just by accident. The real foundations of the “contemplative grit” that is becoming our distinctive trademark were laid by a different kind of grit over the past five years, as our board stepped up to the plate, whistled in the dark, and invested in building the infrastructure that would bear this new shape. As we retooled the website so that it would serve a vastly enhanced international network, as we called forth and developed an active mentorship program where a new generation of Wisdom Teachers emerge and lead, with their own voice and a collegiality—in short where we co-created a form to follow the function.

You, our supporters and donors, had our backs as we did this. You trusted, you carried us, you stepped up to the plate. You were full partners in creating this capacity and your boots were in the trenches as well; you not only helped fund new courses; you signed up for them, and allowed your own lives to be touched by this new center of gravity we have been collectively midwifing.

Throughout the world, profound changes are rocking not only our political systems but our spiritual delivery systems as well. Over the course of this year, two of our Roman Catholic retreat house partners—Mercy Center and Guelph—have announced they are closing the doors to their retreat ministry. Snowmass has already done so. Old institutions grapple hard with new systems of public accessibility and the responsible dissemination of spiritual truths once transmitted only in much more closed, hand to hand formats. Preserving purity of teaching locks horns with new modes of communication and inclusivity—and above all, with a world clearly hungering for a teaching we are bringing.

How to go forward? I have a feeling that the distance traveled already in our initial tooling up efforts is only the first tiny step in a distance still to be traveled. The length and pace of the stride are increasing rapidly. Will you help us keep pace?

With gratitude and hope, Cynthia

Consider contributing to our 2025 Annual Appeal

An Advent Contemplative Liturgy & Eucharist

The heart of Advent is the practice of staying awake—remaining present, attentive, and willing to face the mystery and even the emptiness of the moment. This wakefulness is a turning toward what is, even when it feels dark or uncertain. Like eyes adjusting to the dark, we learn to rest in this simple mercy. Within a larger, loving fullness something new can begin to work within us. All our histories, choices, hopes, and unrealized possibilities are contained in the vast “mercy” of God, a gentle spaciousness where nothing is lost and everything is mysteriously fulfilled. This is the “alpha and omega,” the eternal presence too vast for us to fully comprehend.

As we step into the Holy season of Advent, let us gather together for a Eucharistic liturgy to honor this threshold and recognize the immense love that meets us at the intersection of the timeless and the present moment. From here we can trust that whatever rises and falls in time, “all shall be well.” Advent points to this fullness of time, which is ultimately Love.

Join us for an Advent gathering of communal spiritual practice. All are welcome.

Event Details

When: Sunday, November 30th at 5pm-6:15pm ET

Where: Zoom

Meeting ID: 251 589 115

Passcode: wisdomsit

Cost: Free. We welcome your donation to our 2025 annual appeal here.

Note: Please bring bread and wine or grape juice to use at home during the Eucharist portion.

Pondering in Our Hearts: An Advent Journey of Visio Divina with Mary with Henry Schoenfield

Journey alongside the Blessed Virgin Mary with daily practice emails of Visio Divina images and prompts. Plus 5 gatherings on Zoom.

This Advent season, you are warmly invited to embark on a contemplative journey of visio divina alongside the Blessed Virgin Mary. Together, we will create sacred space in our hearts and lives, welcoming the Christ who longs to be born anew in our world amidst its joys and challenges. This gentle practice draws inspiration from Mary’s quiet pondering and faithful anticipation, inviting you to deepen your own spiritual awareness.

For your own practice:
From November 28 through the Octave of Christmas (December 25 to January 1), you’ll receive a thoughtfully curated daily email. Each one features a beautiful, evocative image for prayerful meditation. Accompanying the image will be insightful prompts designed to guide your reflection and journaling.

Community practice:
To enrich this shared experience, there will be five one-hour online gatherings via Zoom, providing a supportive community space to sit in contemplative silence, allowing the graces of the practice to unfold, and to share reflections with fellow participants.

The live Zoom gatherings take place at 10 am – 11 am EST on:

Tuesday December 2
Tuesday December 9
Tuesday December 16
Tuesday December 23
Tuesday December 30

<<<<More Information and Register Here>>>>

Event Details

When: November 28 – January 1. With Live Calls on Tuesday’s, December 9, 16, 23, and 30. From 10:00am-11:00am EST

Where: Online, Zoom

Cost: $30, $45, or $60

Registration: https://www.henryschoenfield.com/event-details-registration/pondering-in-our-hearts-an-advent-journey-of-visio-divina-with-mary

Event Facilitator: Henry Schoenfield is an ordained minister, spiritual director, certified professional coach, and lifelong seeker who has been accompanying others on the spiritual journey for close to twenty-five years. He is deeply rooted in the Christian contemplative path and the wisdom practices of meditation, chanting, and sacred movement. Henry helps people and groups deepen their relationship with God, themselves, and others so that they may live lives of deep service.

Chanting the Psalms With Mary This Advent

As you ponder what you’d like to give birth to this Advent season, we’d like to invite you to join us in Wisdom Waypoints’ Psalm Circle where we gather Monday-Friday at 8:30 am eastern to chant the psalms.

We’re praying the psalms this Advent with Mary, the Blessed Virgin. And we hope you’ll say “yes” to this invitation to join our hearts with hers as we, too, prepare to give birth to something that has been calling to us to be and do.

Mary shows us how to bear new life, even as we bear and hold more of the brokenness of the world. She shows us how to wait for something new to be born out of seeming impossibility. Hers is the way of deep acceptance, even when things don’t make sense. She’s willing to hold a post–a “yes”– even as she wonders how God choose her. Mary holds heartbreaking tenderness, even in the midst unbearable sorrow. She knows a hope that endures beyond death, and does not lose heart even at the end–or the beginning.

Hope, Trust, Tenderness, Forbearance, Compassion, Acceptance, Love. These are some of the gifts we give and receive through the practice of chanting the psalms: Mary’s gifts. And while the psalms present us with the opportunity to see the full range of human emotions, during Advent the lectionary invites us into psalms that remind us to sing with joy (Psalm 98), with gladness and excitement (Psalm 122), and with hope and rejoicing (Psalm 85). They also remind us, as Mercy Sister Renee Yann (lavishmercy.com) says, to pray for the hungry, the grieving, the frightened, the lost, the lonely–“all the beloved, aching children of God” (Psalm 80 or 25, for example), whom Mary patrons.

During Advent we hold the light even when the dark moves into our lives. To wait and see what new life will be born. Our Marian emphasis will begin December 3, the first Monday after advent begins. Please join us during this special time in the Psalm Circle as we wait and hope together.

Join via Zoom Here, M-F 8:30am ET

Meeting ID: 810 8061 0840

Password: Chant

Learn more about the Daily Psalm Circle here

Contemplative Practice in the Modern World

Drawing on themes from her new book, Thomas Keating: Making of a Modern Christian Mystic, Cynthia Bougeault offers a presentation at The Aspen Chapel on how the ever-evolving spirituality of Father Thomas Keating can offer us innovative new answers on how we can prepare to live in a world of constant fluctuation and be of cosmic service.

Flowing Oneness: The Contemplative Vision of Father Thomas Keating with Cynthia Bourgeault and David Frenette

A five-day silent retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault and David Frenette.

In this eagerly awaited Centering Prayer teaching retreat, Centering Prayer master teachers Davd Frenette and Cynthia Bourgeault once again team up to explore the late teachings of Fr. Thomas Keating and what they have to offer our own continuing spiritual evolution today.

As Thomas fully embraced his nondual awakening, he began to write and see from a perspective rarely attained in the Christian mystical tradition, significantly “growing” the Christian spiritual roadmap in the direction of his signature brand of “flowing oneness.”

Through teaching, dialogue, guided meditations — and mostly through the practice of Centering Prayer itself — David and Cynthia will jointly explore how he charts this new course —and more important, how he has planted practical seeds to bring our practice of Centering Prayer to the next level.

Practicing Centering Prayer in light of the God of unity consciousness grounds us, more and more, in a reality that cannot be shaken by the crises of separation, disruption, and disintegration we are living through. From greater oneness through Centering Prayer flows the subtlety of contemplative service: God in us serving God in others.

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Event Details

When: March 18, 2026 – March 22, 2026. Starts at 6:00pm ET on March 18th and ends at 2:00pm ET on March 22

Where: Garrison Institute, 4 Mary’s Way, Route 9D, Garrison, NY 10524

Cost: $710-$990, Scholarships available

Registration: https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/event/5-day-retreat-with-reverend-cynthia-bourgeault-david-frenette-2026/

Advent Way of Mary Online Retreat Series with Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Engage at your own pace with three video embodied teaching sessions, then engage with a group in a live Zoom gathering on December 10, 2025.

We dip our toe into Camille Helminski’s stunning book THE WAY OF MARY. (No need to purchase the book.) This amazing 453 page book weaves together Sufi, Jewish, and Christian approaches and devotional teachings of Mother Mary — a profound braid that touches the heart! Together with Mary we will journey through this ADVENT SEASON.

We gather for a Devotional Journey WITH Mary…with each other

…..listening for Mary’s ancestors…listening into Mary’s upbringing…

…to the Angel’s Annunciation…

both to Mary and to each one of us;

We respond WITH Mary through our own embodied YES

…a bow to that which we are each being devotionally drawn to this Holy Season.

This virtual self-paced Advent Retreat is a weaving of three-centered prayer, Heart based sharing around Camille’s moving writings on Mary, and embodied gesture and chant.

Shortly before the first day of Advent (Nov 30) you will receive links to three videos, each running between 1 hour and 1.75 hours, so you can watch them and participate in the practices at your own pace.

<<<<Register Here>>>>

Event Details

When: Available throughout December 2025, with the LIVE gathering on Wednesday December 10, from 11:00 am – 12:15 pm ET

Where: Online. Links to three videos, one live call on Zoom

Cost: Please pay from the heart: either $45, $55 or $65 for the retreat series.

Registration: https://www.marcellak-g.com/event-details/advent-way-of-mary-online-retreat-series

Live Call Facilitator: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo, Director of Spirituality Programs at Moravian Seminary, Wisdom Community facilitator, Spiritual Director and Mom.

Facilitators of Video Teachings:

Marcella Kraybill-Greggo, Director of Spirituality Programs at Moravian Seminary, Wisdom Community facilitator, Spiritual Director and Mom.
Henry Schoenfield, Spiritual Director, Wisdom Practitioner & Retreat Leader, & Movements instructor.

THE WAY OF MARY RETREAT CONTINUES IN THE NEW YEAR (a separate additional offering):

THE WAY OF MARY, a devotional journey with Mary, continues in the New Year. For those interested in continuing this beautiful dive into Camille Helminski’s stunning book, that journeys through not only the birth of Christ in Advent, but throughout Christ’s entire life on earth, and then accompanies him through his death and resurrection and ultimately his ascension…all seen and experienced through the eyes of his beloved Mother Mary, are invited to continue this WAY OF MARY RETREAT in the New Year. See The Way of Mary January through March optional extended Retreat, with 5 recorded Retreat offerings, and two LIVE ZOOM sessions. Find out more and register here: https://www.marcellak-g.com/event-details/way-of-mary-2026-online-retreat-series

Advent Lectio & Visio Divina with the Gospel of Thomas with Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Yeshua says,

Whoever drinks what flows

from my mouth,

Will come to be as I am

And I also will come

To be as they are,

So that what is hidden

May be manifest.

(Gospel of Thomas, Logion 108)

Join one or come for all three of these Lectio and Visio Divina with the Gospel of Thomas Advent gatherings on Zoom on Tuesdays December 2, 9 & 16. In our 1 hour and 15 minute group we will practice Lectio and Visio Divina with icons of Mother Mary in dialogue with a Logion from the Gospel of Thomas that is particularly RIPE for Advent. Join us for a devotional ADVENT journey with the Gospel of Thomas in conversation with the birth of the Living Yeshua.

<<<<Register Here>>>>

Event Details

When: Tuesdays, December 2, 9, and 16 from 11:00am-12:15pm EST

Where: Zoom, Online

Cost: $15 per gathering. Or register for all three gatherings for $45.

Registration: https://www.marcellak-g.com/event-details/advent-lectio-visio-divina-on-the-gospel-of-thomas-2025-12-02-11-00

Event Facilitator: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo is a Wisdom Leader, Spiritual Director, Wisdom Waypoints board member, and a Mom.

Icons by William Hart McNichols.

Seeing in the Dark: Awakening the Eye of the Heart with Jonathan Steele and Heather Ruce

“I am blind and I do not see the things of this world; but when the Light comes from On High, it illuminates my heart and I can see, because the Eye of my heart (Chante Ishta) sees all things.” – Black Elk

“Blessed are the pure of Heart for they shall see God.” – Matthew 5:8

This Wisdom School lays the groundwork for understanding the vital role of awakening the eye of the heart and seeing with Wisdom in today’s world. We will delve into the Christian Wisdom tradition, exploring two key spiritual streams: the ancient Benedictine monastic model of “Ora et Labora” and the Gurdjieff Work’s concept of three-centered knowing and presence. We will illuminate how Wisdom serves as a precise and transformative spiritual science, offering both theoretical insights and practical tools for embodying Yeshua’s teachings—to perceive from and live by way of the Heart.

Cynthia Bourgeault reminds us, “Wisdom Schools are a format for integral learning that’s based in some of the deepest roots for transformation and change in the Christian tradition. Wisdom Schools are about awakening the yearning for a different kind of presence in the world and then developing the skills and the knowledge base to apply that, to transform your own life and the life of people around you.”

Through an integrated daily rhythm, this Wisdom School fosters an embodied “wisdom way of knowing,” incorporating periods of Great Silence, teaching sessions, Centering Prayer or silent meditation, mindful work, mindful movement, and contemplative free time.

<<< Register Here >>>

Event Details

When: Friday, April 10th with dinner at 6:30 pm CT, ends Monday, April 13th at 11:00am CT

Where: St. John’s Abbey Guesthouse, Collegeville, Minnesota

Cost: The cost for the retreat is $795, which includes room, meals and materials. If you cannot make the full payment upfront, please pay a nonrefundable $200 deposit to save your spot, and then send the rest in increments that work for you (total due before March 15, 2026).

Registration and Information: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfegfUBorYjfYQaSmWxWWl3taa2GcCbr_WEl4MyADHZdW3Rag/viewform?urp=gmail_link

Event Facilitators:

Jonathan Steele, M.A., is a retreat leader, spiritual teacher and companion on the spiritual journey. His work draws deeply upon the transmission of the Christian Wisdom lineage and the Christian Contemplative and Inner-Traditions. In addition to his lived integration through contemplative practice, study and service, he leans on the works of Thomas Keating, Cynthia Bourgeault, Valentin Tomberg, G.I. Gurdjieff and J.G. Bennett. Jonathan currently serves as the Devotional Minister at the Church of Conscious Harmony, a Contemplative Christian Community in Austin, TX. Jonathan also has significant experience working with recovery communities, utilizing the path of the 12-Steps and implementing the work of Bowen family systems theory. He has previously accompanied others in the context of spiritual direction and hospice chaplaincy, as well as guiding groups on pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain where he lived over the course of eight years.

Heather Ruce, M.A. offers Wisdom Circles, Retreats, and Schools grounded in the Christian Wisdom tradition with practices such as lectio divina, centering prayer, seated attention exercises, sacred movements, conscious practical work, chanting, and silence. A longtime student of Cynthia Bourgeault, and the Gurdjieff Movements with Deborah Rose Longo, her path has been shaped by the lineage’s emphasis on embodied presence, surrender, creativity, and the courage to meet the world as it is. Heather holds a deep reverence for the sacredness and interconnectedness of the earth, all beings and ecosystems, and the greater cosmos—an orientation reinforced in her many years of zoological animal care. Drawing from this as well as her background in Family Systems Therapy, Grief Counseling, Somatic Experiencing, Organic Intelligence, and Spiritual Direction, her work is grounded in a trauma-sensitive, integrative approach that honors the body as part of a larger web of connection and as an essential instrument of transformation.