Transparent to Wisdom Contemplation, Divinization and the Transformation of Violence

…whoever, by the exercise of wisdom, 

enables God to become incarnate within him or her and,

in fulfilment of this mystery, 

undergoes deification by grace, 

is truly blessed, 

because that deification has no end. 

Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thalassium 22 

Awakening the heart-awareness of our apophatic self opens us to the ground of Love at the depths of our being, where we are transparent to the many-coloured, multi-splendoured and ever-unitive presence of Wisdom.  This year’s Mystic Heart will create an atmosphere, offer contemplative practices, and enable us to enter deeply into the writings of mystics who invite us become increasingly transparent to divine Wisdom. 

Together, in communion, we will explore how contemplative consciousness awakens us to the participation of all being in the Trinity. Drawing on the sacred scriptures and a variety of mystics who have a rich theology of divine Wisdom divinizing human beings and creation — such as Maximus the Confessor, the author of the Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross, Simone Weil, Sergius Bulgakov, Thomas Merton — as well as contemporary theologies of violence, we will open a spaciousness for new theologies of unitive, participatory, divinizing love-knowing to emerge. As we enter more fully into Wisdom’s creative radiance we will explore how Wisdom transforms the movements of fear, violence, domination and exclusion, opening us into ways of being that make peace and communion possible.

Through Heart Dialogue, we will continue to awaken new sensitivities to the divine Silence that speaks the Word so that words spoken from the ground of our heart are filled with Sophianic wisdom and become icons of presence.  Emphasis is on claiming the ontological space of contemplation and nurturing the oneing heart awareness that arises in stillness and silence.

In the light of contemplation, we will cultivate a confidential, trustworthy, and sacred spaciousness, 

which includes deepening contemplative presence to one another and fostering communion consciousness.

While it will be helpful if participants have participated in previous Mystic Heart offerings, this offering can also be engaged with in its own right.  However, it is essential that participants have a routine of contemplative prayer, are in spiritual direction, and participate in regular silent retreats.