To Love Our Sacred Earth & Cosmos

This retreat is In-Person and on Zoom. Retreat Director is on Zoom. This retreat will not be recorded.

Zoom participants will receive a Zoom link via email 3-5 days prior to the program start.

The Love Our Sacred Earth & Cosmos retreat series, facilitated by Maureen Wild, SC, explores teachings within the writings of cultural historian and geologian Thomas Berry as they interweave with the wisdom of nature-centered mystics and of nature-inspired scientists.

Each session is two hours long and includes a contemplative break. Those who participate in-person at The Star of the North are welcome to stay the rest of the afternoon to process and reflect in a retreat style fashion.

View Fee Schedule

Full Series (2 sessions)

^$60.00

April 27 Only

^$40.00

May 10 Only

^$40.00

2 Part Retreat Series with Maureen Wild

Event Details

DATES & DETAILS

Teilhard de Chardin’s ‘Mass on the World’ meets Thomas Berry’s ‘Cosmic Liturgy and Celebration’

Retreat 1: Sunday, April 27th, 2025, 2:00-4:00 pm MT (Part 1 - Teilhard’s Mass on the World)
Retreat 2: Saturday, May 10th, 2025, 2:00-4:00 pm MT (Part 2 - Thomas’s Cosmic Liturgy and Celebration)

The Mass on the World is one of Teilhard de Chardin’s most mystical and poetic writings. His grand vision was the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart of Christ as the radiating center of the universe. For Teilhard, we live in the bosom of a great cosmic Eucharist.

“Since once again, Lord, I have neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labors and sufferings of the world.” — Teilhard de Chardin

Thomas’ vision is the entire universe as the primordial sacred community. He observed that we’ve developed celebrations for seasonal events (e.g., solstices and harvest) and liturgies, ceremonies, and traditions marking religious stories of faith (e.g., Christmas, Ramadan, Passover, Easter). But we’ve not yet begun to acknowledge and celebrate the moments of grace in our grand cosmic liturgy. For example, how might we celebrate the 1st generation star whose death as a supernova gave rise to the birth of our Sun, to Earth, life, the first flowers, consciousness, and so forth?

“The universe itself is the primordial sacred community. There’s a grand liturgy that is performed by the universe, if we look on it with the eyes and the awareness of the sacred.” — Thomas Berry

PRESENTER

Maureen Wild, SC A teacher by profession, Maureen’s M.Ed. focused on the evolving story of our universe and earth literacy. In 1994 she was a founding member of, and a committed volunteer for, the international network, Sisters of Earth (sisters-of-earth.net), who follow the teachings of Thomas Berry and explore cosmos/earth as manifesting our sacred story with its many implications for living in balance and right relationship. Featured in the book, Green Sisters (Harvard Univ Press, 2007), Maureen served as educator and director for two ecological learning centres (US and Canada). She has led spiritual ecology programs and retreats internationally for 25 years. On the BC coast, she helped the Gabriola Ecumenical Society develop inter-spiritual programing that nurtures spiritual questing. She’s currently on the Board of the Gabriola Memorial Society who advocate for the creation of a natural burial cemetery, and she oversees a community garden where she also gardens with families and seniors. She serves at local seniors’ monthly lunches hosted by People for a Healthy Community (PHC) as part of their Circle of Care for Seniors; a program she cofounded in 2011 with the aid of a grant from her congregation.