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A Reflection for Advent
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. [T.S. Eliot]
As Advent approaches we are moved into a time of anticipation. A time when something is about happen . Advent beckons the beginning of something new.
It is a time of anticipation.
It is a time of transition and transformation.
Advent is a time of deep reflection .
It is time of longing, a time of deep spiritual Hunger
It is a time when the soul wants to listen.
It is a time when the soul needs to hear.
It is a time when the body is still - winter
In the silence of stillness we discover that when Moses became silent and still of heart his curiosity attracted him to the BURNING BUSH as he wandered in the wilderness.
He was caught by a simple, little bush holding the 'Angel of Yahweh's in its branches. The bush was filled with the fire of Yahweh's love. Not a single leaf or bit of bark was burned or damaged. 'Enslavement' was about to end.
'The Journey to a promised land' was about to begin.
In silence Moses heard the VOICE of " I AM".
The voice of "YAHWEH".
"Take off your shoes, this is Holy ground."
"I AM" asked Moses to take a message to the people of Israel.
"Tell them that the God of your fathers has sent me to you."
In his halting stutter of speech Moses asked, 'But if they ask me what is his Name, What Am I to tell them?'
God spoke to Moses and said, "Tell them that I Am Who Am" has sent me.
Like Moses we may be slow of speech and we may not know how to talk to
"The I am of Who Am".
But don't worry, "I am" will tell you what to say.
We must be still and quiet to hear "I AM".
HE promises that He will be with you...
"Now go," I AM says, "I shall help you to speak and tell you what to say."
This is how we must pray. God will help us to express what it is we want to say to HIM.
We will find "I am" in the inner wilderness of ourselves.
In this Issue
Prayer & Psychotherapy
Scripture, Freud & The Narrative that Heals
Prayer and psychotherapy is sort of like God and the Burning Bush. Psychotherapy is the curiosity that draws us to examine more closely the burning bush in our wilderness and stand in awe of the undiscovered "I AM" and to ask why the bush was never devoured by the flames.
In psychotherapy we begin with "Who Am I", "What Am I Doing Here" and "Where Am I Going". Psychotherapy is then a deep conversation with the known and unknown aspects of ourselves. The wilderness is in all of us and must be explored. In the journey we will discover that we are a microcosom of the universe. I know that from deep inside myself and from all that I have experienced from my beginnings until the very now in my life, that I am connected with the earth, with the trees, with the wind, with the water, and animals, insects and with all of life. I am connected to the seasons. I am connected to the Creator and we are in dialogue. The dialogue leads me into an understanding that all of life is about relationship. Psychotherapy is a journey through the wilderness of the self, finding the voice to speak to the universal "I AM" and to listen to his voice.
"I AM" the little bush that held the voice of "Yahweh", the creator of all this in its branches.
"If today you hear God's voice harden not your hearts."
The Narrative that Heals
In this quote Walter Brueggemann invites us to consider, in a larger context, Freud as cultural Jew and an in-depth psychotherapist who knew culturally and religiously that the Narrative heals.
Testimony to God of Israel known in Jesus Christ is not "Latin-like", and not historical criticism-like. It is more like depth psychology, for Freud was, in his larger discernments, thoroughly Jewish. Freud understood that in dreams, in the unconscious, in the hiddenness of utterance, there are endless zones of contradiction that we keep negotiating — occasionally with Freudian slips — and there are endless layers of interpretation, no one of which can ever be more than provisional. And the reason depth psychology is marked as "depth" is that one can always push deeper into another layer of hiddenness and there find yet another disclosure of significance...the testimony we have concerning this God is endlessly elusive. Sometimes there is a direct offer of God, but more often there is fantasy, sideways figures, and odd articulations, some of which are covered over by church cliché, some of which are lost in the caution of translators. [Walter Brueggemann, Deep Memory Exuberant Hope]
Psychotherapy is about belief and discovery. Freud, Jung and many others realized that in depth analysis and understanding of ourselves required more than simply science. We know that the story and the narrative in our life, scripture, myth, poetry, prayer and our own deep belief system brings us to reflect with T.S. Eliot, "through the unknown, remembered gate when the last of earth left to discover is that which was the beginning...and to know that place for the first time" [T.S. Eliot].
Upcoming Journey into Self Discovery for Men in Ministry workshops
Alive in the Time of Famine
DID NOT OUR HEARTS BURN WITHIN US AS HE SPOKE TO US AND EXPLAINED THE SCRIPTURES TO US? [Luke 7 :32]
For your winter break, come to Florida with us.
An exclusive workshop for men in ministry, a time of rest, relaxation in the warm climate of Florida. The process is interactive and incorporates different approaches such as scripture themes, our own narrative life experiences. A gentle therapeutic process that is kind, insightful and healing and includes dream interpretation, proprioceptive writing and painting, meditation and discernment. Each afternoon there is a deep relaxation session accompanied by creative suggestions of Hope, Self Confidence, Self Awareness and Self Esteem. We also spend one afternoon at the Epcot Centre in Disney World.
January 27 — February 1, 2008, TBA, Florida USA
July 27 — August 1, 2008, St. Francis Centre for Religious Studies, Mono Mills, Ontario, Canada
21 consecutive years of exclusive workshops
For Men in Ministry!
Journey into Self Discovery goes International
Journey sessions in:
- South Africa
- Australia
- India
From November, December of 2006 and January 2007 Daniel McDonald, our Director, journeyed to South Africa, Australia and India to conduct workshops. In South Africa at the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers' Formation Centre he was invited to work with the young brothers in formation. It was exciting to work with young men from all over Africa who were learning to dedicate their lives in the service of others.
[click each photo for larger version]
In Australia he conducted two five-day Journey into Self Discovery for men in ministry workshops. Men came from all over Australia and Pappau New Guinea and New Zealand. Daniel was also invited by the Christian Brothers to work with several teachers and other groups while he was in Australia.
In India, the Medical Missionary Sisters through their Auyusha Centre kindly sponsored three five-day workshops - one was the Men in Ministry workshop. Priests and brothers came from many dioceses throughout India. The other was a Journey into Self Discovery for professional people: spiritual directors, nurses, teachers, and the third workshop was the Dream Journey. For five days we explored the dream world and the importance of dreams in our daily lives and in our spirituality. These 15 days were filled with much excitement, joy and fulfillment. There was also time for teaching the art of psychotherapy to a few professional people.
A letter from John Holden, South Africa
Dear Brothers,
Greetings from Colm Keating Formation Centre, Cape Town...Why I am writing? Dan McDonald, renowned psychotherapist from Toronto, who
is no stranger to many of our Brothers in Canada, is offering workshops in
upcoming months in Sydney, Australia and in Changanacherry, India. The
workshop is entitled: "Exploring the Call to Ministry: Journey Into Self-Discovery
for Men in Ministry." And I just want to let you know that Dan has truly been a
tremendous gift to many of our Brothers in Canada over the years in the way of
therapy and workshops... Click to read the entire letter »
Asklepion Centre for the healing of stress, trauma, addictive and compulsive behavior
Telephone: 416.928.0593
Website: askrecovery.com
Email: ask4recovery@sympatico.ca
St. Raphael
Archangel of Healing
in association with
the Asklepion Centre
ISPEB offers treatment for stress, trauma and addictive and compulsive behaviour.
- learning healthy lifestyles
- healthy sexuality in marriage and committed relationships
- healthy sexuality in celibacy
- 12-step program for addictions
Asklepion was an ancient place of healing dedicated to the gods of healing. In the Judaic, Christian & Islamic traditions, angels have always played an important role in healing of the spirit and of the body.
Please direct all correspondence to:
Daniel McDonald, Director
C.P.E.B. Therapies Inc./Asklepion Centre
145 Spadina Road
Toronto, ON M5R 2T1, Canada
Telephone: 416.928.9570
Fax: 416.921.7464