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A LENTEN REFLECTION 2008
Lent is a journey to a promise. It is a pilgrimage to eternal life. Our pilgrimage begins early this year we will arrive at the glory of Easter, the Resurrection day, WE CAN TOUCH AND HOLD the promise of ETERNAL LIFE in our bodies.
In our last issue of this newsletter we encountered Moses and the Burning Bush. We are continuing our meditation on Moses and the burning Bush.
Moses was caught and attracted by a simple little bush holding the Angel of Yaweh in its branches. The bush was filled with the fire of Yahweh's love. Not a single leaf or bit of bark was damaged.
'Enslavement' was about to end.
The Journey to a promised land was about to begin.
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. He has heard your cry. I will rescue you and give you a land flowing with milk and honey to be your home."
OUR LENTEN JOURNEY BEGINS
Moses and the people of Israel set out on a journey through the desert to the promised land. As with any people on a pilgrimage we begin this 2008 Lenten journey by letting things go, by trimming our excesses to essentials and making sacrifices to accommodate the common good of the whole group; fasting and prayers become the way to support life on the journey. Making everything a prayer is what a pilgrimage is all about. When you thirst in the heat of the sun you bear it in prayer. The occasion of prayer is present everywhere on a pilgrimage; in the mid-day heat of the sun, when beads of perspiration dribble down from the forehead and into the eyes, when the wet uncomfortable sweat drenched garments cling to our bodies, again possibilities for prayer. The many steps of a long, arduous walk takes courage and strength. There is little shade in the desert to give comfort from the heat of the day. Food is sparse and simple. Water is invaluable to the life of the pilgrim. Each mouthful is rationed to ensure that there will be enough for everyone. There are no soft beds in the desert. The night is cold without the sun and there are no extra blankets. Each person must carry their own baggage; bit by bit they dispose of what is not precious any more in order to ease the burden and make room for prayer.
Many miracles happened for the people of Israel on their journey. God instructs Moses to strike a rock and give the people water to drink, plenty of water gushed out from the rock enough for their cattle, sheep, goats and themselves. Manna a Heavenly substance drop from heaven like dew and lay on the ground and each morning they gather it up and it sustained them as bread. The Lord directed flocks of quail over their camp for them to feast upon. God travelled with them on their Journey in the form of a cloud by day and Pillar of fire by night. God was always with them, they were never alone. He gave them a covenant, a relationship of deep love and respect and a promise that he would always be with his people. Moses died a very old man he had clear sight in his eyes and unimpaired vigor and energy in his body. There has never been such a prophet in Israel such as Moses. This was the man whom Yahweh spoke to from the Burning Bush, the man Yahweh knew face to face.
These are the endearments of a pilgrimage, of a journey. A Journey to the inner wilderness of our inmost self. We learn about what a relationship is with Yahweh. The pilgrim is required to fast and to make accommodations on a Lenten Journey: to give alms quietly without show or credit, to share all the necessities of life which means our possessions with those who do not have; to assist the lame, the elderly, and those who are ill and to care for the young and to bury the dead. Yahweh converts the wilderness into a homeland flowing with promise and milk and honey. God who is always with us invites us now into eternal life with him. Death has been conquered, Jesus is Risen. The Glory of Jesus is immersed into the God of LOVE, HIS father, They Are One together with The Holy spirit.
A pilgrimage is the people of God on a Journey. It is a personal and communal journey to Glory. This GLORY OF YAHWEH bonds us together in a relationship of eternal life with YAHWEH Our ETERNAL loving Creator.
In this Issue
PRAYER & PSYCHOTHERAPY
A REFLECTION BY Daniel McDonald
Prayer and psychotherapy is like Yahweh and the Burning bush.
Prayer is like Moses when we ask the question, What am I to say ? How am I to say it?
When we are slow of speech and think someone else may say it better.
Prayer is when we marvel at how a small insignificant bush of the desert can have the flame of Yahweh's voice resting in its branches.
Prayer asks How is it that I can say that 'I am' unless Yahweh shares with me a little bit of HIS I AM-NESS.
Psychotherapy is like the Bush: it is a process which engages the questioning soul in a deeper dialogue with the mystical unknown essence of Yahweh, and the unknown self within.
It is us when we are slow of speech and think someone else is better at it. It is the wonder of us. How can it be that Just a simple insignificant little bush in the desert having the flame of Yahweh resting in it's branches. How is it that, I am?
As in a dream, everything and everybody is the dreamer. The dream becomes a reflection of the dreamer's own inner self image. The dreamer becomes the bush, Moses and his self doubting, the flame in the bush, and voice of Yahweh.
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 wilderness in all of us and must be explored if we are going to find the voice to speak to the universal "I am" and to listen to His voice.
I want to be bonded with Yahweh. I want the relationship with Yahweh. I want to become aware of the Burning Bush within Me, and hold the Voice in my branches. I want to be Yahweh's Voice, a Messenger to His People, I want to be able to hear Yahweh's voice in creation everywhere,to hold Him in myself, in a covenant of friendship. In psychotherapy I want to be able to explore the deep abyss within, arising I know not from where. I want to be able to stop anywhere in awe and wonder
About the beauty of Yahweh's mysterious ways and His wonderful works of creation.
"If today you should hear God's Voice harden not your Hearts."
THE NARRATIVE THAT HEALS
Borrowed from Walter Brueggemann's writings 'Deep Memory Exuberant Hope'
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 the belief and discovery of the self. Freud, Jung and many others realized that in-depth analysis and the understanding of our selves require 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].
ANNOUNCING THE JOURNEY PROGRAM SCHEDULE FOR 2008
Journey Into Self Discovery For Men In Ministry 2008
Please book Early we are limited to the first 15 participants
TRANSFORMING MINISTRY / RECOVERING PRIESTHOOD
Click the .pdf icon to download the New Brochure » 
21 CONSECUTIVE YEAR OF EXCLUSIVE WORKSHOPS FOR FOR MEN IN MINISTRY / JOURNEY INTO SELF DISCOVERY FOR PROFESSIONALS
Journey Into Self Discovery For Professionals 2008
Please book Early we are limited to the first 15 participants
Exploring profession as a Life of Ministry
Click the .pdf icon to download the New Brochure »
« Click the .pdf icon to download the registration form
JOURNEY INTO SELF DISCOVERY INTERNATIONAL
THE JOURNEY INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
Celebrating 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 IN ASSOCIATION WITH CPEB THERAPIES INC
St. Raphael
Archangel of Healing
ASKLEPION CENTRE AND C.P.E.B. CENTRE ARE HEALING PLACES
Asklepion Centre and C.P.E.B. Therapies Inc. are dedicated to assisting better understand of the whole human person.
Asklepion offers special assistance to those who are suffering addictive and compulsive behaviour.
- Learning to cope through healthy lifestyles
- Learning self confidence through healthy sexuality in marriage and committed relationships
- Learning self awareness through healthy sexuality in Celibacy
- Learning self esteem through the 12-step program
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