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Abide in Me: Christian Mysticism and the Divine Indwelling

  • Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT, 06107 United States (map)

Abide in Me: Christian Mysticism and the Divine Indwelling

Contemplative Enrichment Day
Saturday, October 12, 2024
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Fr. Justin Lanier and Noel Terranova

Human experience is a search for God, and for ourselves. Searching for God, we must look within ourselves. Searching for ourselves, we must look to God. This reciprocal dynamic is the heart of the Christian mystical tradition. Join us to explore the mystical indwelling of God. See how Christian apophatic theology serves in this searching. Meister Eckhart, Dionysius the Areopogite, Centering Prayer, and contemporary theologians will be our guides. Christ bids us: “Abide in me, as I abide in you.” Can we abide his call?

This program will be offered both in-person and online via Zoom. Information on how to access the program on Zoom will be sent to participants in advance.

This program will include a morning and an afternoon session of Centering Prayer.

Offering: $75, includes lunch

Scholarships are available, please contact Mike Smoolca at cce@holyfamilyretreat.org for more information.


Presenter Profiles

Fr. Justin Lanier

Fr. Justin Lanier serves as Priest and Curate of Saint Clement’s Church in Philadelphia. He is a retreat leader with a devotion to intensive contemplative immersion practice. He conducts Centering Prayer workshops and classes in contemplative practice and theology. Fr. Justin’s early training includes monastic formation at Saint Benedict’s Trappist Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, under Dom. Joseph Boyle, O.C.S.O., and Fr. Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., as well as at Tofukuji Rinzai Zen Training Monastery in Kyoto, Japan, under Keido Fukushima Roshi.


Noel Terranova

Noel Terranova is a full-time retreat team member at Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center and co-coordinator of the Christian Contemplative Experience at Holy Family. Noel studied theology and liberal arts as an undergraduate at Villanova University and holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Notre Dame. Noel joined the retreat team in 2021. He is currently completing a Ph.D. in theology, also from Notre Dame, with a concentration in Liturgical Studies.


Dietary restrictions? Holy Family is committed to making your stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible, and to that end, we can accommodate most dietary needs. Please email Ted, our registrar, at tjastrzebski@holyfamilyretreat.org, if you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies, so that we may make preparations in advance of your retreat.