“We are the night ocean filled with glints of light. We are the space
between the fish and the moon, while we sit here together.”
-Rumi
The Great Reality Deep Within Retreat 2020
Click on the day for video/audio recordings:
Friday 8/14/20
- Welcome, overview of day (Joelle M) 15 minutes
- Refresher to Centering Prayer and Practice (Lindsay Boyer ) 90 minutes
- Dinner break
- Community Building Panel – (Jenny A Moderator, Jim M, Therese W, Adam G, Dave D) 60 minutes
Saturday 8/15/20
- Centering Prayer with Group (Therese W) Reading and 30 min sit
- Breakfast
- Welcome, overview of day ( Joelle M ) 15 minutes
- Fr. Bill Sheehan “Fidelity to the Practice of Centering Prayer” 75 minutes
- Break Retreat 3 - hours
- Centering Prayer with Group (Jenny A) Reading and 30 min sit
- “Human Condition and Welcoming Prayer Practice” (Mary Dwyer) 90 minutes
- Break 10 minutes
- Welcoming Prayer Practice (Jim M) 20 minutes
- Dinner at home 2½ hour break
Open 12-Step Speaker Meeting (Mary L & Rich B ; chair Patty W )
Saturday night meeting Audio only
Sunday 8/16/20
- Centering Prayer with Group (Jo Ann S.) Reading and 30-minute sit
- Breakfast
- Welcoming Prayer Practice (Dave D) 15 minutes
- Fr Bill Sheehan and Mary Dwyer Questions 45 minutes
- Q&A Community Building Panel (Jenny A, Jim M, Therese W, Adam G, Dave D) 30 minutes
- Brief Closing Remarks ( Jim M ) 15 minutes
As we say in 12-Step, we do the footwork and turn the results over to God. The retreat far exceeded our expectations and that of many of the participants.
“The people, the sharing, the conference, the panel discussion, the prayer and the music! Exquisite, sublime, funny, so freakin’ honest…”
“Your witness of affirming each other and deep desire to share the good news of the practice was a gift…”
“I found it strengthening and enlightening…”
“We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.” AA Big Book, p.55With determination and some apprehension, 12-Step Outreach hosted The Great Reality Deep Within virtual retreat the weekend of August 14-16, 2020. Unable to gather in Santa Fe as planned, we leaned into the pandemic by venturing into unknown territory for us! We offered the retreat free of charge and provided an opportunity for donations. To our surprise, more than 800 individuals registered from 16 countries and 41 states across the US with an average of 350-385 individuals tuned in on a given session. We were also surprised and blessed by the outpouring of generous donations we received.
The 3-day schedule included headliner speakers like Lindsay Boyer, who facilitated a refresher on “Centering Prayer and Practice”; Father Bill Sheehan, who shared on “Fidelity to the Practice of Centering Prayer”; and Mary Dwyer, who presented “The Human Condition and the Welcoming Prayer Practice.” We provided follow-up Q & A sessions for Lindsay, Father Bill, and Mary, which allowed participants to actively engage with the presenters and included a Community Building Panel to explain what 12 Step Outreach is all about and to help people form Centering Prayer 12-Step groups and Meditation Meetings.
There were communal Centering Prayer periods, Welcoming Prayer practice sessions, and 12-Step speaker meetings with well-spaced break times. The pandemic provided an opportunity to try a new way of experiencing a retreat by having an intimate experience right in the safety and comfort of our own homes. We are grateful to have been of service to the International 12-Step community and we are now reaching out to attendees who signaled a desire to get involved in service to provide support and guidance for growing a Centering Prayer community in their geographic area.