Gentle brothers and sisters,<br><br>Today was the festival of Epiphany, but you're rescued from yet another of my meditations on the hidden meanings of traditional church festivals by the boundless compassion of Sister Trish Nowland of the Order of St Esclarmonde.<br>
<br>Trish is known to many of you and for the last few months she's been planning to organise a meditation and prayer retreat a few hours out of Sydney. I'll let her tell you all about it:<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
<div>Greetings all,<br> <br>Today, January 6th, is celebrated as 'The Epihpany' in both Eastern and Western Christian churches. Epiphany is a Greek word, meaning 'to manifest' or 'to show'.<br> <br>
It's a date where the Catholic church in the West celebrates the coming of the three Magi with the beginning of an eight-day feast, and in the Christian East a festival of the baptism of the Lord Christ in the River Jordan takes place. On this day, in antiquity, before the days of the Hallmark calendar, it was the duty of bishops and priests in both arms of the Christian church to solemnly announce the dates of the coming Easter period.<br>
<br>To vary the announcement tradition, just a little, this email is sent to you announcing not Easter, but a forthcoming retreat, on the weekend of February 6th - 8th 2009.<br> <br>The retreat is being held in Stroud, north of Newcastle, at a monastery built by the Anglican Sisters of St Clare. The spirit of the weekend is to provide a taste of communal monastic life, with the inclusion of practices and activities that would otherwise usually be a part of a slow-paced, contemplative life. <br>
<br>All other details and registration information can be obtained from this website: <span><a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/event/225221644" target="_blank">http://www.eventbrite.com/event/225221644</a></span> <br>
<br>Please come along and join in on a weekend outside of the ordinary bustle of everyday life, and spend some time nurturing your own closer relationship with the Divine.<br> <br>If you have any queries, need any help with transport, or would like some further detail, please call Trish Nowland on 0404 84 94 38.<br>
<br> With blessings at the completion of the twelve days of Christmas,<br>And with warm wishes for a peaceful and contented 2009,<br> </div>
</div>Trish<br>