Dates/Time: January 10th/11th
“What is the focus of this retreat?”
The purpose of the retreat is to explore how our ancestral roots and family history continue to affect our life in both helpful and not so helpful ways.
What to expect:
So much of our inner world is submerged like an iceberg. Coping skills learned as children facing difficult and sometimes traumatizing situations, lie hidden in our unconscious and yet are very active – many times inappropriately. These can often be traced back to a long forgotten ancestral past. “What is not transformed is transmitted.” A popular Richard Rohr statement which is often used in Illuman circles. This retreat will gently explore this human experience and perhaps help us identify some of these sticky situations. During our time together, we’ll journey into our personal and ancestral stories, exploring the patterns we carry and the light within us. Through reflection, The Way of Council, and guided exercises, we’ll uncover how our ancestry shapes us, and how our shadows and light intertwine.
Related Quotes and Recommended Reading
I think your heart needs to be broken, and broken open, at least once to have a heart at all or to have a heart for others. Richard Rohr, BREATHING UNDER WATER (p 12)
No one lives his life.
Disguised since childhood,
haphazardly assembled
from voices and fears and little pleasures,
we come of age as masks. Rainer Maria Rilke, RILKE’S BOOK OF HOURS (p 165)
This praying man wants to stop, to surrender in the soft caressing hands of an understanding God, to fall asleep in safe arms, to cry without fear, to let go, relax his tense muscles and rest long and deep, forgetting the cold, cruel and hostile world. Henri Nouwen, INTIMACY (p 53)
When and Indian person goes on the Long Walk (dies), he goes through the Western door on his journey to the beyond. He takes his bow and arrows, his medicine bag, and plenty of food to last the journey to the other world. He visits his many friends who have gone before him. He meets his mother and father again in the “Big Village.” Simon Otto, GRANDMOTHER MOON SPEAKS (p 98)
Retreat Leader"
WISDOM ELDER: Tom Broe
Tim has been on a lifelong journey of faith and growth, searching for purpose and guiding others in their spiritual journey. He made his MROP in Claryville, New York in 2016. This experience taught him to face his own shadows. He has worked for 35 years as a University of Michigan trained rehabilitation counselor. He is the father of three sons, two granddaughters and five great-grandchildren. His faith has been deeply inspired by St. Francis of Assis and a profound experience at his tomb.
WEAVER: Mike Whitman
Mike has been involved with the Illuman of Indiana-Michigan chapter in its earliest formation when it was still MALES of Indiana/Michigan. He has led retreats and been part of the leadership teams on other retreats in the chapter and in his many years working in faith formation and youth ministry.
