Yet another blessing was our 7th Orthodox Woman’s Retreat held at the Entheos Retreat and Conference Centre, 18 km west of Calgary city limits. We were thankful for the priests representing the different church families of Calgary who served throughout the weekend - Fr. Michael Lupu from St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church, Fr. Taras Krochak from St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Fr. Ibrahim Chahoud from the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Annunciation and by Fr. Richard Rene from Holy Martyr Peter the Aleut Orthodox Church.

Yet another blessing was our 7th Orthodox Woman’s Retreat held at the Entheos Retreat and Conference Centre, 18 km west of Calgary city limits. We were thankful for the priests representing the different church families of Calgary who served throughout the weekend - Fr. Michael Lupu from St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church, Fr. Taras Krochak from St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Fr. Ibrahim Chahoud from the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Annunciation and by Fr. Richard Rene from Holy Martyr Peter the Aleut Orthodox Church.

Once again we were all warmly welcomed by Shirley Din, one of the four coordinators. The other coordinators Myra Reinheimer, Ghada Ziadeh, and Joan Popowich also, in their own personable ways made all the ladies feel very much at home! Ladies came from as far west as British Columbia, right across the Prairie Provinces, to as far east as Ontario. There were 80 women who attended the Retreat this year!

Our speaker this year was Kh. Maggie Hock from St. Mary’s Orthodox Parish in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, who arrived with excellent credentials. She is the Director of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese Department of Marriage and Parish Family Ministries, specializing in crisis and trauma therapy, individual, marital, parenting group and corporate dynamics, Kh. Maggie counsels from an Orthodox Christian perspective. She is the mother of five, married to the Very Reverend Don Hock. Kh. Maggie spoke to us on the Importance of Forgiveness in Spiritual Growth - Spiritual Healing through Forgiveness.

Kh Maggie began the retreat with sharing with us, how crucial understanding the practice of forgiveness was, as shown in Biblical Text and the Church Fathers. We reflected on what forgiveness actually was, then on the steps of forgiveness, leading to the four stages of forgiveness. The four stages are 1)hurt 2)hate 3) healing 4) harmony. These stages were dealt with in depth leading to the key to complete forgiveness which is abolishing moral hindrances.

This was followed by Kh Maggie giving us practical steps on how to practice forgiveness with specific exercises which focused on the awareness about forgiveness. The sessions ended with us all realizing without any doubt that forgiveness is truly the gate to the path of salvation. We need only to think on The Lord’s Prayer to realize how conditional "forgiveness" is. Both receiving forgiveness from God and forgiving others leads to the path of salvation. Forgiveness opens the door to healing. It is love’s anecdote to pain.......

During this entire retreat, it was most evident that we were not "going to a retreat" but that we were "going to retreat", which was just what we did, as we were given a number of quiet times to reflect, to meditate on the material that was presented to us. Forgiveness does have many faces. As Kh Maggie so clearly emphasized, it is clear that forgiveness is not easily cultivated, especially where we have been deeply wounded by another person and our human dignity has been affronted. Forgiveness is not a simple feat. To begin, we need to confront and affirm our anger, our pain, our sense of betrayal. Ultimately though, it is the act of choosing to forgive that allows us to enjoy the present.

Once more we leave this Retreat counting our blessings - that we are able to come together as a community of sisters each year. We are already looking forward to our Retreat next year where we will not be going to a retreat but that we will retreat once more! May our beloved Lord watch over us, protecting and guiding us as we look forward to Retreat 2008!

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32

Written By Marina Mantle of St Peter (the Aleut) Orthodox Church, Calgary Alberta

The 2008 Women’s Retreat is Sept 19th-21st

Contact Myra Reinheimer for details 403-938-4929

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