Participating in a small faith community online is a helpful resource to stay connected and enhance your prayer life.
Chapels are hosted by trained leaders Monday – Saturday of each week. There is no fee and you can participate when you are able. We connect together in our online chapel through the video conferencing platform, Zoom. In order to participate in any of the online chapels, you will need to register by going to contemplativecommunity.org and completing a simple registration form. Once you have registered, an email will be sent to you with the URL and all the info you will need for participating in any of the chapels throughout the week.
The chapel experience is made up of a period of silent meditation, a short reading for prayerful reflection and an opportunity for simple faith sharing. It is a chance to take time out of your day for a rendezvous with God in a community that is hospitable and inclusive. An opportunity to find support and enhance your prayer and spiritual practicing. The chapel schedule is below, and you are welcome to join us whenever you are available. Register here to receive the Zoom link to participate.
The chapel experience is made up of a period of silent meditation, a short reading for prayerful reflection and an opportunity for simple faith sharing. It is a chance to take time out of your day for a rendezvous with God in a community that is hospitable and inclusive. An opportunity to find support and enhance your prayer and spiritual practicing. The chapel schedule is below, and you are welcome to join us whenever you are available. Register here to receive the Zoom link to participate.
Contemplation on Divine Love: An Ignatian Day of Retreat
Morton Arboretum, Lisle IL
Wednesday, May 17
8:30am – 3:30pm
Facilitator: Al Gustafson
Cost: $65
Register Here
The “Contemplation on Divine Love” is the final meditation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. This spiritual exercise invites us to become aware of how God’s love permeates all of reality, from the specific gifts of my own life journey to the presence of God in every created thing. Out of this awareness, God calls and enables me to make a return of love through the circumstances of the life I am living.
Join us for a day of quiet and structured prayer amongst the spring beauty of the Morton Arboretum. It is a day to step out of your routine and thanks to the guidance of St. Ignatius, enter a space where you and God can deepen your relationship. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. The retreat can accommodate 35 participants. Scholarships are available.
Wednesday, May 17
8:30am – 3:30pm
Facilitator: Al Gustafson
Cost: $65
Register Here
The “Contemplation on Divine Love” is the final meditation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. This spiritual exercise invites us to become aware of how God’s love permeates all of reality, from the specific gifts of my own life journey to the presence of God in every created thing. Out of this awareness, God calls and enables me to make a return of love through the circumstances of the life I am living.
Join us for a day of quiet and structured prayer amongst the spring beauty of the Morton Arboretum. It is a day to step out of your routine and thanks to the guidance of St. Ignatius, enter a space where you and God can deepen your relationship. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. The retreat can accommodate 35 participants. Scholarships are available.
Book Discussion: The Way of the Rose
Tuesday, May 23, 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Facilitator: Al Gustafson
Register Here
Please join us for our spring book discussion, The Way of the Rose. May is the month of Mary and this thought-provoking book promotes the traditional spiritual practice of praying the Rosary as it invites the reader to encounter an ancient energy as old as time. It is the divine feminine, the energy of creation, potential and possibility.
The Way of the Rose is the story of married couple Clark Strand (practicing Buddhist) and Perdita Finn (lapsed Catholic). It is about how they came to pray the Rosary as their foundational spiritual practice and the relationship they have developed with Mary, a spiritual figure they have come to recognize in other traditions, some that even predate Christianity. It is a fantastical account of their journey into a faith driven by a feminine, transcendent connection to nature.
Their story will invite you to behold one of our most traditional Catholic prayer practices in ways you have never considered before. Click here to register, discussion takes place online, there is no fee.
Facilitator: Al Gustafson
Register Here
Please join us for our spring book discussion, The Way of the Rose. May is the month of Mary and this thought-provoking book promotes the traditional spiritual practice of praying the Rosary as it invites the reader to encounter an ancient energy as old as time. It is the divine feminine, the energy of creation, potential and possibility.
The Way of the Rose is the story of married couple Clark Strand (practicing Buddhist) and Perdita Finn (lapsed Catholic). It is about how they came to pray the Rosary as their foundational spiritual practice and the relationship they have developed with Mary, a spiritual figure they have come to recognize in other traditions, some that even predate Christianity. It is a fantastical account of their journey into a faith driven by a feminine, transcendent connection to nature.
Their story will invite you to behold one of our most traditional Catholic prayer practices in ways you have never considered before. Click here to register, discussion takes place online, there is no fee.
Chapel Schedule & Hosts:
Monday | 7 am CST | John Blumberg & Linda Tomasello Monday | 7:30 pm CST | Al Gustafson / Deb Wilson – guided Loving Kindness Meditation Tuesday | 7 am CST | Ed Shurna & Vince Keenan Wednesday | Noon CST | Al Gustafson & Bill Hassett Wednesday | 7:30 pm CST | Mary Beth McEuen & Ed Siderewicz Thursday | 8 am CST | Marybeth Coleman & Eileen O’Shea Thursday | 5 pm CST | Happy Half-Hour (30-minute meditation) Friday | 10 am CST | Al Gustafson Saturday | 7 am CST | Kate DeVries & Margie Rudnik |
![]() Loving Kindness Meditation
Join us in the OSP online chapel on Monday evenings for a guided Loving Kindness meditation practice beginning every Monday at 7:30 pm. This meditation has its roots in the Buddhist tradition and is a practice for cultivating Christ like compassion for ourselves, those in our life and our sisters and brothers throughout the world. It can serve very practically as a necessary and skillful antidote to the negative states of mind that are nearly impossible to guard against during these days of the pandemic. This will also be an opportunity to join our hearts as one, sharing our prayer of care and becoming a collective channel of Light to a world that can use a little more love. To sign up and receive a Zoom link to access the chapel, visit bit.ly/contemplativecommunity |