Week long retreat experience at the Christine Center, located in Willard, Wisconsin, led by the Spirit, facilitated by Theresa O’Connor, August 30 – September 5, 2009.
  

What if there were a time and a place where we could go to personally experience our own inner highest Essence and brightest Light? What if we each house within us the light of the Transfiguration, a light that like witnessed by three disciples in the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration? Quantum physics, energy psychology, and spiritual traditions are now all converging and agreeing that we are essentially non-local, non-temporal beings of light and hope. One definition of “enlightenment” is the remembering of and reconnection with one’s own inner light-being, and serving the world from a place of conscious connection with the light within.
  

Connecting with your own higher self and learning the skills to live and serve from this higher vibration, is the focus for our retreat week. Our coming to deeper consciousness is facilitated by Theresa in relaxing and enjoyable ways, which include guided meditation, silence, experiential growth, group guidance and pertinent multi-media learning.
  

The following are some post-retreat reflections from participants who attended the 2008 Global Awareness Through Enlightenment Retreat with Theresa:

• This was new and deeper; this week was one of those large steps forward. I feel so much bigger than this little body. I can trust this Source and light within; I’m grounded in trust and fearlessness.
• I can now walk and live in loving Presence. I crawled in it before.
• It only takes a moment to be healed or transformed. The light bulb has gone on for me. Spirit is all around, as well as supportive spirit guides.
• Everything has its aura; the plants are my family. I have a widening of consciousness of other energies; not all is physical.
• This was a renewal of my sabbatical of 10 years ago. I know now that energy follows intention and how to move my energies for healing others. I have a broader experience of my own guides and of ways to get in touch with and balance my own energy centers.
• This week has intensified my passion for the earth and sustainability. I can bring more deeply conscious energy into my life and work. I have received what I hoped to receive.
• Information has moved from my head to my heart. Connecting with my own inner light brings overwhelming emotion and clearer purpose. In leaving here, I bring divine love with me.
• For myself and my work, I wanted to deepen my connection with my higher wisdom and expand my experience of mystical levels. One can trust one’s own guides; it’s the difference of walking in the light instead of darkness.
  

Participation in this Enlightenment Retreat is not limited to those who have traveled with GATE. Anyone who is serious about personal growth and making a real difference in the world is invited to come and be counted.  For registration information, please see the Christine Center at: www.christinecenter.org or christinecenter@ceas.coop or contact Theresa at Theresa@oconnor-associates.net.

A Global Awareness Through Enlightenment Retreat will be offered at the Christine Center from August 30 (Sunday) '09 to September 5 (Saturday) '09.
Retreat Director is Theresa O'Connor.
Details to follow.

GATE has released program brochures and dates for 2008-2009.  Check out new dates for Venezuela in January and Guatemala Holy Week in April.  Also, an offering of our Oaxaca program is listed for February. To see all program dates, click here.  

 

 Click here for details.

Since 1942, Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center has been providing a place for rest and renewal to pilgrims along life’s journey. It is located on the beautiful Kittatinny Ridge of eastern Pennsylvania near the Delaware Water Gap and the Pocono Mountains region. Their retreats, hospitality, beautiful vistas and sacred ground have blessed and continue to bless countless lives.

 

 

We have added a section with current news articles and links to alternative news sites.  

In a recent publication Marie Des Jarlais, FSPA, has written on the immigration debate. She shares her experience on the economic and political realities of immigration.  Click here to read the article.   

 

The streets of Antigua light up with color during the Holy Week processions. Spend the first part of this 10-day trip learning about the history, economics, politics and current reality of Guatemala before immersing yourself in the beautiful celebrations.

 

Journey to El Salvador this June, without ever leaving your desk! Simply go here to experience the El Salvador GATE trip with writer Charish Badzinski in a day-by-day account of her experiences.

 

It’s the next best thing to actually going on a GATE trip!

 

A freelance writer, magazine editor, and published travel writer based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Charish Badzinski will post regular updates throughout the trip from June 12-21, 2007.

 

Please share this information with your friends and family members who are interested in learning more about the world around them!

If you would like to support the indigenous effort to produce and sell their own coffee, we suggest you buy from Juan Ana.  100% of the proceeds go to the growers, you can't get any more fair trade than that!  For those of you travelers that have visited the San Lucas Toliman Mission with us, you know what a difference it makes for the people--and how good it is!  Here is the link to order and learn more: http://www.juananacoffee.com/

Rufina Amaya, human rights activist and survivor of the El Mozote Massacre passed on Tuesday March 6, 2007 due to heart failure. She was a mother, grandmother, friend and hero to many.

 

In 1981 an SOA-trained Salvadoran army battalion known as the Atlacatl Battalion swept through the region of Morazon in a campaign to root out guerillas and their sympathizers. In a shocking turn of events, nearly one thousand peasants were slaughtered in the village of El Mozote.

 

As the sole survivor, Rufina's brave testimony of the massacre shed light on the atrocities committed by the Salvadoran military and uncovered the Reagan administration's role in providing training and millions of dollars in military aid to a government with a complete disregard for human rights.

 

The Atlacatl Battalion continued to commit atrocities in El Salvador, including the murder of six Jesuit priests and two Salvadoran women at the University of Central America on November 16, 1989.

 

"God saved me because he needed someone to tell the story of what happened." Rufina Amaya continued to be an outspoken and compelling witness to what may have been the largest massacre in modern Latin American history until the day of her death.

 

Rufina's legacy will live on in the hearts of the people of Latin America and the world.