Saint Thomas Aquinas was a renowned theologian, educator, composer, and philosopher. Thomas Aquinas was born in Italy in 1225 (only four years after Saint Dominic’s death). In 1244, he entered the Dominicans, and, in 1245, he moved to Paris (and later to Naples, Rome,...
Buddhism may not seem like a natural fit for a retreat center owned and founded by Catholic Sisters. However, as Fernando Camacho and Maeve Eng-Wong, both Buddhist priests and the leaders of Four Heavenly Abodes and Introduction to Zen at The Mariandale Center, will...
I first became aware of the word “liminal” in a literary description of the moment just before sunrise, a scene so tinged with the beginning of light and the hint of color that it suggested, deliberately I think, that a new day is an event of magic. Liminal...
There is a poem that calls summer “more eternity-like than the other seasons,” meaning that winter, spring, and fall relate to time-passing while summer represents time-present. Winter is endured more than lived until it’s finally over. Spring, of course, anticipates...
Dutch-born theologian Henri Nouwen said that we are all called to be mystics. A team of retreat coordinators at The Mariandale Center in Ossining, NY are helping people to discover that call. The Contemplative Formation Program is an interfaith, twelve-month program...
Good Friday is a unique time for us to draw closer to God, in both Jesus’s human suffering and God’s infinite mercy. We invite you to use the three reflections and accompanying music/poetry below to grow deeper in holiness...