Background
According to the dictionary, illumine means to brighten spiritually or intellectually. This course attempts to facilitate the movement from unconscious to conscious. It allows the participants to experience what it is like to be accompanied by someone who is just ahead of them in the spiritual walk.
“Spiritual formation presents opportunities to enter into the center of our hearts and become familiar with the complexities of our own inner life.” – Henri Nouwen
“On the Third Day” has been giving spiritual formation for the past 11 years. This 2024 will be our 12th year, and we are launching a formation course that has shifted to more time in reflection, allowing the formand to be in prayer and contemplation with God as their director. In the Silence and solitude, as well as the teaching, we believe the formant will access their core selves and commune with God in deep areas of their inner self.
Objective
As On the Third Day journeys with you while you trace your genealogies, comprehend your personality, and discern your true self, one realizes the effects of our upbringing in our adult lives. This process of self-discovery and healing empowers us and invigorates them to become fully alive.
Moreover, the program delves deeper by exploring and challenging the participants’ worldviews and images of God as they confront the realities of life. This crucial step guides them towards genuine spiritual freedom and transformation. ILLUMINE, therefore, is not just a journey of self-discovery and healing. Still, it also challenges and transforms one’s perspective on life and spirituality, leading to a more authentic and liberated self.
Rationale
Many of us find ourselves stuck and not moving in our spiritual walks; we are in the second stage of searching. For those who have asked, “Can there be more to this life designed by God than what I’m currently experiencing?” For many of us, the other experience is that of the wall, where we feel we can’t seem to move forward. It is in this season that we need to learn to go into Silence and solitude. To do the interior work, to know and be authentic about who we are, what this unique self-created and had a purpose for. We want to ensure we get that boat and be just where we were created. We need to be intentional about moving from unconscious to conscious so we don’t miss out on what God has in store for us. We want to be able to let go of the attachment to be free to follow God.
Join us for this 8-month course and be formed by knowing God and knowing yourself. Learn to live a full life with all your senses, enjoying every gift God has in store for us. Avail of every opportunity, seize every moment, and flourish while you live an abundant life.
Wild Awakening 2023 Schedule
MODULE ONE
Presence is Where We Begin: Awareness, Spiritual Formation, and Spiritual Direction
February 25-26, Saturday & Sunday
MODULE TWO
Who Do You Say I am?: Genealogy and Who am I?
March 25-26, Saturday-Sunday
Exploring one’s genealogy is the basis of knowing and understanding one’s uniqueness. Participants are made more aware of their familial history and genetics to discover some patterns and tendencies. Specifically, they do some research within their own families to see various vocations or careers, talents, and abilities, as well as dysfunctions, unhealthy attachments, and the like.
The participants take all these as they begin the journey of knowing themselves better:
A. Early childhood development which influences present behavior as adults;
B. Multiple Intelligences (MI) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) with the focus on how God’s gifts and their uniqueness can empower them in responding to their calling;
C. Spiritual Intelligence (SI) as a way of evaluating and cultivating their spiritual practices in order to reach a deeper level of faith;
D. Discovering the God-given personality through the Enneagram, an age-old system that describes nine distinct personality types—patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting—by which people see life. Our basic type reveals the psychological mechanism we unknowingly use to forget our true nature—our Divine Essence.
MODULE FOUR
Discovering The Inner Child Retreat (2-Day Retreat)
May 27-28, Saturday-Sunday
“Each of us carries our inner child of the past into the daily activities of adulthood. The effects and events of our early years often influence how we live our lives, relationships, and adulthood responsibilities. Through prayer, active imagination, experience, teachings and small group discussions, this workshop will offer ways to begin to change attitudes and dispositions that have been shaped by childhood experiences. Opportunities will be given to discover one’s inner child of the past, learn how this child influences adult life and at times take over.” – Fr. William Jarema, Healing the Childhood Wounds. This retreat engages the imagination and uses creative expression as a form of healing and liberating the unique self.
MODULE FIVE
Exploring Our Images of God. Recognizing the influences of our distorted images
June 25, Sunday
This module explores how external circumstances influence one’s unique perspective of God. Through the teachings, the participants will be accompanied and empowered to learn and unlearn some distorted images of God and find a healthier way of relating with Him resulting in greater interior freedom.
MODULE SIX
Grounded Spirituality: A Workshop
July 30, Sunday
This workshop asks the participants to bring their current experiences on which they can practice their capacity to discern. They are accompanied to examine the teachings they received from their faith traditions and their influences on how they view and experience their reality. Through the acceptance of their unique qualities they become empowered to identify their tendency to dichotomize and are reminded that God is present in our ordinary, everyday realities.
MODULE SEVEN
Follow Me. Transformation and Conversion
August 27, Sunday
The participants examine how they experience God in a unique way and as a result they are empowered and transformed by it. They are accompanied to explore the two paths of transformation: Great Love and Great Suffering. This module re-examines the participants’ spiritual growth as they experience conversion. First, by following Jesus’ footsteps [First Conversion] and eventually, stepping into their calling [Second Conversion].