Having written two monumental works, “The Birth of the Messiah” and “The Death of the Messiah,” the great Scripture scholar Sulpician Father Raymond Brown was asked, “Are you going to write about the Resurrection of the Messiah?”
Father Brown replied: “No, I’m not going to write about the Resurrection. I want to experience it!”
Don’t we all?
Imagine what that will feel like: coldness becoming warm; unconsciousness changing to consciousness; a body likely turned to ashes and dust being transformed into a glorified body! We can’t know what it will be like. We can only imagine it. As St. Paul said so beautifully in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Eye has not seen. Ear has not heard. It has not entered the human heart what God has prepared for those who love him.”
We will all have to wait to experience the ultimate resurrection. However, this Saturday, April 18, at the Loyola College Graduate Center in Columbia, we will have an opportunity to experience a true form of resurrection. The death of a loved one through separation, physical death or divorce is a devastating experience. Saturday will be an opportunity to heal and transform our suffering and pain. The theme of the day says it all: “Where Do You Find Joy? Changing Crisis to Opportunity.”
Monsignor Richard Tillman will lead the opening prayer at 9 a.m. Deacon Bill Urbine, D. Min., and Carol Baron, M.S., will follow with the keynote address. I will offer my workshop “Transform Your Thoughts, Transform Your Life” at 11:25 a.m. I will be available throughout the rest of the day for those who might want to “chat and chew” or just chat! Then I will offer the closing Mass at 3:40 p.m.
However, there is so much more going on, so many wonderful workshops and speakers. The “soon to be canonized” Father Gene Nickol will speak on “Annulments: Myths and Facts.” Annulments are meant to be part of the healing process, not part of the hurting process. The ever insightful Brother Loughlan Sofield, a member of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, will host the workshop “Why is Anger a Blessed Energy?” International speaker and writer Diane Dixon, Ed.D., will offer two workshops: “Finding Joy in Good Communication: Building Better Relationships” and “Single and Laid Off.” She speaks from the heart and from the heart of wisdom.
An intriguing workshop entitled “The Elephant in the Room … is Your ‘Optimistic’ Personality” by Woodrow Powell, Ph.D., will address bringing out the “better you.”
Keynote speaker Carol Barron will also offer a workshop entitled “Blessed are They That Mourn,” and fellow keynote speaker Bill Urbine will address “Intimacy and Sexuality.”
The wonderful speaker and therapist Carrie Hansen, LCSW, will offer two workshops: “Moving Toward Healthy Relationships” and “Exploring Remarriage.”
Books, CDs and various resources will be available throughout the day, as well as complimentary holistic services. Lynn Cassella-Kapusinski, an author of children’s and divorce books, will be available for individual private time.
As with any great experience, the day is more than the sum of its parts. Please contact as many people as you possibly can to inform them of this magnificent moment for healing and hope.
Death does not have to win. We don’t have to stay in the tombs of our losses. We all deserve to EXPERIENCE resurrection!
For more information or help, please call Myra Fecteau at 410-724-0073, or Mary Ann Leard at 410-485-8313, or log onto www.singleagain.itgo.com, or e-mail SingleAgainCouncilayahoo.com.