MOOSE JAW (Qu’A) — The parish of St. Aidan gathered for a two-day Advent retreat entitled “Praying with Mary of Bethany,” on Nov. 29 and 30.
The retreat was led by Bruce and Carolyn Hindmarsh, long-time friends of St. Aidan. Both are instructors at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C., where Bruce teaches spiritual theology and history, and Carolyn teaches Greek. They have co-authored a book based on this retreat entitled At the Feet of Jesus: A Guide to Encountering Christ in the Gospels (Intervarsity Press, 2024).
The retreat focused on Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, the close friends of Jesus who repeatedly invited Him into their home — Jesus’ “domestic disciples.” In three sessions, the Hindmarshes led the participants in Ignatian-style imaginative readings of the Scripture scenes involving these siblings. By telling the stories with attention to the sensory, psychological, and literary layers of each passage, the Hindmarshes invited retreatants to engage all of their senses, helping them experience Scripture as real as their winter-chilled toes.
On Friday evening, in his retelling of Luke 10:38-42 (the meal in which Martha serves and Mary sits at Jesus’ feet), Bruce invited participants to experience the sights, scents, and sounds of Martha’s first-century home: at least 14 people lounging on cushions in the glow of the setting sun; the aroma of baking bread in the hearth fire; the grate of pestle on mortar as Martha crushes coriander for hummus; a crash as Martha, distracted, drops a serving dish and cries in exasperation to Jesus, “Don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?”
They feel the awkwardness of witnessing a family squabble; and were awed along with the disciples as Jesus defends Mary, who has chosen “the one thing necessary.”
After this reading, retreatants dispersed about the nave for a time of quiet reflection, with the option to use various aids for prayer — such as bowls, beads, or hand-crosses that were set on the altar. They considered questions such as, “What would Jesus say to you if you came to Him with your resentment and exasperation?” and “What would it look like to offer Jesus rapt attention in the midst of your busy life?” Then they came back together to pray one-sentence prayers in response to what they received during the reflection time.
A break for fellowship over wine and cheese followed.
On Saturday morning, Carolyn led participants in the second imaginative retelling — the story of the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). She focused on Jesus’ encounters with each of the siblings, and invited retreatants to reflect on several questions.
“Can you imagine,” she asked, “the bewilderment of the sisters at Jesus’s delay in coming to heal their brother? Can you receive, with Martha, the comfort of the hope of the resurrection, even in the midst of your grief? How do you respond, when, like Mary, you hear, ‘The teacher is here and is asking for you’? How does the resurrection power of Jesus bring hope to your own situation?”
At the late-morning break, retreatants enjoyed fellowship over delicious homemade bread, hummus, olives, cheese, and fruit.
Bruce then led them through the third and final meditation: Mary’s extravagant anointing of Jesus’s feet with a jar of nard (John 12: 1-8). Having just feasted on Mediterranean fare, it was not hard to imagine the celebratory feast Martha had prepared for Jesus. This time, Martha serves with a singularity of focus, listening to Jesus as she passes dishes.
Mary defies social convention with her scandalously intimate gesture, and her “absolute lack of prudence in matters both social and financial.” Once again she is criticized, and once again defended by Jesus.
Before dispersing for a final time of quiet reflection, participants were invited to ask: “What is your pint of nard?” and, “In what areas might worldly prudence be keeping you from reckless love of Jesus?”
During a time of year when the world beckons Christians to be “worried and distracted by many things,” from Black Friday sales to Christmas parties, this Advent retreat created time and space to welcome Jesus into the home of participants’ hearts, where He is already waiting to meet them.
