Image: Wise Women Also Came © Jan Richardson
Friends, it is almost Women’s Christmas! I want to share a gift I’ve created for you in celebration of the day.
You might know that in some parts of the world, Epiphany (January 6, which brings the Christmas season to a close) is also celebrated as Women’s Christmas. Originating in Ireland, where it is known as Nollaig na mBan, Women’s Christmas began as a day when the women, who often carried the domestic responsibilities all year, took Epiphany as an occasion to enjoy a bit of respite and celebrate together at the end of the holidays.
Whether your domestic duties are many or few, Women’s Christmas is a good time to pause and take a break from whatever has kept you busy in the past weeks or months. As the Christmas season ends, this is an occasion both to celebrate with friends and also to spend time in reflection before diving into the responsibilities of this new year.
It has become a tradition for me to create a retreat that you can use for Women’s Christmas—or any time you’re in need of a space of respite and regathering. This year’s retreat is titled “By Way of the Heart.” As I continue to make a life in the wake of my husband’s death, I have been astonished to learn how much our hearts can hold—how they expand not only to carry the sorrows that come to us but also the love and joy that still find us. Even as it alters us, this expansion makes it possible for us to engage our lives and the world more wholeheartedly. This year’s retreat offers an invitation for you to reflect on your own heart and the mysteries it holds.
The retreat is very flexible, easily adaptable to your own purposes. You can do the retreat anytime you wish, by yourself or with friends near or far. It includes an introduction with some thoughts about how you might use these reflections.
Clicking the link below will take you to a page on this Sanctuary of Women site where you can download the retreat as a PDF file. There is no cost; this is my Women’s Christmas gift to you! If you wish, you can make a donation in support of the retreat; contributions will be shared with the A21 Campaign (a21.org), which is devoted to ending human trafficking and providing sanctuary, healing, and hope for those rescued from slavery.
Download the 2019 Women’s Christmas Retreat
(If you don’t see the 2019 retreat when you click the link, just refresh your browser so that you’re seeing the most recent version of the Women’s Christmas page, and the new retreat should appear.)
You are welcome to make copies of the retreat to share with friends. I would be delighted for you to offer this gift to others by sharing this blog post; you can use any of the social media icons at the bottom of this post or simply forward the link to others.
This year’s retreat opens with a new blessing I’ve written for you, which you can find below. As we celebrate the day and enter into the year ahead, I pray that you will travel in the company of love. Merry Women’s Christmas!
Constellation
A Blessing for Women’s Christmas
Consider that the heart
holds its own constellation.
Consider that it has
a secret chamber
radiant with unspent light.
Consider this when you cannot find
that one star, that dream
that compels you to the road.
When every last thing seems
to have disappeared into dark,
consider that you cannot always know
how you bear this brightness
but that it holds you
and is not wasted
or lost.
See how we share this sky,
how it stretches above us
beyond every border,
how every day
turns each of us
in steady revolution
through morning, night,
morning again.
Or think of it like this:
that every heart is its own voyage,
sending its vessels out,
drawing them back again,
never by the same way they went
but still somehow making for
home, that place
that shimmers now in welcome
with all the gathered light
you had thought
you could not see.
—Jan Richardson
[The image Wise Women Also Came is © Jan Richardson from Night Visions. To use this image or order an art print, please visit this page at Jan Richardson Images.]
Thank you.
Thank you so much!
thank you for the melody that emanated as I read these words.. .my spirit rode the astral wave as I now rest in the light. Namaste
Thank you for your beautiful gift.
Such a beautiful gift, Jan. I have put the link to it on my website and also on the website for the Center for Prayer and Spirituality at St. John ‘s Cathedral in Jacksonville.
Hope to see you at Gladdening Light in February. God’s Peace, Owene
Glory! It is here!
Gratitude overflowing for this gift and for you.
Praying sweet peace on you. Much love.
Today. Always.
Thank you Jan- this came just when i needed it after an Advent and Christmas with several bereavements and family illness. I feel i am clinging by my fingertips. This is so real,so beautiful. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Jan. This retreat is so timely after the busy holiday season. I plan to share the link with the women with whom I meet for spiritual direction.
Thank you, Jan, for your gracious generosity in sharing this wonderful gift with us. I wish you God’s special blessings for the New Year ahead and look forward to spending another Advent Retreat with you…and with Gary, whose music and songs touch my heart and soul deeply!
Jan Thank You…..today bring the Most Holy Name of Jesus…..”every eye some tears must fall”…..your retreat is just what will help me begin a new relationship with God….I have waisted so much time. Thank you
Thank you, Jan , for the gift of this Women’s retreat. I have been inspired with each retreat to find better ways of communicating the incomparable love of God revealed in Christ. Your sharing of your journey of faith, give me the inspiration to put my own journey…in all of its joy and pain…into words that let others know they are not alone in their own struggles, challenges, sorrows and joys. Life is full of sorrows, small and large. These are the times in which we are forced to find new roads…to walk alongside others who are in despair…and to remind ourselves and others that God is with us. We are not alone…we just need to breathe in the Spirit and breathe out our fear and anxiety and place them in God’s hands.
Although I’ve read a lot of Jan’s materials, this will be my first retreat. I’m looking forward to getting started. I’ve read the poem and am ready to go.
Thank you for sharing your gifts and your heart with us. I have not experienced the great loss you have, but many of my friends have. This arrived in a timely manner as I am experiencing empty nest (for real this time – as some of my adult children boomeranged back for a bit), but seem to have finally found their way and paths in life.
So, now it is time for me “ turn my attention toward questions about my own journey, contemplate where I am in my own unfolding path “, “contemplate my own heart and the mysteries it holds.”
So eloquently put. I needed to hear these words as I have been struggling to find myself again.
Thank you 🙏🏼. Sending love and light.
Thank you for your gift of this retreat to learn from you and other women and to celebrate womanhood.
Thank you so much!
Jan,
Am always, always, amazed by your prose; profound with endless possibilities. That secret chamber opens to new discoveries in my soul with each word you and God bring to light for us all. Thank you for sharing. The comments from others is very helpful too. Your writings are transforming. Grace and peace to you, always!! DD
I continue to be impacted and moved by your journey Jan and the generosity you offer to so many of us of your work. I have used your art this past year in Sermons and Retreat work, offering people the challenge to renew and refresh their faith formation in evolving ways. You are close to me in my prayers and mind presently, as I prepare to support my husband through a surgery. I am so aware of your story as I journey in my own. Holding you to the Epiphany Light of manifestation and showing Presence of Great Love. Thank you.
Dear Jan,
Thank you for sharing your heart and prayers and creative self with the world. I will pray for you as you continue to open your heart to life and all it has in store for you in 2019. Blessings, Cheryl
Dear Jan,
Most grateful for your courage, faith you share with others, your stunningly appealing and creative artwork, and beautiful prose. Thank you so much for sharing this women’s retreat.
Blessings and Peace,
Cynthia
Jan,
Thank you for sharing your gift. I look forward to this time in learning more of the God who created me and who I am in Him.
I was introduced to your work approximately one year ago in search of a Spiritual Director. I would love to meet you in person….maybe you could be my spiritual director/mentor??
Blessings,
Dreu
This is the first time I have heard of Women’s Christmas Retreat. I wish I had heard about it sometimes ago. I would have dived in that spirit to boost my own spiritual involvement. However, I’m glad that I’m now learning something new which makes a lot of sense. That’s the wisdom I need so that it helps me in my own spiritual preparation as I look forward to Easter. Jan and Women’s Christmas Retreat, I wish to thank you for advocating for women rights of taking care of themselves a way from their daily chores. May you be encouraged for sharing this information to let other women be aware and take care of themselves.
Abundant blessings and may the peace of the Lord be with you.
I am Mary Fleming’s partner and we have shared your Advent ministry. I wrote this poem this morning and Mary thought I should send it to you. Thank you for your loving guidance in our lives.
What We Grieve
What we grieve
Is not lost…
It is held…
In the vast incarnation
Of our Human Being
It is seen in our desire
To help
An injured animal
Whose eyes
Penetrate our heart
It is remembered in the Wonder that
Radiates from the face
Of every newborn
It is felt in that unnamed quality
That pulses within
Our breast
That opens
Mysterious
Possibility
That touches us
In a dream, a song, a gesture
A phrase, or memory
It catches us in the face of a stranger
When the veil becomes thin
As we live
Into the Love
That created Us !
(Gini Cale – Jan. 5th. 2019)
Beautiful, Gini! thank you for sharing. Katherine
Dear Katherine
Thank you – I am so glad you liked my poem.
Gini Cale
Beautiful and meaningful. Thanks for sharing this lovely poem with us.
Dear Patricia
Thank you so much for your comments.
Blessings
Gini
Gini, please accept my belated thanks for your beautiful poem! It arrived as such a gift last year, and I’m grateful for your thoughtfulness and generosity in sharing it. Your words about what we grieve not being lost quite resonate for me.
I wish you and Mary so many blessings in this new year. Thank you again!
Jan, thank you, thank you and thank you again. You will never know how meaningful your words, images and blessings are to me.
All good blessings,
Mary
Thank you for your words this season – and all seasons…I have shared your blessings with my congregation over the years. It has been a profound gift to be part of this retreat. It has been a difficult season – my sister died unexpectedly on Thanksgiving evening, and my father entered hospice care on Christmas Day… I am holding on to each word, each prayer, each song, each work of art from your wise heart and from the hearts of this company of women.
Elsie, please accept my belated thanks for the words you shared here last year. I was so sorry to read about your sister’s death, and that your father had entered hospice care on Christmas Day. I can imagine this past year has held many currents for you. I pray there have been many graces as well, and that you are being met with solace.
I am grateful for the gift of your words, and I wish you so many blessings as this new year unfolds. Much peace to you.
Thank you Jan, for the retreat. Sharing as you have is very generous of you.
I’ve sent it to several women who are “wise women” on their way to loving God more deeply.
Thank you, too, for your concern for people involved in human trafficking.
I join you in this concern and pray for their safety and rehabilitation.
Blessings on your 2019.
Mary Reuter, OSB
Thank you for the 2019 readings this year! I enjoyed them very much and shared the link with friends.
Thank you so much!
Thank you for this thoughtful information and beautiful poetry.
Jan…your poem is so resonating beautiful. Your depth of faith and your integrity in sharing is always a gift. Thank you for sharing.
This is a deep, rich and beautiful retreat. Thank you so much for your generous heart and sensitive words that invite, inspire, and encourage.
A belated thanks for your gift(s).
Friends, thank you so much for the wondrous words you left in response to the Women’s Christmas Retreat last year! I am tremendously grateful for the gift of your thoughtfulness. As we approach another Epiphany/Women’s Christmas, know that I am thinking of you with great gratitude and sending many blessings. Peace to you!