St. Max Catholic Church to host retreat on Christmas spirituality and the Labyrinth

GENE DOWD/The AcornWALKING THE CIRCLE - Monsignor Peter O'Reilly leads parishioners in a Labrynth walk in preparation for the upcoming spirituality retreat at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Westlake.

On Oct. 21, St. Maximillian Kolbe Catholic Church in Westlake Village will host an all-day retreat on "Christian Spirituality and the Labyrinth — a Pilgrimage of the Soul" beginning at 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the church.

Registration will cost $10.

According to Bernie Fasching, who’s adopted the Labyrinth as a special ministry, Sister Joann Heinritz, CSJ (Congregation of St. Joseph) is a well-known speaker on spirituality and will reflect on the search for meaning in one’s life and deepening spirituality.

Joann has several degrees in spirituality and theology, and will dedicate the second part of the day relating the history of the Labyrinth and explaining the sacred walk she calls the "pilgrimage of the soul."

According to Joann, walking the Labyrinth is a quest to find the sacred center and one’s deepest center.

St. Max’s Labyrinth measures 40 feet in diameter and is made up of more than 70,000 mosaic tiles patterned after the classic Eleventh Circuit Labyrinth located at the Our Lady of Chartres Cathedral in France which was built in 1220.

The Labyrinth at St. Max is unique because the six petal rose shaped center is a "P" overlaid with an "X" — the Chi Rho, which is a symbol representing the word Christ. God is the destination of the spiritual journey, and walking the Labyrinth is representative of one’s real-life journey to God.

The single unicursal pathway seemingly leads away from and back to the center and is likened to one’s journey with God.

According to Fasching, it’s a three-fold spiritual path: Walk in — purgation, relinquishing control; Time in the Christ Center — illumination; prayer and insight and Walk Out — union and integrating what one has experienced into their own personal life.

To learn more about the one-day retreat, call the church at (818) 991-3915.

–Debbie Sporich