Stirred to Wonder
An eight-week program with beauty experiences, and spiritual and creative exercises to help stir hearts to wonder.
The first Stirred to Wonder session runs from March 31 - May 19, 2024, and accompanies women through the liturgical season of Easter, ending on Pentecost Sunday.
Each week of Stirred to Wonder includes a sketchbook-based creative prompt. While the prompts can be modified to work with whatever materials you have on hand, we suggest the following items to make the most of your experience:
a mixed media sketchbook (a few options here, here, and here)
colorful art supplies of your choice, such as a simple watercolor set and brushes, colored pencils, or markers
a glue stick or Modpodge
tape (try some pretty washi tape!)
scissors
a straight-edge or ruler
You can order the options we have linked to or find your own. You can also choose to work in your own creative medium/creative hobby or outlet and ponder the themes in the creative prompts.
Registration is now open.
You can join any time during the Easter season!
what’s included?
Stirred to Wonder is an eight-week virtual spiritual and creative retreat that helps women hear and respond to the Lord’s invitation to participate in the mystery of creation through beauty, creativity, and relationship. Each week we are prompted to practice the way of beauty by journeying through a Scatter + Sow Spiritual Posture that enables us to be stirred to wonder and encounter the Living God.
Stirred to Wonder runs from March 31 to May 18, 2024, and accompanies women through the liturgical season of Easter.
You might think of this program as a series of retreats. Each Sunday, (starting 3/31), you’ll receive an email with all the content you’ll need for each day of the week. The weekly content will center around three pillars: Beauty Beheld, Beauty + Intellect, Beauty Crafted, and will include sacred scripture, Church teachings, reflections, questions, and spiritual and creative prompts.
Weekly Retreats
Informed by theological resources such as Saint John Paul II’s Letter to Artists, the Via Pulchritudinis, the Liturgy and Sacramental life of the church, and our personal lived experiences, we’ve designed eight weeks of Spiritual Postures to help us explore the natural attitudes our hearts journey through when encountering true beauty. All the postures are directed toward an overall attitude of wonder. Here’s a peek at the journey you’ll take:
Week 1: Present to Beauty
Week 2: Receiving Beauty
Week 3: Captivated by Beauty
Week 4: Surrendering to Beauty
Week 5: Embracing Beauty
Week 6: Transformed by Beauty
Week 7: Resting in Beauty
Week 8: Enthused by Beauty
Daily Routine
Throughout the program, you’ll follow a daily routine to help you remain open to the Lord’s promptings. The daily routine includes a morning offering, a spiritual and creative prompt, and a nightly examen. Each piece is meant to help you behold God’s beauty, engage the intellect, and craft the masterpiece of your life. We invite you to express your creative heart in a sketchbook or through your own creative medium.
Community Building
In addition to the weekly emails, you’ll also be invited to join us for two virtual meetups during the program, where you’ll get to meet other women in the program, and participate in some creative activities together!
WHO IS IT FOR?
This retreat will benefit any woman, but it may be especially appealing to women who enjoy using the creative arts as a means for self-expression or prayer. Some spiritual exercises, prompts, and resources would be wonderful for couples or families to do together as well!
Drawing inspiration from Saint John Paul II’s Letter to Artists, we’ve designed this program to help guide women to be more receptive to the Lord’s invitation to share in His creative power.
In Letter to Artists, JPII beautifully describes the unique insight artists have when he says,
“None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colors and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.”
He then reminds us that this ‘glimmer’ of mystery is available to all people, not just artists:
“Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.”
It is our hope that this program will help you take small, consistent steps to crafting your own life—your marriage, motherhood, home, work, artistic practice—into a masterpiece.
FAQ
What is the cost?
Stirred to Wonder is $8, which is just $1 per week. If the cost is prohibitive to you, please reach out.
What is the time commitment?
Participants should ideally set aside 20 minutes each day for the spiritual and creative exercises. But consistency is the goal here. If, on some days, you can only squeeze in five minutes, that’s wonderful, too!
What will I need?
A digital device, a quiet/cozy space, a candle or two, 20 minutes per day (don’t worry! You can spread out the time over the course of your day).
A few art supplies. We recommend a sketch book, a pencil, pen, and a simple set of your favorite art supplies (watercolor paints or colored pencils, for example). You can order the options we have linked to or find your own. There will also be an option to work in your own creative medium/ creative hobby or outlet and ponder the themes in the creative prompts. Just make sure to have your supplies by Easter Sunday!
How can I prepare?
Ask the Lord to reveal if this program would be beneficial to your life at this time. If so, register!
Read the Letter to Artists and The Via Pulchritudinis. While it is not necessary to read through them for Stirred to Wonder, we encourage you to read through them for better context. If you only read one, we recommend reading the Letter to Artists.
If you’d like to participate with others, invite them to read through these details, too.
Gather your art supplies. Here are the links again for some options: sketch book, a pencil, pen, and a simple set of your favorite art supplies (watercolor paints or colored pencils, for example).
Can I use this with my small group?
Yes! We’d love to see this program be used in group settings. Reflecting with others will help the Holy Spirit work, so please consider inviting others to sign up and journey with you.
Is this program in line with Catholic teachings?
Yes! Both Erin and Tara are active in their Catholic faith and are constantly seeking to grow in holiness and Truth. We love the Church and are eager to share her beauty! We’ve written all the content in this program prayerfully, and with discerning hearts. We’ve also had the content reviewed and edited by spiritual advisors whom we trust!
Editing and Theological Review: Ian Tuttle
Theological Review: Father James Goins & Father Zachary Boazman, Diocese of Oklahoma City