The Call of Beauty:
The HeartWork of Love in Shadowed Times
A retreat with Rev. Dr. Mark S. Burrows, Ph.D.
The Call of Beauty: The HeartWork of Love in Shadowed Times
A retreat with Rev. Dr. Mark S. Burrows, Ph.D.
Poets and mystics, artists and lovers: these are the adventurous ones who dare to dream a new world taking shape among us. This retreat draws on the witness of such visionaries among medieval mystics and modern poets, voices who guide us in glimpsing the “whole” in the brokenness of this fragmented world.
Our journey invites us to join them as they open us to the resilience of beauty’s embrace. We’ll attend to the visionary writings of Hildegard, Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich together with a chorus of poets: Rainer Maria Rilke, Hilde Domin, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, William Stafford, Denise Levertov and others. What joins such varied voices is their conviction that “when we awaken to the call of beauty, we become aware of new ways of being in the world” (John O’Donohue).
What draws us to their witness is the sense that, come what may, “the song remains. . .beautiful” (Rilke). Come for a transformative engagement of what Rilke called the “heart-work” that grounds us in beauty, with all its startlements and delights. Come to live more reflectively into the deep change that pulses at the heart of your life.
Arrive MONDAY 25th OCTOBER, Depart SATURDAY 30th OCTOBER 2027
Mark S. Burrows is a poet, translator, and teacher, much sought-after as a retreat leader and speaker across the US, in Europe, Australia and the UK.
A scholar of medieval mysticism and an award-winning poet and translator of German poetry, Mark taught in graduate theological schools in the United States and, in the last decade, in Germany. His interests explore the literature of mystics and visionaries, ancient and modern, probing the intersections of poetry, spirituality and the arts.
His recent publications include Meister Eckhart: Inside the Heart of a Mystic (2026), You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke (2024), and new translations of Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus (2024) and Duino Elegies (2026). He frequently leads retreats for the World Community of Christian Meditation (in the UK, Europe, and Australia) and is a member of the Iona Community. He lives and writes in Camden, Maine. www.soul-in-sight.org