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Welcome to
In Via Lumen

(On the Way - Light)

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Opening people to encounter and experience the Divine in everyday life through workshops, communities, facilitation, teaching, spiritual direction/companioning, supervision and other resources. Focused on seekers pursuing the path of Christian Contemplative Spirituality.

In addition to the resources available at this site, In Via Lumen offers services to groups and to individuals on their spiritual journey. You can find out more about these services on the  Assistance and Contact page.
Current Highlights: - updated on 7/23/2022

The study of the Gospel of Thomas continues this fall. A 10-week TOPICAL STUDY INTO THE DEPTH OF THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS will take place each Tuesday evening from September 20, 2022 - November 22,2022.  Due to keen interest we're offering another group meeting on Monday evenings (September 19, 2022 - November 21,2022).  Please express your interest in joining our Monday study group on the Gospel of Thomas group page! 

View our latest email announcement!

The North-Central Connecticut Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society Summer Quarterly was held on Wednesday July 13, 2022 from 6;30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Materials from our meeting are available on the Chapter's Past Meetings page.  Our fall Quarterly meeting will be a public event in cooperation with the Christian Contemplative Experience at Holy Family. It will be held on Saturday November 19, 2022 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The topic we'll be sharing is Heart Speaks to Heart: Correspondence as Spiritual Practice and will be a presentation by Judith Valente and Bro. Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O. For more information about our event and presenters as well as to to register please visit: https://www.holyfamilyretreat.org/calendar/cce-enrichment-november2022

Here's a list of latest Featured Events:​

July 2022:
Sunday July 31 - Saturday August 6, 2022 Eastern Time - 6-Night Guided BioSpiritual Focusing Retreat,  BioSpiritual Focusing Leadership Team, Genesis Spiritual Life Center, 53 30Mill Street, Westfield, MA 01085

September 2022:
September 10 2022: Body Presence and Contemplative Awareness - BioSpiritual Focusing Day of Presence with Mike Smoolca, Contemplative Outreach of Atlanta, Online over Zoom.

September 16 - 18, 2022: The Word of God in Silence and Sound: Centering Prayer in the context of the Divine Office, a weekend retreat with Fr. Justin Lanier,  Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT 06107

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 - TUESDAY NOVEMBER 22, 2022 AT 6:30 P.M.  A TOPICAL STUDY INTO THE DEPTH OF THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS with Mike Smoolca, Online over Zoom 
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October 2022:
October 1, 2022: Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop with Nancy Stimac, Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT 06107

October 15, 2022: Waking Up with the Enneagram: A Guide for your Contemplative Journey with Rev. Nhien Vuong, J.D., M.Div., Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT 06107

October 29, 2022: Welcoming Prayer Introductory Workshop with Mike Smoolca,  Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT 06107


November 2022:
 November 19, 2022: Heart Speaks to Heart: Correspondence as Spiritual Practice with Judith Valente and Brother Paul Quenon, OSCO,  Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT 06107

December 2022:
 December 10, 2022: Lectio Divina Advent Experience with Frank Pendola and Mike Smoolca, Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT 06107

January 2023:
January 28, 2023: The Contemplative Spirituality of Icons and Iconography with Marek Czarnecki, Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road West Hartford, CT 06107

Our Featured Events list continues to be updated to reflect those events in which In Via Lumen, LLC is involved. More events will be added as time goes on.


In the fall of 2021, Mike Smoolca was interviewed by Dr. Kevin Reese for his Inner Peace Podcast. Our conversation just came out and I invite you to listen to it.

You can find Kevin's other podcasts here:https://linktr.ee/inner.peace.pod
During this time of COVID continuation, Mike Smoolca is offering Thursday evening online Contemplative Prayer meetings on Zoom. These sessions run from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. and will use the following format:
  1. Body Scan into Welcoming Prayer
  2. Video/Audio teaching with Sharing. 
  3. 20 minutes of Centering Prayer
  4. Scholastic Lectio Divina Practice on an excerpt from the upcoming Sunday Gospel

Participants are encouraged to join the Zoom meeting at 6:45 p.m so that any issues can be resolved in advance and so that the group is able to start on time. Please contact Mike Smoolca via email (msmoolca@hotmail.com) directly if you're interested in participating in these sessions!

Please visit the Contemplative Outreach of Connecticut Chapter web site!

I will continue revising the In Via Lumen, LLC web site to stay current with the inspirations of my developing spirituality and areas I'm actively engaged in.  -- Mike Smoolca

Featured Programs
Current Workshops and Groups
Spiritual Direction and Supervision
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Body Presence Practices
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Thomas Merton
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Christian Wisdom
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Engaging the World 
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Of lasting interest:

​Please visit the web page for the newly forming Farmington Valley League of Light Multifaith Community.  This community is a wonderful means of Multifaith solidarity. I'd like to draw your attention to the Contemplative Dialogue page.

I'm keep a running history of the pages I've changed below until the site has been updated to my satisfaction:
  • Reflections (7/7/2018)
Updated the About page with additional biographical information.

Latest Blog Entry finalized on 9/25/2016.

Here's a link to the archived recording of my recent radio interview on:  WESU's Reasonably Catholic Radio show.

The Day of Christian Contemplative Reflection on June 11, 2016 sponsored by the Christian Contemplative Prayer groups of Northern CT and being hosted by Holy Family was a wonderfully enriching Contemplative experience exploring the Spirituality of Thomas Merton.

We've completed two years (2014-2015, 2015-2016) of the Contemplative Outreach, Contemplative Formation Program in Central CT. Here are the Community pages for both years:
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      Community Page for Living Flame 1 Experience
      Community Page for  Living Flame 2 Experience  

In the Summer of 2015 Contemplative Outreach Boston sponsored Contemplative Outreach Centering Prayer Presenter Training offered in the greater Hartford Area. Seven folks were trained over two weekends, since then, 2 of the 7 have become Commissioned Presenters of Centering Prayer.

​Here are the final updates on the Second Annual Day of Prayer held on June 6, 2015.
Divinely Inspired by the Spirit..
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