Welcome
(Mike Smoolca)
Hello, my name is Mike Smoolca. My personal spiritual journey has been important to me from an early age. It has involved individuals, communities, life events, joys, difficulties and experiences of the Divine.
In 2012 I looked closely at my life and was blessed to be able to retire from a nearly 30-year career in Technology and Business. I was looking to live a more life-giving and enriching way of living that would have a positive impact on others.
Since leaving my former career I've dedicated myself to enhancing family and personal relationships, teaching and group facilitation capabilities as well as a commitment to growing and making my spirituality a vital and integral part of who I am and what I do. Focusing on my spiritual journey has led me to deeper awareness of God's presence in all things, a more genuine expression of my own humanity and an ever-richer connection to God, myself, others including all of creation. InViaLumen.org and the organization supporting it is part of the journey of deepening and living my spirituality.
My concise biography:
Nearly a decade ago Mike Smoolca retired from a nearly 30 year career in Business and Technology to focus on deepening his relationships, spirituality, teaching and service to others. Mike is a practicing Spiritual Director, Spiritual Director Supervisor and BioSpiritual Focusing Companion as well as a leader in the area's Christian Contemplative Community.
My fuller biography:
Mike Smoolca has been commissioned as a Presenter of Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina and Welcoming Prayer by Contemplative Outreach Ltd.. He is the Chapter Coordinator of Contemplative Outreach of Connecticut and has trained, formed and mentored people as Presenters of Centering Prayer. Mike was onsite Coordinator for the Contemplative Outreach Living Flame Program held at Holy Family between 2014 - 2016 and is a founder and the Coordinator of the Christian Contemplative Experience. He is an experienced contemplative group and workshop facilitator and teacher as well as a dedicated student of Contemplative practices.
Mike is coordinator of the North-Central CT Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society. He has been reading Merton since the 1990's and applying insights he's gained to his own Spiritual Journey. Mike's been presenting Thomas Merton programs and facilitating Thomas Merton Contemplative Living workshops since 2013.
Mike is a practicing Spiritual Director and was a Training Partner in the Spiritual Life Center's Internship Program. He is also a trained and practicing Spiritual Director Supervisor and a trained Stephen Minister. Mike is a trained and practicing BioSpiritual Focusing Companion and teacher.
In 2012 Mike retired from a nearly 30 year career in Business and Technology to focus on deepening his relationships, spirituality, teaching and service to others. The current core of Mike's spirituality and ministries is an emphasis on being present to God in all things, in each life circumstance, and in contemplative stillness.
In 2012 I looked closely at my life and was blessed to be able to retire from a nearly 30-year career in Technology and Business. I was looking to live a more life-giving and enriching way of living that would have a positive impact on others.
Since leaving my former career I've dedicated myself to enhancing family and personal relationships, teaching and group facilitation capabilities as well as a commitment to growing and making my spirituality a vital and integral part of who I am and what I do. Focusing on my spiritual journey has led me to deeper awareness of God's presence in all things, a more genuine expression of my own humanity and an ever-richer connection to God, myself, others including all of creation. InViaLumen.org and the organization supporting it is part of the journey of deepening and living my spirituality.
My concise biography:
Nearly a decade ago Mike Smoolca retired from a nearly 30 year career in Business and Technology to focus on deepening his relationships, spirituality, teaching and service to others. Mike is a practicing Spiritual Director, Spiritual Director Supervisor and BioSpiritual Focusing Companion as well as a leader in the area's Christian Contemplative Community.
My fuller biography:
Mike Smoolca has been commissioned as a Presenter of Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina and Welcoming Prayer by Contemplative Outreach Ltd.. He is the Chapter Coordinator of Contemplative Outreach of Connecticut and has trained, formed and mentored people as Presenters of Centering Prayer. Mike was onsite Coordinator for the Contemplative Outreach Living Flame Program held at Holy Family between 2014 - 2016 and is a founder and the Coordinator of the Christian Contemplative Experience. He is an experienced contemplative group and workshop facilitator and teacher as well as a dedicated student of Contemplative practices.
Mike is coordinator of the North-Central CT Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society. He has been reading Merton since the 1990's and applying insights he's gained to his own Spiritual Journey. Mike's been presenting Thomas Merton programs and facilitating Thomas Merton Contemplative Living workshops since 2013.
Mike is a practicing Spiritual Director and was a Training Partner in the Spiritual Life Center's Internship Program. He is also a trained and practicing Spiritual Director Supervisor and a trained Stephen Minister. Mike is a trained and practicing BioSpiritual Focusing Companion and teacher.
In 2012 Mike retired from a nearly 30 year career in Business and Technology to focus on deepening his relationships, spirituality, teaching and service to others. The current core of Mike's spirituality and ministries is an emphasis on being present to God in all things, in each life circumstance, and in contemplative stillness.
Influences and Practices
|
The first profound influence in my spiritual life was my immigrant grandmother. Her peasant roots fostered a humble spirit which deeply connected her to God, her family, her community and to all of creation. Her living faith was an inseparable part of who she was, she relied upon it and her dependence on God to get through the many difficulties in her life. It allowed her to joyously celebrate her days with others and to pass along a deep sense of faith and spirituality to her family.
My faith tradition is Roman Catholic and I've felt drawn to contemplative spirituality from my youth. My developing Christian spirituality has been most influenced by wonderful contemporary Christian Contemplative and Wisdom spiritual writers and teachers including:
I feel a deep resonance with mystics of all Spiritual traditions and am coming to realize that the Spiritual Journey is an evolution of the level of Consciousness we exhibit in our lives; this is how we realize the Kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed during his ministry. In addition to daily prayer and reading scripture and other spiritual material, the contemplative practices I have incorporated into my life include Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina and Welcoming Prayer. I find deep connection in the practice of Spiritual Direction, Companioning and Group Facilitation which I consider an important part of my own spiritual practice. The Practice of BioSpiritual Focusing developed by two Jesuit's, Fr. Ed McMahon and Fr. Ed Campbell from the work originated by Gene Gendlin has been tremendously helpful in deepening my sense of integration, Contemplative awareness and spiritual transformation. In order to connect to my body more fully and energetically I've also included Tai Chi and Qi Gong as part of my daily practice since 2015. Contemplative time spent is nature also nurtures me spiritually. |
(Important Spiritual Influences)
|
The Christian Call To Awakening and Transformation
One of the most exciting aspects that I've realized on my Christian Contemplative Spiritual Journey is the call I've found for personal awakening and transformation of Consciousness. Jesus' invitation is one of awakening to our higher selves. It is only from a higher level of Consciousness that we can truly come to know and live his example and Commandments of Love, and his teachings encapsulated by the Beatitudes as well as the parables and wisdom sayings found in the Canonical Gospels and extra-Canonical Gospels such as the Gospel of Thomas.
From a Christian faith rooted in the Divine Trinity; God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit , we have the invitation to participate in the fully self-giving relationship of love between these Divine persons which we realize through our everyday relationships with God and others. As Christians, our individual spiritual journey is a call to discipleship which is to experience Christ in ourselves and to encounter Christ in others. The deeds and teachings of Jesus' life, death and resurrection provide the inspiration and human model for personal awakening and social transformation that we are called to make from a higher level of Consciousness.
I believe our personal transformation begins from a genuine intent to live a life of faith, hope and love following Jesus' example which begins the experience of personal awakening to our true nature carried out by God's grace and the actions of the Holy Spirit by which we become aware of Christ in ourselves. Our personal awakening opens us naturally to participating in social transformation as we co-create, with the Divine, the in-breaking Kingdom of God announced by Jesus' life.
From a Christian faith rooted in the Divine Trinity; God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit , we have the invitation to participate in the fully self-giving relationship of love between these Divine persons which we realize through our everyday relationships with God and others. As Christians, our individual spiritual journey is a call to discipleship which is to experience Christ in ourselves and to encounter Christ in others. The deeds and teachings of Jesus' life, death and resurrection provide the inspiration and human model for personal awakening and social transformation that we are called to make from a higher level of Consciousness.
I believe our personal transformation begins from a genuine intent to live a life of faith, hope and love following Jesus' example which begins the experience of personal awakening to our true nature carried out by God's grace and the actions of the Holy Spirit by which we become aware of Christ in ourselves. Our personal awakening opens us naturally to participating in social transformation as we co-create, with the Divine, the in-breaking Kingdom of God announced by Jesus' life.
Contemplative Living, True Self and The Human Condition
Realizing Christ in ourselves is a life awakened to True Self, the unique humanity at our core that is in union with the Divine dwelling within each of us. Our True Self connects each person to God and to the sacredness in all of creation. Acts of the True Self are the pure and effortless self-giving flow of love and goodness between the Divine in me and in another.
My humanness (well described as the Human Condition) distracts me from awareness of my True Self and makes me susceptible to actions that separate me from God and from others (this is my understanding of sin). Gradually letting go of aspects of the Human Condition is the personal transformation of the spiritual journey.
For me, I find my part of this letting go dynamic is Contemplative Practice and Body Presence practices. It is God's grace that strengthens and helps me to humbly acknowledge, gently hold, eventually accept and finally let go of aspects of my humanness that stand in the way of my True Self. During this process, I become aware of the impact my humanness has on others and gain compassion for myself and others who, like me, are subject to the Human Condition.
If find that being able to increasingly live out of my True Self connects me more deeply with God and all of Creation.
My humanness (well described as the Human Condition) distracts me from awareness of my True Self and makes me susceptible to actions that separate me from God and from others (this is my understanding of sin). Gradually letting go of aspects of the Human Condition is the personal transformation of the spiritual journey.
For me, I find my part of this letting go dynamic is Contemplative Practice and Body Presence practices. It is God's grace that strengthens and helps me to humbly acknowledge, gently hold, eventually accept and finally let go of aspects of my humanness that stand in the way of my True Self. During this process, I become aware of the impact my humanness has on others and gain compassion for myself and others who, like me, are subject to the Human Condition.
If find that being able to increasingly live out of my True Self connects me more deeply with God and all of Creation.
Nature
|
St. Thomas Aquinas and many others have observed that "God has written two books of his revelation, the Bible and Nature." I find a deep connection to nature and creation and have had some of my most intense experiences of Divine wholeness and connectedness in natural settings. Taking time to be in nature grounds my spiritual life and reminds me of what's real in a world in which I am surrounded and depend so much on things that have been created by humans.
|
Other Faith Traditions
Though I am fully committed to my journey with Christ, I'm excited to learn about the beliefs, understandings and practices of other faith traditions, especially at the mystical/contemplative levels. I believe that different peoples have experienced the revelation of God in different ways, in different social contexts and at different times throughout human history. I believe at the core of each person is their True Self which is rooted in God and that the Divine touches, cares for and inspires the good in all people regardless of their faith tradition. As Pope Francis writes in The Joy of the Gospel: "254 (People), by God's gracious initiative, when they are faithful to their own consciences, can live "justified by the grace of God"..."
Becoming aware of other ways to honor and enhance my relationship with God that align with my own traditions' teachings and beliefs and to my experiences deepens my spirituality. By understanding and respecting other faith traditions, I am also doing my part to increase the respect, loving relationship, genuine dialogue and understanding between all of God's people. To that end I was a founding member of the Farmington Valley League of Light.
Becoming aware of other ways to honor and enhance my relationship with God that align with my own traditions' teachings and beliefs and to my experiences deepens my spirituality. By understanding and respecting other faith traditions, I am also doing my part to increase the respect, loving relationship, genuine dialogue and understanding between all of God's people. To that end I was a founding member of the Farmington Valley League of Light.
AdditionalInformation
As you browse this web site, I hope you find ways in which In Via Lumen, LLC can assist you or your group on your Spiritual Journey. Please visit the Assistance and Contact Page to get an idea of the services we provide. Additional information and services will be made available as I continue to develop and further travel my spiritual journey.