ORACLE WWW DIRECTED RETREAT

In the ORACLE WWW Directed Retreat, individuals meet with a spiritual director who may suggest scripture passages for prayer and reflection. The Directed Retreat may include an experience of individual or communal faith sharing and processing at the end of each day. During direction sessions, director may reflect back to the retreatant what they observe is happening in their lives and their prayer, and assist the retreatant in clarifying where God is in the midst of their experiences and where God seems to be calling them. Most people on directed retreats maintain silence and have minimal interaction during retreat except for their prescribed meetings.

Enrich Your Faith by Joining Our Christian Ministry Programs

At our nonprofit organization, we do more than celebrate and bear witness to our love for the Lord. We put our faith into action by developing and implementing various Catholic/Christian ministry programs. These programs feed the spiritual needs of our sisters and brothers-in-faith across the United States. ORACLE BMW: Blind Men Witness Retreat * ORACLE WWW: Well Women Witness Retreat * ORACLE Pentecost Retreat * ORACLE Path of the Suffering Savior – JESUS CHRIST Retreat * ORACLE WWW Directed Retreat * ORACLE Bible Study Retreat * ORACLE Revivals * ORACLE National Summer Institute for Youth * ORACLE Mystagogia Institute * ORACLE Young Adult Ministries * Kindly read below to learn more about some of our programs:

ORACLE PENTECOST Retreat

ORACLE Pentecost Retreat: is an event of two days awaiting the celebration of Pentecost. Pentecost is a Christian celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus Christ after His Ascension into glory. Christ’s apostles along with his disciples waited 10 days after His Ascension. Love was worth waiting for! The ORACLE Pentecost Retreat illustrates through praying, teachings, and healings that this LOVE is worth waiting for. One learns from Old Testament and New Testament who the Holy Spirit is as a PERSON, identifying His LOVE Life and mission. LOVE worth waiting for! The ORACLE Retreat is saturated in prayer. It involves: “Personal Prayer,” “Prayer of the Church [Liturgy of the Hours]” “Prayer Groups,” “Prayer Warriors (Intercessors).” This Pentecost Retreat moves participants to exam one’s personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and one’s communication skills with God.

ORACLE BMW: Blind Men Witness Retreat

BMW: Blind Men Witness ~ Sr. Dr. Oralisa Martin, a consecrated woman, a teacher with a prophetic calling, helps you apply the teachings of Jesus Christ using St. John’s account of the Man Born Blind (John 9:1-41) to experience a spiritual journey that explores man’s unique identity of the soul. The Blind Men Witness (BMW) is a Saturday retreat to receive God’s anointing, healing and understanding of man’s place among all others. This retreat includes bible teachings, discussions, challenges, and victories as you grow closer and stronger in your walk with God.
Testimonials of Men's Experience of the ORACLE Programs
MSGR. RAYMOND EAST
R. MR. DOUGLASS JOHNSON

ORACLE WWW: Well Women Witness Retreat

Witnessing: Women are commissioned to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” Witness is communicated not only as testimonials intended to bring others to Christ, but by the Well woman’s life.
WWW: Well Women Witness is a women’s weekend Retreat based on THREE women in the Bible: 1) The Samaritan woman at the Well (John 4:1-42), 2) The woman with the alabaster box (Matt. 26: 6-15), and 3) Mary, at the foot of the Cross of Christ Jesus, her Son (John 19:25-30). Blessing each other in Jesus’ Name, invoking the Holy Spirit to “stir the waters,” we experience anointing and healing. There’s a spirit-filled WWW Prayer Service; The Gospel is dramatized with Bible teachings. Women gather with alabaster boxes of perfumed oil for meditations with “letter writing.”
The Meditations: A mirror meditation, rock meditation, Cross meditation and Closing Mass all lend themselves to women “Encountering Jesus Christ.”
Commissioned: to “Witness to the Glory of God,” Well women, Second-Line with umbrellas as they sing: “When the Saints Go Marching In!”
Joined by the “Cloud of Witnesses,” Well women, like the woman at the well, run out and declare to others, “Come! Come and see...” And others will know for themselves: “...truly Jesus is the Savior of the world.” They will go to family, friends, in parking lots, super markets, even clubs to share their WWW experience, “Encountering Jesus Christ.”
The History of the WWW Program:WWW: Well Women Witness began at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Norfolk, VA. of the Diocese of Richmond, VA. There, one hundred four (104) African American and African women gathered at the Well!
As a national program, WWW was able to travel to parishes and dioceses and catechize women who longed for spiritual growth. From 2015 to the present WWW found its way from the Basilica in Norfolk to Washington, DC @ St. Teresa of Avila 3X’s, Incarnation Catholic Church (DC) (3X’s), New Orleans, LA (Hosted St. Mary’s Academy), Wilmington, DE, (St. Joseph Catholic Church, Fr. Paul William, OFM -pastor), the Diocese of Pittsburgh (Dr. Greta Stokes Tucker), returning to DC @ Centro Maria Center (DC) Feb., 2018, and in DC Incarnation Catholic Church, Fr. John Carroll, SSJ (October 27, 2018). Numerous women have returned to WWW three (3) to eight (8) times.
A book, Well Women Witness ~ Letters from Christ authored by Sr. Dr. Oralisa Martin, was published in 2018. WWW Small Groups in numerous cities emerged as a result of Women’s individual experiences of letter writing through the book.
With life’s “normal” interrupted by COVID-19, WWW: Well Women Witness now returns with a new vigor. Instead of the one Biblical text of the Samaritan woman, there are now three women. Instead of a one-day retreat, WWW is a weekend conference retreat. Instead of ministering to locals, women travel from abroad to attend the Retreat.

The ORACLE Path of the Suffering Savior: JESUS CHRIST! Retreat

  • Description of The Path of the Suffering Savior: JESUS CHRIST Retreat
  • The Path of the Suffering Savior: JESUS CHRIST is a weekend retreat based on the Stations of the Cross that represents each of the Biblical stops that Jesus Christ made on His journey to Calvary.
  • Content of the Retreat
  • Participants “make” the Stations from the 1st Station, “Jesus Is Condemned to Death” to the “Resurrection,” an added 15th Station. While on the journey, there are substantive Bible based and fresh Catholic teachings on each of the Stations. Sojourners identify with the human experiences of Jesus’ journey as they relate those experiences to the crises in their own lives. For example, how might they relate to Jesus’ trial (their experiences of injustice); to a Veronica outreach (helping and asking nothing in return); a Simon-Jesus encounter (forced labor, threat of death); and weeping women for their children (auction block, immigration policies)? Station by Station, participants bring their lives to Calvary.
  • Applications to Life
  • In the retreat teachings, Catholics are led to see what they already know in memorized prayers, like the Apostles’ Creed. For example, what did Christ do after he died and was buried? Answer: And I quote: “… He descended into hell…” According to The New Catechism of the Catholic Church, Jesus also preached to all those in hell [Hades (Greek), Schoel (Hebrew)]; and He led the captives (believers) free. Included in the teachings are ORACLE Meditations and Afri-centric artwork. Meditations serve as magnets that engage participants at a deeper level. The artwork are Kenyan Stations of the Cross paintings by Br. Michael O’Neill McGrath, OSFS (used with permission). They accommodate the required resources: The PATH Prayer Book, a set of PATH Prayer Cards, and the PATH Meditation Posters. The Retreat Environment is enriched with culturally appropriate art and icons. The Eucharistic Celebration
  • Catholic spirituality finds full expression in the Eucharist. The retreat teachings, prayers, and meditations come to bear on the participants’ understanding of the Eucharist and living in the Mystery of Faith. As the Eucharistic Prayers begin to make more sense, and the reception of Holy Communion (the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ), the Eucharistic Celebration leads the worshipping Catholic community to a glimpse of Glory. Alleluia!
  • Testimonials Give Evidence of Retreat Impact
  • Personally (Black woman – Washington, DC – age 74): “I received a wonderful understanding of the meaning of ‘Jesus’ descent into hell… (from the Apostles’ Creed.’’ Something I’ve never learned in my 74 yrs.”
  • Lectio Divina (Msgr. Raymond East DC – age 70) “This is the deepest experience I have had in going through the Stations. It was using Lectio Divina, going deeper and deeper in the Word as people shared. …”
  • Identifying with the 10th Station: Jesus Is Stripped of His Garment.
  • A young Black deacon (Los Angeles’ – age 55) “… This time! A naked Jesus! A naked man being stripped! It brought me back to how people just challenging my dignity, challenging my manhood… It’s jarring for me, just being stripped, and naked in public.”
  • Breaking Our Chains
  • Black woman - San Bernadino– age 50) “It was the Chain Meditation from the 1st Station. In walking in that Suffering Savior’s path, …we are living in that. And when we live in the Path, when we stay in the Path, our life’s chains are broken!
  • Feeling What Jesus Felt
  • (Hispanic Man - Los Angeles – age 65) “What really struck me was feeling the pain Jesus felt. And when we were doing the I AM activity and looking into that person’s eye, I really, really felt that God was within that person.”
  • Hearing from God
  • (Black Male - Los Angeles – age mid 50’s) “…I didn’t want to come. I was tired… As soon as the musician opened his mouth to sing, I started crying… I think that was God just saying, ‘I got this.’”
  • A Seasoned Catholic
  • (Black male - Nevada – late-60’s) “I’ve been a Catholic ever since I was 40, and I felt it all tonight. And I served on the altar as an altar server in my home parish. And I thank my mother and father for bringing us into this world. My upbringing helped me to do this exercise. My soul cried out: "Oh my goodness!” “There truly is a God that gave his life up on CALVARY FOR US”! (Oh! I’m getting emotional) … And if this doesn’t flip your switches, you don’t have any.”
  • Sankofa
  • (Black female elder - DC age 80+) “I know those women (Grandma) would not want me to give up. Then, the connection of seeing Simon (an African man) carrying that cross and reflecting on his mental anxiety - saying, ‘Lord, I don’t deserve this. I don't deserve to die’ To see the depth of how we, as a people, have carried each one of those Stations and the connections we have made. Believe me you would not have heard those connections any place but here at ORACLE…”
  • Sr. Charlotte Rubit’s Testimony
  • A Black NUN - Sister of the Holy Family, SSF - 91 years old and 75 years – a Diamond Jubilarian
  • "…Last year, I, along with four other Sisters of the Holy Family, participated in the ORACLE retreat. This was a three-day retreat on the Passion of Christ, like no other. I have never gone through anything like this before."
  • My Healing: "There are four parts of the heart. And in my situation, only one ventricle was functioning. The doctor thought that I was going to die. Sr. Oralisa and I prayed over the telephone that I could make this three-day retreat. I made the ORACLE PATH retreat from a full Friday evening, Saturday from 8AM to 10PM, including Mass Sunday. It was a miracle! With one ventricle, you’re tired! You can’t do anything without stopping after five minutes to rest. And here I was on the retreat: The Path of the Suffering Savior. I was able to do all the activities in the retreat without stopping, including walking the Stations of the Cross and refusing to sit. That was medically impossible. And, on my recent visit to the doctor, Dr. Polin said, ‘that is a miracle that you’re still living with one ventricle.’ I never made the Stations like that before. We truly had a spiritual experience. Something happened to us, something deeply spiritual. …We saw Jesus Christ suffering! I want this Retreat to return to New Orleans! We need it!”

  • For Video Clippings of The Path of the Suffering Savior: JESUS CHRIST Retreat, we encourage you to visit the ORACLE website located at https://oraclereligious.com/highlights/about-event/

ORACLE Revivals

In the late Eighties and early Nineties, Catholic Revivals were in vogue, accompanied by gospel music in Black Catholic Churches. In response to this, Sr. Oralisa founded the ORACLE Revivals (1993). She currently designs packets in collaboration with pastors and parish revival teams to meet the needs of parishes or dioceses requesting ORACLE’s services. As an evangelist, Sr. Oralisa Martin preaches and spiritually ignites a Catholic assembly. The congregations, comprising African-Americans, European-Americans, Hawaiians, Hispanics, Filipinos, and Belizeans, are to their feet
It’s through the ORACLE Revivals that Sr. Oralisa’s healing ministry took off. People were healed on-site; the blind would see, and the physically disabled would lay aside their crutches and stand up from their wheelchairs to walk. Before COVID-19 more than 25 ORACLE Revivals have been celebrated nationwide. Sr. Oralisa has resumed the ORACLE Revivals ministry in 2023 exclusive of “Laying on of Hands” for healing.
ORACLE National Summer Institute for Youth
The ORACLE Youth Institute is a 2 1/2-week summer, residential, co-ed program for high school students that’s comparable to a retreat with a Christ-centered atmosphere. The prayer services, Bible studies, workshops, liturgical celebrations, and fellowships serve as the impetus to a unique, life-changing experience. The youth institute enables our Gen Z’s to encounter Jesus Christ with miracles taking place before their eyes. Participants even learn how to pray and live within a community. The program also serves as a laboratory for life with 17 workshops, 8 seminars, and several field trips. These provide the content and substance for faith development, discussions, value clarification, orations, drama, and debates. Through the ORACLE process, young people discover who they are in Christ and their purpose in life. The program trains our Gen Z’s for leadership and service within their schools, parishes, and diocesan boards. Implementation was suspended during COVID-19.
ORACLE Mystagogia Institute
“Mystagogia” refers to an exciting new approach to lifelong Christian formation. The ORACLE Mystagogia Institute uses this RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) approach to invite all Catholics/Christians to a much deeper plunge into the truths of our Christian faith. In the first centuries of the Church, the newly baptized had a period where they deepened their knowledge of Christ’s birth, life, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension - the events later forming the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.
The curriculum for the ORACLE Mystagogia Institute is based on the liturgical seasons within the given year A, B, or C liturgical cycle. The consecutive Liturgical seasons are identified as: Advent covers the memorable expectation of the 1st Coming of Christ to humanity; and the anticipation of Christ’s 2nd Coming at the end of time.Christmastime covers Jesus’ birth to His Presentation in the temple.Ordinary Time covers Jesus in the Temple, Jesus’ Baptism, and Jesus’ Public Life.Lent - 40 days include: Ash Wed., to five consecutive Sundays, to Palm Sunday of the Passion, to Thursday morning.Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Resurrection Sunday)Easter Season is the Resurrection of Jesus to His Ascension into Glory to Pentecost.Pentecost covers the manifestations of the Holy Spirit.Ordinary Time is extended to the action of the Holy Spirit forming the Christian Church.