Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Use this retreat alone or with others. If alone, plan to share some of your outcomes with a Spiritual Friend or Director afterword. If with others, plan to spend considerable time alone but come together at key points to share your journey. If possible, leave your home or parish center to spend time in a quiet place, away from distractions. Turn off the cell phone and leave behind the busyness for a period of time. You may choose to experience this entire retreat in a single morning, a daylong retreat, or as part of your daily prayer over a period of several days. Take these notes with you. You may also wish to have a Bible and writing instrument. Other than that, take only yourself.
Session 1 -- Be still
Begin by pausing. Drop your shoulders and allow yourself to just sit. Have at your ready a cup of coffee or tea, and be in a quiet place alone or quietly with others. Be quiet until the silence begins to disturb you. Stare off into space, or close your eyes, but let your mind be still. As thoughts enter your consciousness thoughts of work or stress or upcoming demands, set them aside. Use the space below to jot down a word or two about each distraction. This will allow you to return to them all later, after you have immersed yourself in the Spirit. These items that come to mind for you are worth paying attention to. They may be the ways in which the Spirit leads you to ministry, but they may also be ways in which you are being led toward sin. Whats on your mind? (List things here. Use the back of this page if needed.)
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
Here pause to bring to mind the image of a fountain or stream of water. See in your minds eye how the water falls where it wills. Think of the Spirit in these terms, with this metaphor. Put down this text and allow yourself to become quiet with this metaphor in mind. When you are ready, turn to prayerfully visit each wellspring.
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
Prayer draws everything into love and love is the real source of prayer. Perhaps no one has captured this more acutely that St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, in Prayer. l love you, O my God, and my only desire is to love you until the last breath of my life. I love you, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving you, than live without loving you. I love you, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love you eternally
"Today"
St. Paul urged the Christians of his day to pray always. And while its true that we pray at liturgy, or in the appointed hour of the day, but in fact, a heart which is attentive to God is always at prayer. Such prayer allows us to see the events and news of each and every day, through the lens of faith. It is today that we encounter Christ, not yesterday and not tomorrow. Prayer happens today. But such on-going prayer must be learned. We learn to have sacred pauses in each day, moments when we let go the activity, turn down the volume, and tune into our own hearts. What do we hear there? What do we sense? What word is God speaking within us? If we hear the word of Love, we can be sure it comes from God, for God loves us without end or limit.
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
Pause here and now to allow your heart to turn toward Christ in prayer. Say as few words as possible in this prayer. Only allow Christ to touch you. Open yourself to the entire universe, to allow the power being offered to you by God. Let your heart be stirred by this moment. Spend as much time with this as you can a week or two would not be too much before going on with this retreat.
in chapter 2, verse 5. who, through he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Perhaps the simplest prayer is one that we can memorize: Come, Lord Jesus. Come. Calling on the name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When his name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, spiritual blessings flow into our lives. But, of course, as St. Paul reminds us "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." We want to live in the Spirit, and to dwell with the Holy Spirit daily. The simplest and most direct prayer is also a very traditional one: "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. The Holy Spirit, whose presence fills our whole being, is the interior teacher of Christian prayer. To be sure, there are as many ways to pray as there are persons who pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all.
Like a fresh breeze through an open window, the spirit blows where it wills.
Here again we come to understand more fully that God is saying to us in prayer, I Love You Without End. This divine love leads us to see ourselves as earthen vessels, filled with the Spirit and doing great works, for which we thank God.
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
As you grow more and more reflective, allow your heart to move from words, even simple ones, to a sense of Gods presence with you. The Spirit, as we have just seen, comes to our hearts and fills them with love. God who is Father and Mother to us, creator and generous benefactor of life and limb, seeks us in many and mysterious ways. Allow this great reality to dwell within your breast, your soul, your heart. Just allow it to dwell there, without explaining or understanding it fully. Simply give yourself over to God. If you sense you are being moved toward love, you may trust you are being held in the divine hand. If you sense, on the other hand, yourself moved toward hateful thoughts and urges, seek the help of a Director. When you are ready, move on
which arises from the texts of Scripture. Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you, the angel said to Mary. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Elizabeth her cousin said when they met at the door. The traditional formula for this prayer echoes the Scriptural passage: Hail Mary! Full of grace. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!
Pause once again here to bring to mind your own memory of prayer. What are the memorized prayers, or the frequent short prayers, that are more dear to your own heart? To what prayer do you turn in times of trouble?
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
Guides to to Prayer
We do not learn to pray alone, nor do we ever approach God without one another. That is the beauty and power of the community. Every time we pray, for example, we pray with all those who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith. Their prayer remains powerful and their divine contemplation is our hope.
Pause here to call to mind those who are in your own Communion of Saints.
The first place we learn to pray is our home, the household of faith where we live in a domestic church. Teaching young children to pray daily, and praying with them at home, is the most powerful formation in prayer.
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
10
Prayer cannot be taught like arithmetic or reading. It must be learned by apprenticeship, by example, by spiritual osmosis. The household of faith is where this occurs: by having sacred objects within sight, by a family Bible which is read and treasured, by sharing meals as often as possible, by welcoming guests with affection, by seeing the events of the world through the lens of faith, by being part of a parish community, by allowing everyday activities to demonstrate Gods presence.
What is your memory of prayer in the household where you were raised? Review the list above once again, and consider each in light of this.
Pastoral leaders in the church also play a vital role in helping form members of the church in prayer. By their example and exhortation, they lead people to seek Christ, to pray the liturgies, and to celebrate lifes turning points. Many religious have consecrated their whole lives to prayer. From the early years of the church until now, hermits, monks, and nuns have devoted their time to prayer. Parish catechesis processes aimed at children, youth, and adults also form us in prayer. Such catechesis for the whole community makes use of liturgical prayer in a special way, making it the source and summit of life.
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
11
It encourages and teaches personal prayer, meditating on the Scriptures, reading the lives of the Saints, or memorizing certain key prayers which we carry with us always. Prayer groups can become "schools of prayer" for many people today.
Pause here. In your own busy parish life where do the moments for prayer occur? How do you pray for those whom you serve? For those who dont follow all your rules and policies? For those who say no when you want them to say yes? But more importantly, when and how do you enter into deep communion with Christ, allowing him to lead you to forgiveness, generosity, a supple sense of self, hospitality, patient endurance, humility and all the other signs of Christs powerful grace?
These reflections are excerpted from The Growing Faith Project, booklet #46, How Does God Speak to Us in Prayer?
Visit www.PastoralPlanning.com/GrowingFaith/GFhome for more information or to order. Growing Faith presents a complete summary of the entire Catechism in 48 booklets, each written in plain English with an Imprimatur. Es disponible en espaol, tambin.
Bill Huebsch 2005. Were sorry but permission cannot be granted to reproduce this retreat for any purpose because of copyright limitations. If you wish to share it with others, urged them to obtain it from the website. Thank you.
12