Touchstones:
- When we say our yes to God with our whole hearts, we right away "glorify the Lord." (Amen!)
- The infinitely wise and powerful Holy Spirit is holding the Church as Christ's Mystical Body.
- In our mature moments, we can say seriously with St. Paul, "For me, to live is Christ."
- We can tell that we are praying well by how we are acting the rest of the day.
- This dismissal from a service sums up our life in Christ: "Go in peace, glorifying God by your life."
- In our vocations, we are given the duty, along with the requisite virtues, to pass on our faith in Jesus Christ.
- We have the strength and assurance to cling to Jesus Christ through all of our lives.
- Living the Theological Virtues (faith, hope, and love), the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord), and the fruits of life in Christ is living a fulfilled life with an assured - and eternal - future.
GRACE I ASK FOR: for gratitude that I have all the gifts I need for a holy and joy-filled life in Christ now, and in heaven.
INTRODUCTION
"I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). "It is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humankind becomes truly clear" (Gaudium et Spes, 22)...Membership is entirely natural to us. We somehow belong with each other...We are just as firmly Texans, or Vermonters or Idahoans. Those identities dye our souls...We readily, easily belong...We disciples know that our need to belong has a much higher source. It's due to our being created in the image of God who exists as a Trinity, that Persons always relating.
We are members and we thank God that it's our gift to belong to the Church...During these weeks of prayer, we have also looked at the Church from God's viewpoint. Seen from eternity, we see the Church "as the purpose of God's plan: 'to unite all things in Him" who is our Savior (Eph. 1:10). We are united not only around Him, but also in His Body...In becoming human, Jesus united himself to every other human...He did not wipe out humanity, he united it with divinity.
PRAYER TALK - IN THE AFTERMATH
How "well" do you pray? Three points about answering that question. First: do you keep on praying? You're doing well. Second: do you let God lead you where you do not expect to go? You're doing quite well. Finally, Do you find yourself acting more and more holy? You're doing very well. That's the lesson that what happens during the rest of the day is more consequential than what happens in prayer. (This has been the BIGGEST blessing of the Exercises for me. It has been the desire of my heart for so many years to do this, and the Exercises are so conducive to that.)
What are you looking for in your Examen? One good way to summarize it is that you are reaching for the behavior that leaves you content as a mature disciple of Christ. You want to behave the way a serious follower of Christ behaves...It's hard to really discomfort a mature disciple, in Jesus' mind. Abuse them and they bless you...Give them lots of trouble and they rejoice and are glad (Matt. 5:4-12)...Here's a daily Examen for mature Christians. Set yourself to enact those spiritual gifts...But you probably noted earlier on that letting the nation's mood overshadow your own is immature. It's not a new problem. St. Paul had to tell the Ephesians to struggle to be "fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself" (4:13)...Tell each other the truth...be "generous, sympathetic, forgiving"...Love is enacted...God loves us "even if our own feelings condemn us, because God is greater than our feelings and knows all things" (1 John 3, 18, 20).
BRIEF NOTE: SENDING YOU
We are all destined - since before we were created - and invited - now that we are mature in freedom - to bring grace into our lifeworld...We are correct to think that one of the very finest parts of God's material creation of the enormous universes is a little creature on a little planet who can see and hear and appreciate what God has done and is doing. That's us. Doing that - just seeing and loving and appreciating God's handiwork - we are giving glory to God.
Matthew 28:16-20 - The Great Commission
"When they saw him, they worshipped him." That just hit me more than any other part of the passage. Their worship propelled them into making disciples. That has to be the beginning of everything. Do we really SEE him?
Where the church is, there also is God's Spirit; where God's Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace. --St. Irenaeus
WHAT ABOUT MY LIFE? APPLYING YOUR PRAYER
Throughout this retreat, I have sensed Jesus Christ being with me, especially when ... I am afraid...Strongest sense at the Ignatian Training Retreat! "Do not fear. You have found favor."
I look back to the beginning and am now able to note that I have matured in Christ's grace in these ways...I am less afraid and more confident.
I thank God for...Always being WITH me!
Jesus is talking to me when he says, "Go, make disciples." In my life world, that means...Draw people close to me...learners at my feet (Jesus' feet not mine).
Those I "teach" include... I made a list of all my directees and people I meet with. I also saw a gate at the top of a hill looking out over the city. OPEN THE GATE, LORD.
REPETITION
All authority of Jesus to all nations. Don not fear...I am with you always. You have found favor with God. COMMUNITY OF THE TRINITY.
How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer. - St. Teresa of Avila.
Acts 2:1-4 Pentecost
BRIEF NOTES: THE BIRTH OF GOD'S PEOPLE
The Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism so that "his whole life and his whole mission were carried out in total communion with the Holy Spirit" (Catechism, 1286)...We all received the gift of the Holy Spirit...We remain in the communion of the faithful. We pray with the community and receive the Bread and the Cup...Now, we are called to do the next thing they did: pass it on. We are called to share what we have, to pass on to others the graces that have been given us. We do that by contributing to church and charitable works - time, talent, treasure. We do that by helping those in our lifeworld who need help. We do that by getting involved, to the extent of our gifts and talents, in civil affairs. These are ways we pass on to others what is given to us...And now, as you complete this graced time, you might think about passing on these weeks of prayer.
During the week: Let your memory drift back over your time in this retreat to see how the Spirit of God has guided you.
Notice in the Scripture: Jesus' disciples, holding on to one another came together to pray. The Spirit came on them visibly and powerfully. They began speaking about Jesus and were talking languages they had not known.
Lectio of Acts 2: All together in one place (Lord, how I miss being "all together in one place" physically)...violent wind...filled the entire house...tongue rested on each of them...ALL were filled with the Holy Spirit...speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability.
Lord, who is our "Upper Room" group?
My thought for the Day: ALL together in one place. Holy Spirit fill us will be what I want to say throughout the day.
"The Church is a ship, and even if the ship is in difficulty, it is necessary that we at least be in it." - St. Augustine
WHAT ABOUT MY LIFE? APPLYING YOUR PRAYER
I know that I accept being marked as Christ's because I ... want Jesus more than anything.
There have been occasions during these weeks when I felt the Holy Spirit being with me, as when...I do Centering Prayer with the Mercy Center and my retreat at Mount Angel Abbey.
Looking into the days ahead, I see certain times when I will really need the Holy Spirit, like...when I do spiritual direction.
If there is one thing I really need the Holy Spirit for right now, it is...communicating with my friend on a difficult subject. Yikes!
Repetition of Acts 2:1-4
KEEP IN MIND
About prayer: Remember that finding prayer easy, being in consolation is a gift. Thank God for it.
Lectio: Sound like a violent wind.
My thought for the Day: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.
"Trust the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love, the future to God's providence." St. Augustine
During this week: As you reflect on your spiritual growth, note the signs of maturing in your relationships and how your spiritual insight is helping you appreciate them.
PRAYER FOR TODAY: Galatians 5:22-26
BRIEF NOTE: SOCIAL ENGINEERING
Ignatius was a fiercely organized man..he suggested thinking about the Commandments, taking each one, examining whether you are obeying it well, resolving to do so...Capital Sins: pride, covetousness, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, and sloth...the devil would be glad to have you imagine that you could never, ever be proud, or slothful, or anything between...examines the virtues and powers that the Lord give us...Theological Virtues (so-called because they are the ones that connect you to God): faith, hope, and charity...Cardinal Virtues - the ones on which the rest hinge: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance...and then there's our need these days for temperance in our political opinions and judgment about other nations and classes. Take each Cardinal Virtue to the Examen for a week and swee whether you're applying it...Virtues are like muscles, as you've noticed before: the more you use them, the stronger they are...You are the recipient of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are yours, in your capacities and abilities. Take them one by one, a day at a time, and ask yourself where you apply them: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord...Perhaps even more than failures, virtues are worth praying about in the Examen.
KEEP IN MIND
About your prayer: Remember to begin in the Holy Presence (when I do this, I am just filled with a sense of peace and awe), ask for what you want, think and ponder, and then tell God what you come up with, ending with the Our Father.
During this week: You are preparing for "life after Exercises," and exercise the virtue of fortitude (courage)!
Notice in scripture: St. Paul is teaching what was revealed to him, that the mature disciple has reached "the freedom of the children of God" - the freedom of life in Christ.
Galatians 5:22-26
Love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (even temper, forbearance), kindness, generosity (goodness, benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence)
My Thought for the Day: Fruit is the work which His presence within accomplishes! (AMP) So I need to be more aware of His presence within!
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle
WHAT ABOUT MY LIFE? APPLYING YOUR PRAYER
One virtue I really need right now is...temperance in my political opinion.
I have found certain spiritual acts invite me to be calm and quiet, and I mean to hold on to these...Centering prayer and Imaginative Contemplation this summer have been so awesome.
During these weeks, I have found in Jesus some characteristics that I will be happy to have and continue growing in, like ... not worrying about what people thought of him, not sharing his political opinions, rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's.
Repetition
This is the THIRD time "Generosity" has caught my eye. In most of my translations, the word is goodness. The word is not the meekness implied by the English word for "goodness." It is "character energized, expressing itself in agathon, benevolence, active good. It does not spare sharpness and rebuke to cause good in others. A person may display his agathosune, has zeal for truth. Christ's righteous indignation in the temple (Mt. 21:13). His goodness (agathosune) but not his gentleness.
MY THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Generosity is "active good" not sparking sharpness and rebuke.
Luke 1:46-55 (New American Bible)
For this final contemplation, I did it with the wonderful help of Imagine and the Jesuits in Britain. I went for a walk during the journeying to meet Elizabeth part and imagined myself walking with Mary to go and meet Elizabeth. The art is powerful at the end. Here is the link:
I did this same meditation while on my Ignatian Training Retreat, and it was powerful as I contemplated the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth and looked outside the window to see a statue of the same scene!
BRIEF NOTE: MAGNIFY - We also magnify the Lord
During this final day: Join May in glorifying, praising, and thanking God for the "great things" he has done for you.
Notice in Scripture: Why not memorize the Magnificat?
His mercy is from age to age...He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart...lifted up the lowly...The hungry he has filled with good things (on a day I was fasting)
MY THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: The hungry he has filled with good things.
"In all created things discern the providence and wisdom of God, and in all things give Him thanks." --St. Teresa of
I REVIEW MY WEEK OF PRAYER
I came to see some things I had not noticed before: the whole definition of fruit as being "the work which His presence within accomplishes" (AMP).
I felt God's presence this week in this experience of my daily life: Walking with Mary (and also praying for a Mary in my life who has not acted as Mary would have acted).
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