Lenten Retreat: Materials for Week Four [March 9-14]
Welcome to the fourth week of this Lenten Retreat. Following are prayer materials, reflections, and notes compiled by Fr. Clem Metzger, SJ. to guide your retreat. He can be reached at [email protected].
May the Holy Spirit inspire your prayer and guide you through this retreat. May your spirituality, centered in Jesus Christ, deepen in faith, hope and love. Thank you for making this retreat.
Lenten Retreat:Week Four
Theme: Where your treasure is, there your heart is.
Grace: Ask Mary to teach of her son in a personal way.
The prayer material for each dayof this week is listed below.
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Day One:Monday, March 9
Prayer Material: Matthew 18: 21-35
Reflection:Forgiveness, mercy, and reconciliation make for a healthy spirituality. We do not always get it right, and we do foolish things. Forgiveness of self and receivingforgiveness from God – who is rich in mercy and kindness – is instrumental to a healthy spirituality. The Sacrament ofReconciliation is a valuable means to strengthening our relationship with the Lord and one another. Jesus had a lot to say about the need to forgive. But for the grace of God there be I. And so Jesus reminds me not to judge because I don’t know the heart of another.
Something from St. Ignatius: The strategy of Satan, the Liar & Deceiver, is to entice me 1) to riches – whether material, spiritual, intellectual, etc. – that 2) lead me to a sense of power, status, position – “I thank God I am not like the rest of men.” – and then 3) to becoming proud, independent, my own boss, so that no one can tell me what to do: not even God. Deception and deceit play a significant role in this approach. I am tricked into thinking that I am someone who I am not – developing a false notion of self, my worth, my meaning. In the Gospel this person is identified as “You fool. This very day your life will be demanded of you.” Pride can lead to ruin and self-destruction.
[At this point, it would perhaps be helpful to read Part I of an article about theRules for the Discernment of Spiritsdeveloped by St. Ignatius. If you wish to do so, please click here.]
Additional Prayer References
Luke 17: 12-19 – the Ten Lepers
Mark 7: 31-37 –healing of a boy
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Day Two:Tuesday, March 10
Prayer Material: Jeremiah 7: 23-28
Reflection: To live the will of God is to love God. “Whoever does not love does not know God…Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is perfected in us.”
~I John 4, 7ff
Knowing the will of God and living it day after day is what Jesus did. “I always do the Will of Him who sent Me.” Discernment is to discover how I am being led. Both the Holy Spirit and the Evil Spirit can “work” on the human spirit but for different reasons. When it comes to discerning God’s Will we are all learners.
[If you would like to try the form of prayer Praying With the Senses, please click here.]