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Lenten
Retreat: Week
Six
Theme: "Create
a holy heart in me, O God give me back the joy of your
salvation"
~Psalm
51, 12
Grace:
This
week ask Mary to intercede for you to come into a deeper,
clearer and more personal knowledge, love, and imitation
of her Son.
The
prayer material for each day of
this week is listed below.
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Day
One: Monday, March
23
Prayer
Material: John 11, 45-57
Reflection:
Caiaphas
boldly proclaims "it
is better for you to have one man die than to have the
whole nation destroyed."
How
did he come to this conclusion regarding Jesus?
Scripture presents Mary as "pondering in her heart" the experiences and events in her
life. She must
have reflected, wondered, and prayed for understanding and
courage. To
free the heart from spiritual blindness and
hard-heartedness is the work of the Spirit.
We pray for the light of the Holy Spirit to see
with the heart what the Lord is calling each of us to
become. Is
there anything that is holding me back from saying "yes"
to His Will? Remember the words of Jesus to the two on the
way to Emmaus - discouraged and leaving after the
crucifixion and death of Jesus:
"Oh, how foolish
you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have declared!" [Luke 24, 25]
Would this be a good time to talk to Mary about praying from
the heart? Does she have a prominent place in your
devotional life?
If you wish to look over a page about how you can
make a Review
of Prayer,
please click
here.
Additional
Prayer Reference
John
7: 40-53
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Day
Two:
Tuesday, March 24
Prayer
Material: Matthew 15: 1-20
Reflection:
The
above scripture reference provides some indication on how
the heart can become corrupted.
And Paul is very explicit in his letter to the
Galatians [5, 16-21], where he writes "...what
the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit and what the
Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are
opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing
what you want."
In this
powerful passage, Paul also lists the "works of the flesh"
before naming, in sharp contrast to these, the "fruits of the Spirit."
[Galatians 5: 22-26].
You may have seen the prayer below, in which an Indian
chief recognizes the need for people to overcome their
blindness to the results of evil intentions:
"Grandfather,
look at our brokenness. We know that in all creation only
the human family has strayed from the
Sacred Way
. We know that we are the ones who must come back together
to walk the
Sacred Way
. Grandfather, Sacred One, teach us love, compassion, and
honor that we may heal the earth and heal each
other."
~Quoted
by David Schiller in
The
Little Book of Prayers,
pp
328-329
Additional
Prayer References
John
8: 1-11; Luke 18: 9-14
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Day
Three:
Wednesday, March
25
Prayer
Material: Mark 8: 31-38
Reflection:
If your
good friend began to talk to you about her upcoming death,
that she doesn't have much time to live, and that her life
is now about finished, what would be your emotional
reaction? Jesus,
as we see in the above scripture reference, brought up the
subject with his friends.
Peter's reaction may be typical - we want to hold
on to family members, friends, and those who mean a lot to
us. Letting go of a "dear
one" is difficult.
Loss is never easy to endure.
Our spiritual growth will involve an "emptying
out" in order to be "enriched" in the
love, life, light of God.
A classic scripture reference for this is Philippians
2: 5-11,where
Paul describes the mystery of Jesus "who willingly gave up the right to remain in the form of God"
and entered our world as a human being. He lived in
humility and obedience and became exalted by God through
the resurrection and is now Lord of all creation. We are
challenged to imitate his humility and obedience. We can
pray for the courage to surrender and to let go without
fear or worry.
[If
you would like a "Helping Hand,"
then please click
here.]
Additional
Prayer References
Luke
9: 21-27
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Day
Four:
Thursday, March 26
Prayer
Material: Luke
9: 28-36
Reflection: Consolation and Desolation
are
two experiences in our spiritual growth. Jesus favored
three apostles by giving them the experience
of the Transfiguration. It was a powerful
"consolation" and Peter would say: "it is good for us to be here."
The experience of Consolation is God's way of
giving hope, courage, and strength to a person in one's
spiritual journey. You may experience a sense of God's
presence, a special heart-felt peace, or a sense of
well-being in your prayer or at other times.
Such strengthening of one's faith, hope, and love
is what St. Ignatius would call Consolation.
If you would like to further review this topic of spiritual
consolation,
please click
here. More
information on spiritual desolation
will be provided below on Day 6.
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Day
5:
Friday, March 27
Prayer Material: Luke 7: 1-10
Reflection: Little did the Roman centurion know that he would be quoted
in every Catholic liturgy: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say
the word and I will be healed."
A humble
heart is willing to accept God's forgiveness and healing
in one's life. The liturgy begins with an appeal for
mercy and forgiveness.
We are reminded to come to the table of the Lord in
a state of peace with God and with one another.
Reconciliation with family and friends makes for community
peace and unity. Receiving
the Lord in the Eucharist is the bonding power for the Community of believers. Division, separation, and
divorce are contrary to the prayer of Jesus "that they all may be one in us." Is our community united,
at peace, with its members in harmony with one another?
"Peace" is my gift to you, says the Lord. Is
this my experience?
The Kingdom meditation and the message of the King invite us
to join Jesus as His Companion and Friend and to work with
Him in establishing a Kingdom of justice, mercy, and
peace. In this way Ignatius hoped that our lives would be
directed to God's greater glory. If you wish to verify your understanding of the
Ignatian motto A.M.D.G., please scroll down to the lower-right hand column of this
webpage. If
you wish to refresh your memory of the King & His Kingdom
meditation from Ignatius, please click
here.
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Day
Six:
Saturday, March 28
Prayer Material: Luke 6: 27-36
Reflection:
The
love of God is love without conditions. It
is always there - no matter who I am or what I do. It
is the love of service, of compassion, of forgiveness:
unconditional and absolute.
In I
Corinthians 13, 1-13, Paul wrote a deeply-moving
description of love - "Love is
patient, love is kind..." - that has become a staple in wedding liturgies. The strong
test of one's authentic love is how I love those whom I
dislike, who have hurt me or my family, or have lied to
me. To love one's "enemy" can challenge the
heart just as we challenge the heart of God at times with
our unholy attitudes or behavior.
Jesus revealed the love of God, the heart of God.
The truth he revealed is that God
loves me as I am and asks that I love myself and others as
we are.
Consider these words from John's gospel: "For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn
the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him...And this is the judgment, that the light has
come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than
the light because their deeds were evil." [John
3, 16-20]
Because this is a tough teaching from the Lord a person may
tend to become discouraged from falling short so easily
and frequently. It is challenging to accept one's own
humanity and human frailty, that we are "vessels
of clay," as Paul puts it. And the Diabolical
One, whom Ignatius refers to as the "enemy of human
nature," can get under the skin of a person and raise
doubts about one's sincerity, integrity, good will, etc.
It may even get a person discouraged and disgusted with
self at such little progress.
A sort of desolation
sets in and darkens one's attitude and outlook on life,
self, others, and God.
If you wish to consider and reflect upon the Ignatian
understanding of Spiritual Desolation, please click
here.
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