| You need to plan today’s retreat, combining the freedom of your own style with certain essentials for a meeting with God – or rather for alerting yourself to God who is present to you all the time. Freedom: You will pray wherever suits you best: maybe walking outside, maybe sitting, standing or kneeling in your room, maybe in a church or chapel. Space: Moses found holy ground on a deserted mountainside. It may not be so easy for you. Find a place where you will be present to God, and God to you, and where others will not distract you. Solitude: Turn off your mobile phone, radio and TV, in order to create an affective solitude. Leave off your public person, the mask you wear in your social life. Today you face the Lord naked; he sees your heart and loves you as you are. Cut off anything which would break that link with God. Set up a new, slow rhythm. Seek solitude to see things as they are. What are the little things that busyness has magnified unduly? What are the big things I find too little time for? Today is not for doing but for being: make no effort to achieve, get things done, gather or possess. Waste time creatively. You are not alone. Each sensation is God’s caress. Each breath is saying ‘Yes’ to God. A Lenten Retreat: We normally understand Lent as a time, first of all, to reflect on our lives and to become aware of the areas in our life which are less than satisfactory in terms of spiritual growth and our growth as persons and our relationship with God. It is a time of penitence – of expressing sorrow to God, and to those whom we have hurt in some way, perhaps doing some acts of self-denial and celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a meaningful way. It is also a time when we reflect in a special way on what God has done for us and how he has shown his love for us through the life – and especially through the sufferings and death of his Son Jesus Christ. All of this is combined in the three Scripture passages suggested for our prayer on this day. Of course, if there are other Scripture texts which you would find more meaningful for Lent (and there are endless possibilities), please feel perfectly free to use them. The important thing is, in the words of St Ignatius Loyola, “to find fruit” for oneself at this particular time. Time: Make yourself a timetable for the day. Here is a suggestion, to be adapted to suit your circumstances: |
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Make yourself a timetable for the day. Here is a suggestion, to be adapted to suit your circumstances: |
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| 10.30 | Session 1: Scripture: Last Judgement: A guide for life Playback |
| 11.10 | Midmorning Break |
| 11.30 | Session 2: Scripture: The Prodigal Son: The God who calls us Playback |
| 13.00 | Midday Break |
| 14.30 | Session 3: Jesus' last will and testament – Being a person for others. Review of the day |
*The retreat text is available in Word format. Click here to download. *To download a PDF format file, click here. Sacred Space |
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