Online Holy Week Retreat 2018

Transcription

1 Online Holy Week Retreat 2018

2 Dear Retreatant, This particular retreat offers a reflection for each day of Holy Week. The reflections on the following pages are based on Scriptures appropriate for Holy Week. You will have to scroll down for each new day s reflection. Things that may help you enter into this retreat can be found in the next panel. May you enjoy this retreat and may the peace of Christ be with you! God s peace and blessings, Fr. Bill (Btw, if you would like to make a donation so that ministries like this can continue, refer to the next last panel. Thank you!)

3 1) Start and end each day with the Morning Offering Prayer and Night Prayer found in the panel below. 2) Inform those with whom you live that you would appreciate anything they could do to keep things quiet in the house for a while or at least not interrupt you. I suggest you not be demanding, merely ask for cooperation. (Not to worry when noises pop up, just maintain an inner quiet.) 3) Choose a place where you can sit or walk quietly. 4) Repeat your mantra (sacred phrase for each day) off and on all day long, especially when stressed. You do not have to use the mantras suggested in this retreat. You can make up your own.

4 Morning Prayer: Good morning, Dear Lord. I praise and thank you. I offer you my day with all its prayers, works, joys and sufferings because I love you, to bring out your honor and glory, in thanksgiving for your favors, in reparation for my offenses and for...(mention your intentions). Amen. Night Prayer: Good night, Dear Lord. I repeat my mantra of the day to You,... As I reflect upon my day, I ask forgiveness for... I thank you for... and ask help for the things I plan to do tomorrow.

5 Passion/Palm Sunday

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7 PALM/PASSION SUNDAY OF HOLY WEEK Scripture: He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Reflection: He rode into Jerusalem on a common donkey, not a steed. Philippians 2:8 The happiest people are humble people. They put both praise and adulation in their proper perspectives, something to be acknowledged but not held on to. The people who were waving palm branches and crying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matt. 21:9) as he rode by would be the very people who soon would be screaming, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Some people are fickle. Who can ruin a humble person s day?! The humble person s happiness does not depend upon someone else s appreciation, understanding, and yes, even love. The humble person does not give other people that much power. Resting in God s love, understanding and mercy is enough for him/her. The humble person, like the saints, thanks God for his/her humiliations!! Humiliations, even if caused by the person him/herself but accepted gratefully, bring us closer to God. They give us the opportunity to feel to some degree what Jesus felt as he walked the Via Dolorosa and died on the Cross. They give us the opportunity to identify with Him. Pray regularly the Prayer of Humility by Rafael Cardinal Mary Del Vel. You ll find it in the panel after the next one below. It has the power to set us free from caring about what others think of us. The more we give up needing other people s approval, the more real we will become; the more like Christ we will become.

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9 Prayer of Humility by Rafael Cardinal Mary Del Vel O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me.from the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being loved, From the desire of being extolled, From the desire of being honored, From the desire of being praised, From the desire of being preferred to others, From the desire of being consulted, From the desire of being approved, From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being despised, From the fear of suffering rebukes, From the fear of being calumniated, From the fear of being forgotten, From the fear of being ridiculed, From the fear of being wronged, From the fear of being suspected, That others may be loved more than I, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I, That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, That others may be chosen and I set aside, That others may be praised and I unnoticed, That others may be preferred to me in everything, That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

10 Reflection Questions: Who are some really humble people I know? What is it about them that makes me think they are humble? What can I do to emulate them Suggested Optional Mantras For Palm/Passion Sunday Lord, make me humble. Thank you for my humiliations, Lord. (Make up your own.)

11 Monday of Holy Week Scripture: The Lord is my Light and my salvation. Psalm 27:1 Reflection: Scientists tell us we do not see light itself. We only see what it lights up. God is light. We don t see Him. But we get to know Him by what He lights up in our lives. Sometimes some of those things He lights up can only appear through what we might call problems. Take for instance a serious illness. At times like those we are more able to see how much people love us and how important we are to them. They do kind things like bringing food, sending cards, telling us how much we mean to them. they literally light up our lives. Another way we can look at the light of Christ is by considering the story in the next panel.

12 The farmer told his young son to go to the barn and feed the horses. The boy said, But, Daddy, it s dark out, I can t see the barn and I m afraid of the dark. So his dad gave him a lantern to hold and asked, Now with the lantern, how far can you see? The boy replied, I can see about half way to the barn. So Daddy asked him, Are you afraid to go as far as the light shows? No, he said and walked that far. Then Daddy asked him how far he could see at that point. The boy said he could see as far as the barn doors. So Daddy asked him, Are you courageous enough to go that far? The boy said he was and walked that far. Then Daddy asked him to open the doors and to tell him how far her could see then. The boy said I can see all the horses now, Daddy. Daddy said, Great, now please feed them and God bless you for your courage. God does not give us the full picture all at once. He gives us enough light to get through each day. We do not have to see how things will turn out in the future. We are called to trust the light of Christ by just living one day at a time. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Matt. 6: 34

13 Reflection Questions Who are some of the people that have lighted up my life? How often do I thank God for them? For whom have I been God s light? (He called us the light of the world. Mtt. 5:14) How can I be a light to someone today? Can I offer and encouraging word? A listening ear? A phone call? An ? Suggested Mantra Options: You are my light and salvation. Thank you, Lord, for being my light. Lord, give me light.

14 Tuesday of Holy Week Scripture: Reclining at table with His disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me. Jn. 13:21, 22 Reflection: Actually, Judas was not the only one who betrayed Him. All the apostles, except John, abandoned Him for fear of getting the same treatment Jesus did. (John was too young to be considered an adult worthy of such treatment, so he could afford to be there at the Cross with Mary and the other women.) Taking a look at Peter alone, we see both a rock as Jesus called him, and a scandal, as Peter eventually saw himself to be. How much each of us is like Peter! There are times we truly live the Christian message and then there are times we choose to do wrong. How fortunate we are that God understands and forgives! How fortunate we are that He knows we do wrong out of fear and stupidity and not out of badness. He knows, even though we don t always feel it, that we are all basically good. He says it in the Book of Genesis that all He has created is good. Think about what s the wrong-doing in your life right now? To deal with it effectively, refuse to see yourself as bad. Instead, see yourself as one in need of courage and wisdom. See yourself as one who is not bad but wounded; one in need of healing and then pray about that. Choose to see others in the same way rather than judge.

15 Reflection Questions: Who has betrayed me in life? What is helping me to forgive the person? Whom have I betrayed? Can I find a way to make amends? How often do I ask God to forgive you when you betray Him? Do I in any way betray marginalized people because of their color, culture, past behavior, sexual orientation, or social status? Suggested Mantras Options: (All from St. Padre Pio s after Communion) Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. (Make up your own.)

16 Wednesday of Holy Week Scripture: If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Lk 9:23) Reflection: So what relationships are unearthing in you feelings of hurt, anger, confusion, resentment or all the above? Those situations and feelings are your crosses. They can kill your spirit. But remember: The cross is a plus sign! There s always something positive about our crosses. Jesus cross brought Resurrection, healing and forgiveness to the world. His dying on the cross modeled for us how we are to treat those who hurt us and those we love. He modeled returning good for evil. He offered forgiveness to the people as they were killing Him. ( Father, forgive them for they known what they do. We are called to follow suit, knowing that forgiveness will gladden our hearts. It rids us of the unhappy feeling we call resentment. So what can be positive about relationships that hurt us?! They can be our best teachers! They can teach us not to take things personally - even when those things are intended to be taken personally. They can teach us how much we need God to heal us from the hurt of it all. They can each us how forgiveness can make us happy. They can give us opportunities to learn how to evaluate the behavior of others without judging the people themselves as bad. Most importantly, they can teach us that we are not in control. We cannot change other people. (God can, but we can t). What a relief that can be when we finally realize others have free will, like we do, and it is not our job to force a change on them! Our problems can also teach us that maybe we ourselves have created the cross and we need to do something ourselves to get off of it! As someone once said to a complaining friend, Get off the cross. We need the wood!

17 Thursday of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday) Copy the following into your search engine:

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19 Scripture A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another John 13:34-35 Reflection: Sometime in the late fifties or early sixties, the Playmates sang a song that started of with: "What is love? Five feet of heaven in a ponytail. Well, to be sure, God is indeed present in girls who wear ponytails, but romantic love is really just the start of a possible deeper love; a love so big that it is not afraid of death. Jesus loved His Father and us so much that even in the face of death He kept doing His Father s will. What was/is His Father s will? That we love one another as He loved us. At the Last Supper, He washed the feet of the apostles. That was His way of saying we are to see ourselves as the servants of other. How many marriages and friendships really see it that way? How many spouses and friends keep count instead of giving without expecting in return? Not that we are to let others walk over us, but what is true is that as soon as we expect a Thank you or a returned favor, we are giving too much power to the other person for our happiness. What is also true is that as soon as we hold an expectation, we have set ourselves up for a feeling of resentment. There is a sensible economy in serving one another and in not expecting appreciation or returned favors. When we send out love unconditionally, it may well not come back from the person to whom we sent it, but it does come back from other people and stern ways. God set the world up that way.

20 Reflection Question: Who doesn t seem to appreciate my loving deeds? Who or what good thing has come into my life without my bidding? Type the following into your search engine and believe He is singing the song to you: He wants to be your servant. When we really believe that, we will find it easier to serve others, even the most difficult. As my Italian grandmother used to say, Lova everyabody, giva to everybody, Forgiva everybody, and don t you expect thema to to returna the favor, but when you need it the mosta, it ll come in through the backa door! Suggested Mantra Options: Lord, help me to love. (You might want to insert somebody s name here.) Lord, give me the motivation to good when I d rather not. (Make up your own.)

21 Good Friday

22 Good Friday Scripture: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Reflection: It s all about trust. When we feel like Jesus on the Cross, when we have those despairing times, that s when we are called to make the leap of faith and just trust that God is present, loving compassionate and forgiving. A story goes of a house on fire and everyone is safely out of the house but a little seven year old boy. He is standing by a second floor window. His dad is right below with the fire fighters and the trampoline. Daddy yells, Jump, Jimmy, jump! But Jimmy cries out, I can t jump, Daddy. I can t see you. The smoke and fire have make me keep my eye closed. But Daddy yells up, It doesn t matter that you don t see me, Jimmy. What that matters is that I see you. Now jump! What are the fires and smokey situations that make you doubt God s presence? When are those times you want to see God, to feel His presence, yet can t? Those are the times to make a leap of faith and merely pray, Lord, I choose to believe. Help my unbelief, and then go on doing what you re doing by just putting one step in front of the other. (Btw, that s you and me center stage in the panel below.) Copy and paste the below into your search engine. N9d3xf9tzSJi4keVprmS8&index=7

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24 Reflection Questions For Good Friday When do I find it hardest to believe? Whom might be a good person I could discuss that with? Who are the people I believe in? How much do I believe in myself, knowing that God believes in me? Suggested Mantra Options: Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Lord, remind me to love You though I don t understand you. Help me, Lord. (Make up your own.)

25 Holy Saturday Scripture: God of my salvation, when I cry out to you in the night, may my prayer reach your presence, hear my cry for help for I am filled with misery..ps. 88:1 Reflection: Fa sta. (Let it be.) That s a wise adage I often heard as I grew up in the Italian culture in which I grew up. Sometimes, instead of letting things go, we just need to let them be. Holy Saturday must have been so difficult on the disciples. Their best friend whom they thought was going to change the political scene for the better had died.they were asking themselves how could that have happened? He was the Son of God after all! Their grief was beyond all expression. There was no way they were going to be able to let such a dark, deep feeling go. They had to just let it be. In the sixties, the Beatles sang of great wisdom in their song Let It Be : When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of Wisdom, Let it be. They were echoing Mother Mary s words from her Magnificat: Let it be done unto me according to Thy will Sometimes we just need to let things be. Copy and paste into your search engine: Scroll down

26 Sometimes we just need to let things be. Reflection Question: When are these times you feel very down, depressed and despairing? Trying to push those feelings away only make them come back stronger. Why not practice letting them just be? Why not step back and look at the feeling, realizing that even though you have that feeling, it is not you. It is a black cloud and you are the whole horizon. When one practices that with any afflictive feeling, the feeling doesn t necessarily go away, but one carries it much more lightly. Did you ever just allow yourself to feel impatient? Angry? Hurt? Resentful? Any other afflictive feeling? We spend a lot of energy trying to push negative feelings away and that drains us of the energy. Being drained of energy prevents us from responding positively to the feeling. Why not practice welcoming afflictive feelings? Why not thank God for the afflictive feeling? They are gifts from God.There are no wrong feelings, even hate! It s how we deal with the feelings that create goodness or badness. Check it out for yourself. Give yourself permission to impatience, anger, etc. and see if you don t handle those feelings better. Read the poem Guest House by the Sufi Poet Remi and the Welcoming Prayer that Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO, espouses in the following two panels

27 The Guest House This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. - Rumi

28 The Welcoming Prayer (by Father Thomas Keating) Welcome, welcome, welcome. I welcome everything that comes to me today because I know it's for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions. I let go of my desire for power and control. I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval and pleasure. I let go of my desire for survival and security. I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person or myself. I open to the love and presence of God and God's action within. Amen.

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30 Reflection Questions: What feelings do I have that I just need to let be? What do I find myself doing to avoid feeling a feeling? Eat? Drink? Talk about nothing important? Escape into to a form of amusement? Work? Would I ever consider writing my feelings? (You don t have to share them if you don t want to.) Suggested mantra options: Lord, help me to let it be. Welcome, (insert an afflictive feeling like anger, depression, resentment, hurt, etc.) (Make up your own.)

31 Dear Holy Week Retreatants, The next three panels conclude the online retreat including an Easter Sunday morning Youtube with Andre Rieu s rendition of the Alleluia Chorus of Handel s Messiah (last panel). Also, be aware that if you have intentions that you would like to be on the altar during Easter Mass or if you want offer much appreciated alms so that services like this online retreat can continue to function, please scroll down to the next panel. Know that you ll be helping a to of people. Let us pray for all those being baptized and being brought into full communion with the church this weekend.

32 To have your intentions placed on the altar during Easter Mass, please my assistant Pat at before Thursday, March 29. If you would like to make a donation so that services like the online retreat can continue, please write your check to Congregation of Holy Cross. Mail it to (before April 12 if possible) Online Retreat Fr. Bill Faiella, CSC 7126 N. 7th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85021

33 Happy Easter, Everybody! May today s liturgy fill you with peace, love and joy! Thank you for participating in this retreat. Look for the graces coming your way and treat your spirit to Warm regards, Fr. Bill