"Journeying with Jesus:
A Lenten Retreat"
prepared by Women at the Well Ministry,
St. Paul, Minnesota,
Eleanor Lincoln, CSJ, and Catherine Litecky, CSJ
(C) copyright 2010
Sunday Readings for the 4th Sunday of Lent
Joshua 5: 9-12
2Corinthians 5: 17-21
Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32
Week 4. Reconciliation
"Reconcile us to you, O God, that we put on the holiness of Christ and give you glory. Help us to live the season as true disciples on our way to transformation and fullness of life. Grant this as we journey to you with Jesus, our brother. Amen."
This prayer can provide a focus for your Lenten journey with Jesus.
The stones in this photo are in the land of Jesus. In your own place find a pebble or stone (if possible) and think of it as a symbol of your sinfulness.
Lent is a special opportunity for reconciliation and conversion of heart. The older we get, the more we realize our constant need for reconciliation, conversion, and forgiveness. Through our response to God's invitation we can be restored to friendship with God and through God with others.
Before we can be at peace with God and others, we need to be at peace with ourselves. No doubt each of us has experienced how difficult it can be to forgive ourselves and others. When we have shown hardness of heart or have said or done the wrong thing in a sensitive situation, we sometimes replay the scene over and over trying to regain peace of mind. One person aware of his failures had a poster on his wall which he saw when he awoke each day. The words, "I begin each day with a fresh forgiveness," reminded him to forgive himself as well as others.
Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount that "if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother or sister has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled ... and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:24).
This act of reconciliation is the meaning underlying the exchange of peace at the Eucharistic liturgy. Most of the time the sharing of peace is simply a greeting, but sometimes people who have had serious disagreements actually become reconciled through this sign of peace.
In his second letter to the Corinthians (5:18-20) Paul tells this community, one beset with many factions and problems, that God has reconciled us through Christ. We all have been given the ministry of reconciliation to help bring peace and unity to our communities.
Lent is a time for us to move from whatever darkness is in us to letting in the light of God. During Lent most Catholic parishes and some other Christian communities share in a rite of reconciliation. At this point in your retreat you may wish to do your own "rite" of reconciliation. Quiet yourself, perhaps light a candle, and hold your stone or pebble.
Reconciliation with yourself
Before you can be at peace with God, with others, with your world, you need first to be at peace with yourself. You might want to ask forgiveness for
* neglecting your gifts and talents,
* not forgiving yourself as God forgives you,
* not taking sufficient care of your body.
Reconciliation with others
As scripture says, love of God is expressed through love of one another. You might want to ask forgiveness of others for
* your lack of love shown in anger and impatience with those you love,
* being too busy to take time to affirm, support, and care for others,
* gossiping and making rash judgments,
* neglecting those who are poor, sick, lonely, handicapped,
* for not helping someone in need.
Reconciliation with nature
God has given you the responsibility to care for the earth. You might want to ask forgiveness for
* abusing and misusing natural resources,
* participating in a value system that exalts materialism and consumerism,
* not cooperating with ecological projects which preserve and renew the earth.
Reconciliation with God
During Lent God calls you to prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.
Ask forgiveness for
* not praying each day,
* not listening to God's Word in Scripture,
* not being attentive to those in need,
* not seeing fasting as necessary for Christian discipleship.
Think about what would be an appropriate way to reconcile yourself to God, to earth, and people. Now rid yourself of your stone or pebble (that you collected earlier) by tossing it away. Or if you choose to keep it, put it someplace where it will continue to remind you of God's forgiveness.
Then recite prayerfully this translation of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples:
"Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth!
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is Love,
now and for ever. Amen."
(From A New Zealand Prayer Book
of The Church of the Province of Aptearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia)
"Journeying with Jesus: A Lenten Retreat" will continue with Week 5: Holiness |
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