“I chose you to bear fruit, fruit that will last.”
(Jn 15: 16)
AIM:
To gather and savour the graces we have received.
OUR INTENTIONS:
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Participants will have time to notice and gather the fruit of these past weeks.
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By sharing these fruits, the participants` awareness of these graces will deepen.
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By noticing the fruits, participants will be enabled to discern what`s next for them on their personal journey.
PROGRAMME:
Welcome and Introduction
Stilling and Individual Prayer
Break
Small Groups
Feedback from Groups
Closure
Link: Music: Acappella “Create in Me”
Ignatius invites us to look back on our prayer, and when we end a retreat or a course to gather the graces God generously poured into us. Once we have named the graces God gave us, it is important to pray for the graces to deepen in us. We want the graces given to us to stay, to become part of who we are, and to transform us. God’s generosity cannot be outdone. We will continue to receive grace upon grace as God invites us to new depths for the entirety of our lives.
As you look back over your prayer in these past few months:
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Where has there been grace for you?
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What stands out for you?
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What has moved or changed in and through your prayer and reflection over these months?
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How is God drawing you and inviting you?
God has created me to do Him some definite service
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission—
I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
…I am a link in a chain,
a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good;
I shall do His work;
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it,
if I do but keep his Commandments.
…Therefore I will trust Him.
Whatever, wherever I am.
I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
…He does nothing in vain.
…He knows what He is about.
(John Henry Newman)
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
(John 15:15-17)
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom
and perception of what is revealed, to
bring you to full knowledge of him. May he
enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you
can see what hope his call holds for you,
what rich glories he has promised the saints
will inherit and how infinitely great is the
power that he has exercised for us believers.
(Ephesians 1:17–19)
The Bright Field
I have seen the sun break through to
illuminate a small field for a while, and
gone my way and forgotten it.
But that was the pearl of great price, the
one field that had the treasure in it.
I realize now that I must give all that I have
to possess it.
Life is not hurrying on to a receding future,
nor hankering after an imagined past.
It is the turning aside like Moses to the
miracle of the lit bush. To a brightness that
seemed as transitory as your youth once,
but is the eternity that awaits you.
(R.S. Thomas)
CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD
Create in me a clean heart, O God
Let me be like you in all my ways
Give me your strength, teach me your song
Shelter me in the shadow of your wings
For we are your righteousness
If we die to ourselves and live through your death
We shall be born again to be blessed in your love!
Create in me a clean heart, O God
Let me be like you in all my ways
Give me your strength, teach me your song
Shelter me in the shadow of your wings
For we are your righteousness
If we die to ourselves and live through your death
We shall be born again to be blessed in your love
Create in me a clean heart, O God
Let me be like you in all my ways
Give me your strength, teach me your song
Shelter me in the shadow of your wings
For we are your righteousness
If we die to ourselves and live through your death
We shall be born again to be blessed in your love
We shall be born again to be blessed in your love
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Continue or complete any aspects of your prayer and sharing time and that you feel either you or God still want to continue with.
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During the week pray with any one of the additional scripture passages or poems or to any prior material you feel drawn to.