Online Retreat Sharing

(Hi Fr….Patrick here…this is such a grace to be able to do this 34 week retreat! And how awesome that this is here for anyone to utilize, so as to draw closer to God! Yes, you may use my name!)

The grace I would like to share is the grace of simply beginning…God has invited me to this 34 week retreat, so it is not lost on me that He has called me to walk upon this road with Him at my side.

I found it helpful, after the rich reflection of Week 6, to repeat as a kind of a Mantra while I took a walk during my retreat.

Week six is a thorough examination of life as a whole, year by year by a sinner (great) loved by God Himself. Selfish self excludes the Lord when we turn away in all our sinful behaviours leaving our minds and bodies defiled. Through these, it is not just our shame , however, but because it enjoins in the collective harm it does to others.

Where do we go, what do we seek, what do we desire? If we rid ourselves of self, get out of the way, it is the Lord who comes, who speaks, who comforts, who loves, whose mercy forgives until we realise that nothing can seperate us from His love, my Lord and my God. So in turn we are rescued, brought back home, rejoicing, undefiled, filled with gratitude in order that we might, in turn, turn to others and be a community of love in the Lord; remembering that He bore our sinfulness and shame, by taking it upon Himself and dying for us on the cross.

Week 6: The cross is a sign of wondrous love that frees us from our sin. God loves me and has mercy both for who I have been and who I have become. I can ask Him to heal my heart that resists loving other people and resists loving Him. I can ask Him to give me a sense of trust in him as a loving father who will do much better than I could ever do in all areas of my life. This trust will battle the fear, anxiety, worry, and stress that I feel that cause me to hold onto areas of my life. Humility will combat pride and will allow me to surrender myself, even sacrifice myself as Jesus sacrificed himself – didn’t He say to take up his cross and follow Him? We should follow him even to the cross. Finally, understanding of God’s truth and courage to speak up and act in love will combat complacency and inaction.

Letting go of my hardness of heart, disorder, and rebellion fills and warms me with Christ’s love. I seek to open myself to God’s infinite supply of love and let it overflow my heart and spill out to those around me. To do so, I must cry to Abba as a young child, helpless and in deep gratitude for God’s wondrous love for me. I am not worthy of His passion on my own, but Christ’s love makes me worthy. - Kim in Maryland

Week 6: Just beginning. Something has happened. A past Good Friday moment recalls the need for shame and sorrow that because I have been so loved and created in that Love, I have lived in arrogance and pride in self and towards others. I recall them, the harm that I have done towards them. In loving self, not them, it broke our relationships. What I was seeking, unknowingly, masked by pride, in using the gifts given to me wrongly, was the cause of the brokenness and the sufferings experienced. This tremendous revelation reveals my own sin, not necessarily that of others and which, is the cause of my brokenness and shame for what I have done, ruining my own chances of happiness. The Cross of Christ His suffering for this ‘mean’ being, created ….and am I to be redeemed?……..is revealed as I am fully exposed in my frightening shame to the real me, not the pretentious one , but the real one now revealed in entirety, worthy now, to be rescued from hiding in terror, under a rock, not realising that is the Rock of Refuge the Rescuing Rock of Saving Grace, it is He who died for me. Now I can truly reverence the Cross on Good Fridays because I renounce the destruction of self in the sinful life I have just brought to mind. The Wind blows where it will breathing new life into a miserable sinner, loved by God….it is He who loves me not the me who loves self.

Week VI
It was difficult to begin this week – distractions kept me from spending my whole time in prayer – I think it was the evil one who did not want me to really begin. The memories came slowly at first, then in a flood. But when I started to read the scriptures for the week, I realized that my sins circled around a couple of bigger themes – thinking I’m better than others and more worthy of God’s attention and the attention of others. Wondering both if I have the courage to ask for forgiveness or to humble myself to forgive others. And what if Jesus didn’t notice me there in the tree with Zaccheaus? Would I have resented it like some of the others because I want him to notice me more than anything.

Week 6
During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I was in search of spiritual reading. I have quite a few books at home about various “Catholic things.” It seemed nothing I picked up satisfied this yearning. I dug into my closet and found my adult catechism book. OK, I will learn again what my Catholic faith teaches, I thought to myself. This catechism book is priceless! It breaks down every facet of our faith. It goes over the Ten Commandments as they apply to our contemporary life, too. I decided to look at this section, the Ten Commandments. Thank God I actually did that. I discovered that for a very, very long time, due to my own personal ignorance or not understanding fully the Sixth Commandment (and its all of its tentacles), that I was habitually breaking this Commandment. I was horrified to learn what I thought was OK, or just fully didn’t understand, was a grave sin against God! (It also meant all of my Holy Communions were received in sacrilege!) I felt embarrassed and felt shame, once I knew the truth of the matter. This was around the time that I had returned to my office job in Manhattan. There is the Church of St. Agnes nearby where I would frequent for Confession, and Masses, especially Holy Days of Obligation, that fell during the week. After this horrible discovery about what I was doing, I went to St. Agnes for Confession, and was grateful for St. Agnes Church for offering the Sacraments to me and for the gift of Sacrament of Confession itself. I knew God, in His great Love and Mercy, would forgive me through this invaluable Sacrament.

Now, I think this error concerning the Sixth Commandment that I made was actually due to the Sin of Pride (which someone once told me that most sin has its root in the Sin of Pride, in one form or another). What I thought was OK was not…isn’t that putting what I personally believed ahead of what God commanded? That what God commanded I “took a back seat to” in thinking I knew better than Him?

I also find myself being judgmental of others in that I think I am superior to them in knowledge, in that maybe I am more spiritual then they are (Boy, that one was extremely hard to admit here. I almost did not write that statement), that I ruminate over past arguments with a person, where I would review the entire conversation, and say out loud what I thought I should have said which would have been a negative retort, or that I see that this individual maybe as stupid and I say so out loud, doesn’t matter if it was a family member, neighbor, friend co-worker either. That’s Pride, it comes from my thinking myself superior to a particular individual. So, I guess, that is part of my personal patterns of sin. I am thinking that maybe it’s a life-long process to overcome these personal sins, as is true conversion a life-long process, and that, perhaps, the life-long process of overcoming our personal sins is part of our life-long process of conversion.

But as I may have mentioned in previous postings, the Love and Mercy of God allows me to recognize my personal sins and invites me to the Sacrament of Confession, and the Love and Mercy of God will forgive me time and time and time again! (I have found the three scripture readings for Week 6 were especially on point with the topic. They also point to the forgiveness of sins comes from God’s Mercy and Love. All we have to do is ask Him to forgive us, and He will…over and over and over again!)

Another grace I received was seeing Jesus on the cross and saying: "How much you love me, to die so horribly for me." I know there is more, but it is a start in knowing God's love for me.

Week 6. At he end of week 6, I have recounted my history of sin with delicate attention to how my sinful acts can cause pain beyond the moment of the act. I have gratefully accepted the weight that burden can feel and turn that over to God and his mercy. Only then can I see atonement as a way forward. The image of the cross, the weight of the sin of the world, such love...amen.

Week 6: I am so glad to have found this online retreat in daily life.
I started on with my spiritual director at the beginning of this year and by the time I was
Ready for the fifth week we went into lockdown and my retreat came to an end.
I wanted to continue but the SD could not. However I continued here last week with the fifth week and am now in the 6th week. Yes it is hard during a lockdown to come face to face with a greater awareness of one’s own sinfulness and one finds oneself in a valley of death so to speak with no one to affirm that one is doing ok. I have come to depend more on faith in God alone and find it is becoming easier to speak to Jesus as He is focussed on in these readings as a loving compassionate and merciful friend, brother, spouse, SD, and Father.
Many thanks. May God bless your work.

Week 6
Infidelity vs fidelity, unfaithful vs faithful If these two infidelity, unfaithfulness happened in any person, including me myself, I would never forgive... What I experienced from the Lord is totally different, once, twice, three... Four...even more... He is there, loving, forgiving... Unconditional acceptance... I was expecting some punishment due to the guilty inside... So that I can feel better if there is punishment.
My Lord, my God.... How vast is your love to me... I'm not worthy... Thank you my God...

Week 6 A Spiritual Director has been critical to my evolution of understanding the retreat and making it impactful upon me personally. This week has been hard but also freeing. Reflecting on John has been very Eye opening to understand that church is not a gathering place of spiritually healthy people, the church is where the sick gather to be healed from the disease of sin. “In the creedal affirmation of the holy catholic church, the communion of saints stands besides the forgiveness of sins. That conjunction is not accidental. The measure of sainthood is not human sinlessness but divine vocation. The community set apart in Christ lives continually by the gospel of God’s forgiveness, precisely because we are sick and need a physician.”

As I read “Our Sinfulness and Our Goodness,” from week 6, a few rogue (yet sacred) thoughts came to me which brought me deeper awareness and compassion for my own sinfulness and goodness, as well as a greater receiving of Christ’s Love and compassion.
Here is a portion of the insights I received …

The cross – the arms on the cross – one representing our deep sinfulness and the other God’s great Love – the suffering causes them to be as far apart as humanly possible – humanly. Yet – the Love of Christ compels this suffering to come to a final conclusion – death. This death allows the arms to be brought together - ending the separation. And further more it compels the arm of the sinner and the arm of the Divine Love from that cross to not only come together, but around us. Around me. The embrace of Love. Bringing together death and life – rejection and love – humanity and divinity. The final acceptance of both is within myself.

I am so grateful for this LOVE. I welcome this embrace. Thank you Jesus for your welcoming Presence.
B Hubbell
Lancaster, Ohio

The cross – the arms on the cross –one representing our deep sinfulness and the other God’s great Love – the suffering causes them to be as far apart as humanly possible – humanly. Yet – the Love of Christ compels this suffering to come to a final conclusion – death. This death allows the arms to be brought together - ending the separation. And further more it compels the arm of the sinner and the arm of the Divine Love from that cross to not only come together, but around us. Around me. The embrace of Love. Bringing together death and life – rejection and love – humanity and divinity. The final acceptance of both is within myself.
I am so grateful for this LOVE. I welcome this embrace. Thank you Jesus for your welcoming Presence.
B Hubbell

WEEK 6: I contemplate imaginatively being the prodigal son. Each time, I sin, I tend to go away from my Father. After all, it is the prodigal father as the main flesh in the story. My Father understands my vulnerabilities. He welcomes me each time I come back to Him. My Father, is faithful, forgiving, compassionate God. His love and generosity cannot be outdone. The love of the Father, is revealed by the death of his Son, Jesus on the cross. Over and over again, my sin is washed off by the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. I am always being His prodigal son.

Week 6. The introduction to the week says that the goal for the week is to know our sin so we can know the depth of God’s love for us personally. The Practical Help section for this week says, “For those of us for whom past experiences of having been shamed, in its debilitating or even its abusive senses, has caused great damage to our sense of self, this grace needs to be experienced as totally different from that kind of destructive experience. The grace of this week can be very healing to a shame-based view of ourselves.” I wish the guide said something about how that might happen. I have suffered lifelong psychic damage from long-term childhood neglect and abuse. I am working closely with a licensed professional therapist in a companion process with making this retreat. I am full of sorrow, rage, and regret for all the waste of my talents and skills, for the devastating isolation and loneliness, the crippling depression and lack of confidence—all consequences of what was done to me through absolutely no fault of my own. When I reflect on my life, I don’t see rebellion against God. I see astonishing, miraculous leaning toward God, the way a crushed and parched plant will still lean toward the light with each last living cell of its being. Overall, I have done the best I could. In any case, most importantly, I leave it to God to be the judge of the worth of what I have done and who I have been. I make the best choices I can in each moment, and let go of the rest. Going forward, I want more joy, more laughter, more music, more community, more comfort and ease in my life. I want to take more pleasure in daily things. I want to feel satisfaction in a job well done or a relationship well-nurtured. I lost my job a few months ago, and I want new work for which I am justly paid in which my deep passion and gifts and the world’s deep need meet. The work of the retreat for me right now is to own my history; to make peace with it; and with each pain and grief and loss to look for and focus on the “leaning to the light.” I am challenged to pray with Psalm 78. Can God spread a table in this wilderness? I want to trust God to lead me with a cloud by day and fire by night to a less constricted, more fruitful, more joyous and generous life. I want to recognize and praise the wonders God has already worked in my life. I want to take action today, each day, as if I had faith, as if I had hope, as if I trusted God to work miracles in me—even though I do not now feel faith, hope, or trust.

Sixth Week: It is my first time that I am following a retreat online; the in-depth reflections is a real eye opener for me to delve into the hidden pockets of my life which were safely tucked away; since I do confess my sins to the Lord on a daily basis apart from receiving the absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I am relieved that these have finally emerged. The corresponding readings for the week has thrown new light and a difference perspective in identifying my own sinful nature. I thank the Lord Almighty and the Holy Spirit for their guidance and thank the authors of this Retreat for helping me to strengthen my spiritual journey.

As I read “Our Sinfulness and Our Goodness,” from week 6, a few rogue (yet sacred) thoughts came to me which brought me deeper awareness and compassion for my own sinfulness and goodness, as well as a greater receiving of Christ’s Love and compassion.
Here is a portion of the insights I received …

The cross – the arms on the cross –one representing our deep sinfulness and the other God’s great Love – the suffering causes them to be as far apart as humanly possible – humanly. Yet – the Love of Christ compels this suffering to come to a final conclusion – death. This death allows the arms to be brought together - ending the separation. And further more it compels the arm of the sinner and the arm of the Divine Love from that cross to not only come together, but around us. Around me. The embrace of Love. Bringing together death and life – rejection and love – humanity and divinity. The final acceptance of both is within myself.
I am so grateful for this LOVE. I welcome this embrace. Thank you Jesus for your welcoming Presence.

I feel a deep down love and healing from Jesus this week.
Something I've needed for a long, long time.
I took the advice of Week 5 to know my sins and immerse myself in God's mercy and forgiveness,
and thus seek and find the healing I've needed.
Thank you, Creighton, for your retreat. - Week 6

Justice and Peace - The Kingdom of God is Justice and Peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, Come Lord and open in us, the gates of your Kingdom!

This prayer made always always in a divided world of haves and have nots and the dilema of taking action which entails speaking out amongst and with the haves in defence of the poor. Further in doing so. why is it that this perspective can be wrong in me, a sinner loved by God, who reminds me that it is He and not me who is my guide and the one in control. Take care that we need to respect others by not being self righteous.

However my drug addict has been reprieved, despite one of his employers being against this and in subtle ways, is trying to replace him with others.

As to my awful appalling ongoing sinfulness, seen in that wicked tempter jumping up and down, waiting to catch me out with his wicked wiles. At the same time, I am reminded of the Word and I am so aware of the love and mercy of our Lord, waiting in the wings and keeping me safe from harm giving me His Grace and the Love of Him in my prayers. Thanks be to Him always. - Week 6

This week 6 is difficult for me. I can enumerate the offenses I've committed and the omissions as well but more at a cerebral level. It's very hard going trying to get it to an emotional/gut level for me, let alone to a freeing and liberating of the soul that all this promises to deliver IF we can get to that gut level. Bob. -Week 6

God save us from hotheads that would lead us to act foolishly, and from cold feet that would keep us from acting at all. ~ Peter Marshall

As I begin Week 6, in prayer I realize that I have spent too much time steeped in sin and little time in God's Mercy, Love and Grace. As I begin knowing my true self with God's help, I consent and open to this amazing grace of God's mercy and love. May I forgive myself as God forgives me so I may forgive others and move from living in shame to living in freedom. I am truly blessed. God loves me, a sinner! -Week 6

This week we are to look at personal sin, but we are also to look at the cross and to look at God's mercy. He has not destroyed me, so I have experienced his forgiveness and grace. I yearn for the road back, which I was sure I was on until being tested once again, I failed. So I am here. In need of mercy once more. God, give me the strength to love. -Week 6

I found something beautiful on the Internet as I began a bit late reading the Preparations for Week Six. It is a You Tube Video Documentary (Parts I and II) narrated by the Actor Martin Sheen on the Life of Saint Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionist Order. It brought back memories for me of my days in Zaragoza Spain, when I lived next to a Passionists Monastery and met a Holy Priest named Father Pablo. It also brought memories of my retreat last Easter at Christ the King Retreat Center, a Passionist Hermitage in downtown Sacramento (Citrus Heights Suberb actually) California. My point being that the Cross of Jesus and His Passion really made it easy for me to focus on my sins without despair, but with real shame.
I'll try to remember all of us this week, as we share the Online Retreat. -Week 6

I am also doing the retreat alone and without a spiritual director. For those of you who have shared and wondered if anyone ever reads the posts or if your post had an impact, I have read them and yes, they have had an impact. I have felt so discouraged at times, and week 6 is a hard week. Knowing that many of you have experienced the same things that I have gone/am going through has made a tremendous difference and has given me the encouragement I needed. Thank you, and God bless you! -Week 6

How do I recognize sin,
Especially my own,
And expose my shame
To the world and to myself?
I have long hidden behind
A veil of rationalizations,
Desiring respectability
In the eyes of others;
And the beautiful self-image
Of trying to be good.

If I go back to my childhood
And continue to my present,
That is surely a lot of digging;
And I will be tainted
With the dirt and the mud
And the pain of my lurid past.
How can I know more fully,
Your mercy and love
By digging out and recognizing
The sinfulness of my humanity?
This is confusingly mysterious!

From my youth, have I not made
Enough tearful confessions
That washed away my sins?
The prodigal Father should have
Told His prodigal son to first
Take a bath and wash away the
Filth of the foreign lands where he
Squandered away his inheritance,
Then celebrate his return from death.
But He did not!

Filled with compassion and joy,
He ran to his son as He saw him,
Met him in the fields and
Had a coat, ring and sandals brought out,
Celebrating with the fatted calf,
He restored the son to His house.
And I felt I too was forgiven
By a love that is just waiting
For my heart’s door to open.

Angry, disappointed and envious,
Because I did not even have a goat
To partake of with my friends,
While I was I with Him, serving Him.
I refused to enter His house,
To share with Him this time of joy.
I could not help it.
I too needed a bath
To wash away the clinging
And envious dirt from
My work in the fields.
Not realizing that being with Him
Was itself a fulfilling joy.

I am just too human
To know the difference
Between sinning in a foreign land
And sinning in my Father’s house.
When in both instances
I put distance between me
And You, my loving Father.

Maybe I will never overcome
My humanity. But You, Father,
Are forever present within me.
The more often I open my heart to You,
The stronger my love for You will be.
Forgiven, Your child I will Forever be.

I started week six yesterday but as with last week am finding it difficult to concentrate. It's as if I'm shying away from sin, afraid to face it, and then it occurs to me that's a recurring sin, I have often lied if I have broken rules or done things others would disapprove of, so they will not think of me as bad. I suppose that the approval of others is very important to me. And yet God loves me just as I am, I need to accept that and also to realise that is enough. Thanks be to God for that insight.

Week 6: Even as I look upon the deep and dark sins of my lifetime, all I feel is the intense gratitude of seeing Christ redeem me over and over again. I have received the grace of tears this week. I hear this prayer a lot "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

Week 6: I am in the 6th week and it is difficult. Some painful reflection has stirred up old buried feelings. Somehow this time I feel that I will be deeply refreshed by the Holy Spirit. I am so grateful for this website. --Tony S.,UK

As I begin this week of our retreat I am aware of the many choices I make (or do not make) that create distance between God and me. This is how I choose to define my sin. More of an interpersonal/relationship process. Acknowledging the distancing effect of my sinful behaviours and patterns and yet emphasizing my desire to be connected and in moment by moment relationship with my Lord. This helps me notice the nuances of my sin, its subtleties and its effect on my communion with Jesus. It is not that God has created this distance but rather, it is me. God is there...always available, moving toward me, arms wide open, safe, willing and kind. By His grace, I am growing in my understanding of these things. If you are reading this perhaps you would take a second and pray that I will grow ever closer in my intimate relationship with God.

I'm coming to a close on week 6. I have been delving in and out of it for the last 14 or so days. But I feel that I have concluded it today. Realizing that :
Sin abounds, but Grace overflows and conquers through Jesus Christ our Lord and King.

Life in all it's fullness includes pain and the mundane, but it is never meant to stop there, and in fact, in Christ, that is just a springboard into the Glory.

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness as I continue on this journey in prayer through the Ignation Retreat.
Christine M.

I am on week 6. I want to praise and thank God for all who put this on-line retreat together. I've done some of it before a few years ago, and now I am back. What a blessing. Thank you and Thank God. Amen.

Week 6: Surely it is no coincidence that as I reflect on the thoughts for this (for me) week of the retreat, I am also hearing about the devastation and destruction caused by Sandy, about the mother who lost her two young children, swept away in the raging waters after being refused help, but also about the strangers who helped each other. What a striking example of both sin and its destruction, and the redemption wrought by love.

Week 6: S - self-centered replaces selfless sharing I - isolation replaces inclusiveness N - negligence replaces nurturing sin blocks GOD working through me to reach out in love to everything and everyone. Epiphany: You mean, those self protective, bullet proof, glass walls I've spent a/my lifetime building around myself do not serve you Lord... Joshua fought the battle of Jericho - Jericho - Jericho - Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down... and I cry...Lord - your killing me here...and HE answers...yes..."...that you might have life and have it to the full." Jn 10:10 Is that a Rams Horn I hear??? FIAT !!! Lord, I soooooo love you Loving me - loving you - Loving me :-) Annie

Week 6: This week got off to a slow start for me and the sharing section was probably the most helpful in pointing me towards my weekly "aha" moment, so thank you to all those who take the time to submit these insights. This week I have recognized a long standing pattern of worry and "what ifs" and "if only's." This pattern of self doubt has haunted me for years and has always had "me" at the center of it. I have been to self centered to recognize that God has the situation under control and to have the faith that He has a plan for me. All I have to do is to learn to trust in Him which is not quite as easy as it should be for me after all these years of feeling that I had the control (or lack there of??). Hopefully, I will get better at this over these next 28 weeks...

Week 6 & beginning of 7 as well as lenten retreat are doing wonders for me. I lost my teaching job in gov. Now I understand that this was meant to give me more time with God. I am not in a hurry at all. God is talking to me and creating me thru this retreat and through this waiting period. If I had been working I would hurry off & come back tired. On the subject of sins. I have just been awakened to the fact that have been sinning in "secret and yet in God's full view" because even darkness is light for him and he leads me even to the ends of the earth (Ps 139). Yet he calls me a sinner "precious" Isa 43:4

Week 6:In one at least of my poems I wrote once of the sly and disguised face of evil. Today I was led to reflect that I have been taken in by that spell, and I thought I was “immune”. Hypocrisy. It sounds so obvious and blatant – as it is – but it disguises itself so subtly and this week’s guide alerted me to look for the subtle forms of “rebellion” and behold! once pride was put in its place (I would never be guilty of that!) hypocrisy was revealed hiding behind it. Alas! This week has been a very hard one. Hard to confront the sinfulness that is such a part of my life – “my sin is always before me; what is evil in your sight I have done”. Hard also to grasp that it is this very sinfulness, this rebelliousness, this antithesis of praising, reverencing and serving God that Jesus knows, understands and died to ensure that this sinfulness – mine and the world’s – not only can be, but is, overcome finally and definitively. Hard to stand beneath the cross and to know that whether I chose to be there or not, God so loves me and so desires my salvation that Jesus would die for me anyway. Awesome!

Week 6:This is very difficult.I can understand that my God is merciful and forgiving but I am holding on to the pain of my sins and struggling .My humanness is overwhelming.I read somewhere yesterday that anxiety is self centered.Thus looking at my own sinfulness and the anxiety it causes is again,selfish and not focusing sufficiently on Christ.Lots of work to be done this week.Thank you to everyone who is sharing their struggles this week also.

Week 6:This is a week that is very important, but very hard, depending on the person. For me, the hard part is the "pouring out our hearts, friend to friend -- with growing gratitude" (p. 45). I now know that this is a grace I need to pray for, the grace to share my heart, friend to friend -- with the Lord. It is not something I do easily. When growing up, I learned well to protect my feelings and sharing was not always well-received, desirable, or expected.

But, it is clear that (p. 47) "I want to feel your (the Lord's) love the to the very depths of my being, so I know that first I have to feel your (the Lord's) forgiveness." Thank you all for your prayers that I receive two inter-related graces this week: the grace to want to share my heart with the Lord and the grace to share my heart, friend to friend, with the Lord.

One last idea: When I connect my reflection of my own sins to the social sins of Week Five, it seems more meaningful for me: the idea that the rebellion from God we see in the world is the same rebellion in one's own heart. In these times of great rebellion around the world, it helps to know that there are good rebellions that can bring us closer to God (and to each other) and other kinds of rebellion that take us away from God (and from each other). This is a third grace to pray for today: to know which rebellions are good ones and which are not, in our own hearts, in our own lives.

As I begin Week 6, I feel flat, a little worn out and pulled in many directions. I have felt a deep connection and peace when I have been with others this week but this same contentment also feels overwhelming. Is that the love of Christ? An overwhelming contentment that leaves us spent? How can I be okay with just this moment and not continually evaluate it in terms of output or activity? How do I become symbiotic with God's love to live it out in my actions and not just crave the wonderful thoughts/feelings it gives me when I am praying/reading/thinking alone?

This week is hard for me. I wrote pages on my sins and how I have made people's lives bitter. And yet I was so busy.. too much absorb in myself.
On his part, God's love is enourmous, I am still alive, breathing and walking around.

Oh God please forgive me, give me a chance to confess and be cleaned. I love you and hurting your feeling is never on my list on things I want to do. I never want to make you sad dear Jesus, but I have failed to closely watch my actions. I really want to repent. I am grateful that you have lovingly remind me.

Day Week 6 Sharing
Thank you Lord for the many blessings given me on this retreat.
Your call for renewal reaches at the very core. I have seen how I sabotage my self through self-gratification- overeating and not exercising, overconsumption in useless buying sprees. Could it be that my neglect of self-care meant lack of self-love, poor self-worth. It could also stem from my fear of rejection, my need for acceptance, pleasing others to the point of losing ones self-identity. Works of charity and unceasing activities to help others are made visible to the point of forgetting personal needs.
Lord, I am sorry for my habitual judgement of others, criticizing others, making negative comments, lying, gossiping, procrastination, envy and laziness. All these I surrender to you Lord so I may continue to work effortlessly to help establish the kingdom of God.
My heart sings in gratitude for Your forgiveness, mercy and compassion.

Week 6:Years ago, in his wisdom, our Parish Priest had the Monstrance exposed in our Church between 4pm and 6:30pm on Fridays. No rituals, no music, no readings and no Benediction service. We were invited to be there, for any short or long amount of time we chose, and be in silence. In those days contemplation and meditation were unknown to us as Parish members and we truly didn't know how to handle the peace.

With perseverance the gift of this time to me came as a realization as I sat in the Church, there was only me and Jesus. This was my very Creator, so why pretend - why hide who I am. Why spend so much energy living a lie. The creator knows what he makes and God made me. God became a God to trust for guidance.

This attitude has served me well up to week six of this retreat. Now I learn that God loves me, not just as a created and "owned" creature, but God meets me in a love bigger than my sin and greater than my shame. In my meditation I looked into Jesus' eyes as He hung on the cross, expecting to see His physical pain and feel a personal remorse. He looked back at me - past all the blood and pain and sweat - with a love that simply thanked me for being there.

Week 6: First, I want to thank all of you who have shared your insights. I have been helped greatly by them, nearly always finding someone who seems to be speaking directly to me. I have had a hard time in Week 6 feeling sorrow for my sins, I think because they are mainly sins of omission- promptings of the Spirit which I turned aside. But I have been prompted this week to look more closely at my "moderate drinking" (usually 3 glasses of wine per day) and face the fact that this has been my way of desensitizing myself to the needs of others and deadening any creative responses to those needs. This is how I block out what the Spirit could be saying to me. Currently, I seem to be having some success in reducing this habit - by recognizing the habit as a sin or a temptation to sin - and am grateful to the Lord for breaching my defenses in this retreat. Neil

Week 6: I was thinking of the subtle ways I sin in week 6. I am discovering that sometimes I do things for recogniton and when I do some good deed and it goes unrecognised, it hurts. This hurt feeling comes very easily and all sorts of things can happen. I keep that record of wrong, I hold on to the grudge and retreat to lick my wounds and I plot some kind of revenge eg I am not going there again or I'm not talking to him again... I dont feel free, I clam up, go inside my self. There I see the need for forgiveness immediately. God loves me, recognizes me, accepts me and forgives me immediately. No need to linger God's love is always there immediately. Alleluia.

Week 6: This is about personal sin. If I really get started I'll be at it a long time. I've been warned about scrupulosity. Funny how knowing the real meaning of the word changes things. I always thought to be unscrupulous was a bad thing so the opposite must be a good thing. Not at all as I've found out.
If we had no free will then God would be the puppet master and everyone would be perfect. How glad I am that He didn't arrange it that way! How can love mean anything if it's not free? Even though I've fallen many times He brings good even out of my imperfections. If I'd never sinned I'd never be able to start to grasp the depth of His Mercy and Forgiveness. And even
as awesome as those are, personally I've found that His forgetting is even more amazing! Eternity won't be long enough to thank Him for His great love that puts up with me and still welcomes me back into His arms and into His family.

I'm in Week 6 -- have been for the past 3 weeks. So many sins in my past and present life! I spent a lot of time trying to analyze and list them. Here's the result (next week I'll probably add some more!):

-Being self-centered, rather than "others-centered" -- failing to see Jesus in everyone I meet and treating them accordingly.

-Unwillingness to help others spontaneously without first considering the effort and discomfort that that will cost me.

-Emphasis on "having fun" rather than engaging in pastimes that would improve my mind, my body, my heart, and most of all my immortal soul.

-Impatience and unkindness -- losing my temper at the slightest provocation and launching into verbal abuse in an attempt to hurt him/her who is the cause of my anger. How petty I can be!

-Wanting to plot and plan every detail of my life, rather than leaving that to God. I don't have faith/trust in God's ability to look after me as well as I think I can by myself. I am unwilling to "let go" and trust God to work his Will in my life. I guess I fear that I may not like the result. I want to retain a "veto" power over what God wants me to do or not to do. I want to be "in control" over every aspect of my life. Maybe it's that old sin, Pride?

-Sure, I want to do God's Will -- but I still want to overeat and overdrink, gamble, miss Mass on Sunday when it interferes with my vacations, have sexual freedom, and generally ignore what the Church teaches us about our moral responsibilities. Why can't I realize that "No man can serve two masters"?

I need your prayers. I need to continue with this Retreat -- it has already started to change my life for the better. But I need to slow down -- I sped through the first 5 weeks but now I realize I've got to give God's grace more time to work in me. I don't know how much longer Week 6 will take, but I'm sure God will let me know when I'm ready to move on.

I sure do like to read the comments of all the others who are making this retreat -- I feel bonded with all of them in a type of spiritual kinship I've never known before.
-- Joe

Week 6: This is my second time through the Exercises. The past few weeks have been hard but I know that our Lord only gives us what we can handle. And he shows us where he wants to heal us. So, yes, looking at sin is difficult but the beginnings of healing are tremendous! When I started to look at the patterns of sin in my life, I prayed to find the deepest roots of my sin. Where had I been malformed? What lie did I believe along the way? I was told once by a religious that fear is the root of all evil. So what I am I afraid of? As I started to connect the dots in week 6, it came to me. “You are afraid of not being loved.” The more I contemplated that statement the more it became an answer to, “why do I do the things I do?”It took me a couple of days to come to terms with this truth. The Holy Spirit was very generous with gifts of understanding and knowledge. I read all that the website had to offer, I realized I had believed a lie. I am loved! My heavenly father is crazy about me! I don’t need to control my relationships or conversations. I don’t need to be extra sensitive to how I am being treated or spoken to. I can even knock off the self-deprecating humor! I wasn’t carrying it off well anyhow…I used to see myself as the older son in the parable of the Prodigal Son. That is part of my pride. Upon further reflection and mega doses of knowledge, piety and wisdom I see that I am the younger son on my way back to my father. For the first time in my life, humility feels wonderful.

Dear brothers and sisters in God,
This week I am in 6th week. As everybody says " a very difficult one ". In my country there are no Jesuit priests, that is why I mail to you, for certain topic, that I need help, support and lead.First two days in this week, I spent on my deeds and sins, I did till I became 18th. Suddenly a thought came to my mind " since I was not baptized at that time, those sins are not existing for God ". In fact I baptized myself, when I was 29 years old, at 1989. I was really led by God to do so.Now my question is whether to consider the time before my baptizing as a blank period for sins or bad doings, because in fact I did not know God and His will and commandments and the scriptures. In the communist times, that was even forbidden. Or I have still to contemplate at least the bad behaviour of mine against the other people arround me. Pax Christi!
-- Sofia

Week 6: God is with me in such a special way today. Playing music from the St. Louis Jesuits in the background, I picked up the book: "Healing Life's Hurts" by Dennis and Matthew Linn, S.J. A book I've had since the 1980s--but never read. NOW is the time I need to deal with the "healing memories" approach used by these two Jesuits. "Healing of memories happens when we discover that a painful time of our past need no longer cripple us but can bless us. In coming to appreciate how every moment can gift us, we discover for ourselves what spirituality and psychology has recognized as key to the healing process."

I picked up the directives for Week 6 of the 34-day retreat again and re-read the guides given to us. This time the directives really grabbed hold of me. The grace of this week is "to experience deep gratitude for the profound depth of God's love and mercy for me." In reflecting on the theme of this week, my thoughts reverted back to the awe-inspiring image of the crucified Jesus on the wall of the chapel in the Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh. The image compels us to take notice of the profound love, faithfulness, and generosity of an all-forgiving God. Yes, by letting myself feel the sin in my life--crying copious tears of repentance--I received the grace to "know God more intimately…as I was overwhelmed with God's love for me there--as a sinner." Yes, sin is how I violate, ignore and freely choose to replace God's prior relationship with creatures using my own "self-centered blue print."

I then remembered the song of Mary Magdalene in “Jesus Christ Superstar:” – “If He said He loved me, I’d be lost, I’d be frightened. I couldn’t cope, just couldn’t cope. I’d turn my head. I’d back away.” --feeling totally unworthy of His love for me. I pray that I may grow in my understanding that "God intensely desires us to come more and more alive, alert, aware and sensitive to His presence in His presents (gifts)… Forgiving us is God's judicial side; continuing our personal creation is His compassionate side.""God, I am most grateful for your ongoing redeeming love that both cancels the debt against me and that opens me to have life and have it to the full." Help me with your grace and your love.

Week Six: Who ever said that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes, should have added sin to the list. Despite my best intentions, I sin. I should be completely depressed with such a defeatist attitude, but I am not. While sin can be the death of a soul, I prefer to think of it is another opportunity to turn to my Savior. Even when he cures me and says, “Sin no more,” I interpret that as a hope that I do my best. And whether it be the sins of society or my personal sins, I know the Original sin has led me down this path of sin and death. The only cure for both is “dying to myself” which I seem to instinctively resist. I know I am called to not be instinctive, but to act deliberately, weighing the value of my actions for God’s Greater Glory.

Week 6: I have reflected during the week on the nature of sin. I sought out the definitions: Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, the Church Catechism. My favorite is Augustine’s commentary that it is the absence of God. It seems especially true when I think of those central tenets of love: of reaching out with compassion to those in need, of turning the other cheek; of becoming known for the love that we show each other.

In meditating on this I couldn’t help feeling that my daily commute between home and work is a great battle plain in my struggle to exercise these tenets where I so often encounter the absence of God in my behavior. So many times I have set out on commutes, sometimes directly from church and deep meditation, with the firm intention of exercising these Christian virtues that I hold dear to my heart. But then someone cuts in front of me, or dodges in and out, or lazes along while talking on their cell phone. I almost always fail after a mile or so. I rant, I shake my fist, I honk, I squeeze the space in front of me- no matter how hard I try. It happens every day. At its core, this behavior of mine is putting forward my own ego. How dare they! At its core it is no different than long bitter family feuds, at its core it is no different than the ancient conflicts between peoples, or the random violence of terrorists. I really believe this. Putting one’s self before others is at the core. It is the absence of God in my decision making. Who knows how we might act when faced with different circumstances when we constantly think about our own self first?
-- Dan

Week 6: After getting through 6 weeks I have had to start from the beginning..The confusion and doubt as to what was happening had created a bottom which there was no other way to go.After returning to the beginning a flood of pictures from the past became overwhelming.Writing these down this time has given this retreat new meaning and a direction in which to go without the confusion.Knowing that God is there and helping has been a comfort in itself.Everywhere I look I am seeing what I needed to see the first time but was too insane to see.Having someone there to share with while I have been taking this journey, I am grateful for.An accident which one of my children would most certainly lost her life in and came out with only scratches was God's doing and has giving them a belief which was not there before either.I have to thank God for the ones he has worked his wonders through by giving me this retreat.
-- Cathy

Week 6 contained this statement:"...sin is the action which flows from the attitude that my selfish, greedy and irreverent relationship with any of God's creatures replaces God's own relationship with them."
So here I bump into myself. I depersonalize people who impinge on what I value. Yes I see the contradiction in that , given that I maintain that my deepest desire is to do God's will. We are talking about sin aren't we. I realized that I seem to have defined myself by my stand against those who are dangerous, controlling, disrespectful and arrogant. Consequently I have to retain their sins; keep their sins alive in my experience. That keeps me bound into my own sin.
I need to let God define me instead of letting sin do so. The retention or forgiveness of sins is interesting. It shifts the impact or effect of retention or forgiveness from the sinner to the sinned against. The sinner may have long ago ceased to sin and been reconciled to God, but the sinned against, by holding onto the sin , that is retaining it, continues the effect of the sin and so continues the sin.

Week 6: Again, I find this week difficult particularly since I really like self improvement programs and I recognise patterns of sin in my life that just don't go away. What have I being doing? That's where I found the short excerpt from Father Kavanaugh, "Our Sinfulness and Our Goodness" useful. It's equally as problemmatic not recognising being loved as not recognising our sin. So I feel greatful for God's love and I realise that I need to give up the idea that avoiding sin and the occasions of sin is not a self improvement program. In fact, a good deal of the root of my sin lies in being so anxious to do something or what will happen next that I ignore everyday situations as opportunities to praise, revere and serve God. When I do that self indulgence and self-centredness takes over. I need to rest more in God's love for me and let that grace really take over.

Week 6: The intro to week 6 makes very little sense to me. This is because I AM one of the ones on "the bottom of the totem pole".......I don't live a comfortable life and I do give to others.....anyone who does paid or unpaid work for a parish office can tell you horror stories of how unChristian both lay members and clergy can be.

And, no, I DON'T see this big love God has for me......not if I am to get it from the examples of my fellow parish members, or even from members of the clergy.

This past weekend, a priest mentioned something about if we could allow ourselves to do small things that only God sees......such as picking up a piece of paper off the floor and throwing it away......shoot, I've been doing stuff like that most of my life, without thinking about it, it's just something I do. The problem is with church persons who think I'm daft or someone who they can take advantage of, not merely because I am "that way", but, because they also know that besides what I naturally do, I also try to do "extra". And then they treat me like dirt, because they know that I will attempt to forgive, even if/when I get angry. Where's God in that? I don't know.

I guess that's my exercise for the week, to seek God in the midst of my experience of being rudely treated by my fellow Christians. Well, that puts me back in St. Paul's prison letters, I suppose.

Week 6: During the week, a thought prompted by the liturgical readings get popping into my head. "If I know all I know about Jesus ....why do I not change immediately ....? Why do I repeatedly return to my rebellious ways? I see what is required. I want it". Then traveling for work this week reminds me that at the root of a lot of my rebellion is my self absorption. Somehow, traveling presents little vignettes that get repeated over and over again, from assumptions I make about others (often erroneously negative) to just plain focus on getting my own way (when God's way might be the alternative). I relate deeply to the scene of "auctioning off the cross". I imagine that even in the noise that is surrounding this event there is someone there who sees the deeper meaning of the cross. I see in my own life that often when I have been auctioning off the cross there are ironic graces there. These are often people who bring me back ... get me out of that place of sin and help me to return to the Lord's grace. But I also think more deeply that in the repeated patterns, which can be easy to rationalize, the really "shameful" parts are the consequences on others ... some who are even these "messengers of grace". So when I am at my most self destructive, I am inhibiting what I can give to others. When I am feeling physically violent (whether or not I physically harm someone) I am preventing peace from really flowing. As I reflected last week ... the seed of peace start internally ... rationally debating the "real politik" of war does not bring the radical change that I think the Lord is calling us to. At any rate, I continue to be thankful for the graces that keep appearing in my life to turn me away from auctioning the cross to actually reaching out to buy it and maybe carry it out of that hall.

When I did an overview of WEEK 6, my thoughts were, "don't go there". As a gay man as soon as I think of sin I think of my orientation. As much as I have spent a good deal of time trying to integrate, the old tapes if you will, keep coming on and cause much pain. The institutional church has never been a help and only a hindrance. So my thoughts have always rested with a God who made me as I am and loves me as I am.
This week however I started to hear another voice the voice of Wisdom/Sophia that basically said, "get over it". As long as I keep thinking of my orientation as sin I don't look at any other part of my life. There is plenty there to look at and ask forgiveness for. My orientation is like my lack of hair, it does not define me.
This week as part of my prayer I would spend time holding a cross given to me by my closest friend, who died this week five years ago. As I stared at the corpus I became aware of my Lord saying to me, "I love you just as you are!" From that moment I started to look at my life, and found a man who dresses as a "warrior" when dealing with issues and does not take them to prayer. So my actions cause pain to others pain that I have always reject in the institutional church, I was no better than Rome.
Still my God says, "come to me and live in the light."
Instead of this week being heavy with sin, my sin has become a passage to freedom and a way into the arms of the crucified Lord. Praise be Jesus Christ!
Thank you for the gift of this week.
--R of RI

I am finishing the 6th week.....seems God is always spoken of as a person and how can a person be everywhere and part of us....the image doesn't work for me......this past week I have struggled, as always, to believe and know that God loves each of us as we love out own children....."the God within" is in many readings ...that was a hard image for me to grasp......as I was struggling with this the other morning the thought, image or whatever one want to call it, came to me that God is the force that lives in all of us everywhere .......the force is love....we have heard that too, that "god is love".....when we act and often badly and for what we see as for our own good the force transforms us (resurection ?) and our acts to heal the effect caused.....that gives us hope that "all will be well" as Julian says and that love, which is God, is always working for our well being and is always with us....when i take the personhood out of my image of God so much becomes clearer and more hopeful....I have a grown son with schizophrenia and for such a brilliant mind to be so afflicted has been a 25 year struggle and when this new image of God came to me I finally could see that God was with him and caring for him....... his family's care, love and concern for him was the force of God and we are the instruments.....his father died when our son was 19 ......I try to feel he is still involved but I believe he is.....I hope this makes a bit of sense to my fellow retreatants wherever you are,,,,this retreat is a wonderful oasis to turn to each day.....P.S. Last week I took two
young grandchildren to the observatory to see some events going on in the sky ......it is a spiritual experience to observe the awesome power of this force I am seeing as God.....what is in store for us in eternity?

Week 6:As a contract worker, I entered this week's retreat knowing that my assignment was ending on Friday and with no prospect for another one in sight. It seemed quite appropriate that we've been meditating on our selfishness & self-centeredness. I've been a recovering alcoholic for more than 23 years and it's been part of my recovery to learn to "get out of self", "help others", and "it's not about me." On the second day of the retreat, I found out that a friend in recovery, who was somewhat of a recluse, was found dead in her apartment! She had died a week before but it took that long for someone to check up on her. Because of this week's retreat, I began to feel shame and guilt on top of sadness! I had been so self-centered last week that, even though I had thought of this friend several times, I never took the time to call and check up on her! I believe the Holy Spirit had been trying to reach me to reach out to her. But I wasn't listening! I realize today that I couldn't have done anything to save her. She was already dead by the time the first thought of her came to me. But maybe somebody could have found her sooner! Tomorrow I will attend her memorial service. And the next day, I'll help another friend clean up our deceased friend's apartment. Taking those actions, I'll get out of myself and help others for a while. I won't have time to think about my job prospects. I know my God will give me what I need. It's not about me!

It is amazing to me that it is taking me months instead of weeks with this retreat. I began last summer and have restarted again and am still only at week six. Still it has been a blessed journey. Around week 3 , I left my home for what I thought would be another of many short trips from my home on the west bank of New Orleans. I was blessed far beyond so many of the Katrina victimes and evacuees. My husband insisted on relocating once we had experienced the ramifications of katrina and our adult children had experienced the consequences of Rita. Subsequently so much of what had been familiar for almost 60 years has had to be redefined. Unfortunately this has included my faith. New Orleans was a very Catholic ciity and now I am in the bible belt where protestants are a distinct majority and the cultural mores are still rooted in "separate but equal" . Here Sunday morning remains the mos segregated time of the week. Consequently as a Catholic who is african -american and has been accustomed to multi-cultural worship experiences, I am distracted during the mass and feel uncomfortable in either parish ,both of which maintain their historic racial identityapparently by choice. I grew up in a baptist church where the leadership was very active in the civil rights movement. I have always been a seeker of unity among all of God's people. I haave met a few people who seem to be struggling to change things here. Still it seems superficial to me when this separate worshiip continues. Week 6 has aided me in seeing the resentment that I hold toward all tha is racist. I am truly stuck. I don't even know who to turn to for spiritual direction. I have a history of clinical depression and am trying to follow the suggestions for this weeks retreat. May God have mercy on all of us as we press on tooward the prize of holiness in the face of so much th at is sinful.. I know that this resentment must be healed. I ask the prayers of all who journey on this retreat.

It's the 6th Week, and I'm having a difficult time. I've been trying to figure out what it is that God is showing me. I think I'm 'getting' it, but I'm really perplexed as to how to deal with it. If the problem (sin) is what I'm thinking it is, I really need grace, because it would likely require an 'overhaul' of my personality. How do you change who you are? Who you've been all these many years? Even after committing to Jesus Christ.

I need 'intervention' Lord! Your grace, please.

Specifically, ever since I gave my life to Christ; and became 'sold out' as St. Paul said, studied, prayed, studied and learned the scriptures, I've come to believe in speaking the truth as I know it and see it. I don't sugarcoat situations, stories, etc., for myself or others. (I don't want this to sound harsh.
I hope it does not. The Truth is beautiful, but people sometimes don't want to hear it, and when they do, it's too 'severe' to their liking.)

I try hard to 'go by the rules'. Desiring to be obedient to Christ and the Church. Sometimes I lack patience with individuals who live their life making up their own rules, with respect to our faith, etc. "Cafeteria-style Catholics".

I mentioned this in confession.

I'd come to confess my sin, that I was quite annoyed with a friend because I knew my friend had voted for ProChoice candidates because of party loyalty; letting party loyalty reign over Christian responsibility of protecting life.

My friend knew the vote was wrong. Did it anyway, then went to confession. Where's the integrity in that? I really was annoyed. Then troubled by how much it bothered me . . . (talk about how sin spreads, and affects others!) so I went to confession, and the priest thought my confession sounded like I was prideful.

I was hurt and confused. (Am I prideful? I don't think so. But we don't always see ourselves the way others do.)

I'd like the truth. Please Lord, if that's me being prideful, tell me clearly, and please help me. Thank You. I don't want to be prideful. Strong in your Word and Faith, like St. Paul, but not prideful, please.

Another similar thing happened and a priest suggested that it sounded like "I'm trying to earn my salvation". That's not it. I believe positively that I am saved through Jesus Christ and his Cross, and Him only . . . none of it of my doing, but all only through His grace, and His love. No doubt in my mind about that.

This is not presumption. This is faith and confidence in the power and promises of the words of Jesus Christ. Standing in belief on the promises of Christ.

The current issue? Confusing? Yes. How is it that a priest in a confessional would misinterpret what a person is attempting to express as a matter of confidence in obedience, yet confessing sin, could then be fine-tuned (or, translated) and the confession, according to the priest, sounds like "earning your salvation"?

I'm not blaming the priest. I was hurt. Yes. But I'm paying attention. God's priest is speaking, and I need to listen. "I need Your help, Jesus."

I am a seeker of Truth. God knows that.

Maybe I don't express myself clearly enough? I can work on that, through God's grace. The pride thing, though? . . . "Lord, if it's there and I don't recognize it, but others do, I really need your grace!"

Can it be that the person who points to the Truth is the problem? Please show me. (As Thomas Merton said, "I believe that my desire to please you does indeed please you." And that is my goal, Lord Jesus.)

Please Lord, I really need your grace. Thank You.

I so want relief from some of my most bothersome sins that I become easily upset with my slow progress in this weeks retreat. It seems I get temporary relief only for the sin to return again. I'd forgotten about my perfectionistic attitude and about my"desirings." I need only to desire "to praise,revere and serve God",but most often I tack on a whole bunch of other desires.
I beginning to get small glimpses of the cost of my sins. I'm someone who likes a bargain and sin sure isn't one but this retreat certainly is.
The last few weeks I have been holding out on you all and have not been sharing. I'm working on correcting this. Thank you all for sharing. As soon as I started reading your experience,strength and hope I started feeling better about myself. My "terminal uniqueness" is one of my first casualities when I read of your struggles.
Pray for me I'll pray for you.
-- Bob D.

One of the thouhgts that kept popping up this week for me focused on healing. I remembered a time when I was praying intensely to God for healing of a family member who suffered with depression and Parkinson's and who went from being a an optimistic, cheery person to a person who rarely spoke or smiled. As I prayed for her healing and wasn't getting the results I hoped for, I grew more and more frustrated at God until one night when I "had it out" with God. I cried and screamed at God until I was exhausted. Then I felt a peacefulness come over me and I heard an inner voice say, "I will heal you so you can love this person as she is and not as she was." I had a whole different attitude and released the heavy load I was carrying and focused on being a loving person to this family member. I got to thinking later that most of the problems I face are not from outside, there's a lot of interior stuff unresolved. I gave permission to God to heal me first so that having been healed, I can in turn be a healing presence for others. To love as I have been loved. Jesus said "Love one another as I have loved you." My ability or capacity to love others is dependent on how I allow myself to be loved and forgiven. I can't give what I don't have.

Week 6: Struggling with depression and without the benefit of a spiritual director, it was tempting to say, “I don’t need this” or “I can’t continue”. As the Psalmist says, “My sin is ever before me.” But I do need this and I am determined to continue. I am focusing on my sins not as failures but as evidence of my profound need for Christ and as proofs of the chasms he can leap to reach my heart. During this week, I was spontaneously reminded of that little verse we sing at Eucharistic Benediction: “He has given us bread from heaven Containing within it all sweetness.”Christ’s heart is like a candy shop! “Containing within it all sweetness!” And we, WE, somehow, ARE HIS SWEETS!Tom, Pennsylvania

I really resisted this meditation: I don’t WANT to think about my sin! Furthermore, I have a convoluted brain that tangles around issues: am I not doing more to serve the poor because of sin or because God knows I would be too proud of my “holiness” for doing it?So I asked God to bypass my “smart,” confused brain and give me an image. The image that came to mind was one from a family camping trip. We were trying to start a fire to cook our dinner. One minute it was burning just fine. I sat down and looked away—and just a minute or two later, the fire had changed to smoldering, smoky logs. We were so frustrated with that fire and the way it just wouldn’t keep burning!I think that illustrates my life and my sin. I feel comfortable with my log state and don’t want to abandon myself to the fire. God lights a fire and I refuse to burn. I am smoky rather than light. I cling to the “safe” and familiar (and unattractive and useless).I don’t really know what the fire IS, I don’t really know how I am dampening it, but I feel the truth of the image and pray that I (that we) will BURN!
Love to you, fellow travelers! Some day I hope to be a warm crackling fire to comfort you on your journey and provide a place where you can be fed.

Last week was a struggle for me as I was asked to think deeply about my past sins and the shame and guilt of them. I finally realized the problem I was having was related to the fact that I have been abundantly aware of God's graces in my life and his forgiveness. I have spent intensive weeks and hours in prayer over the sins I have committed and the shamefulness that is mine. The power of forgiveness has been experienced in my own heart and life so vigorously that it wasn't really possible to go there again, because it was unnecessary to try to revisit the shame and guilt that I have been forgiven of. It seemed more an exercise than a spiritual awakening because I am already so aware of my need for forgiveness and God's grace through Jesus to save me from sin. Forgiveness is such a loosening of chains of bondage, that until experienced, it isn't possible to truly reveal to someone else how freeing it is; not just our own forgiveness, but the ability to forgive others their sins against us. The ability to truly pray for our enemies and to pray for their conversion and change of heart in the spirit of Christ is an act of love we cannot accomplish on our own. Jesus lends us his love and mercy when we ask in true humility and honesty; and it will happen spontaneously, immediately without any further effort on our part, if we have asked out of love and a need to do His will and not our own. The forgiveness and peace that floods your heart is not of this world, not something you can attain through any striving or efforts of your own, but a graced gift from God. It won't even be possible to re-kindle the rage and anger you felt 10 seconds ago, the transformation is that complete. My prayer would be that everyone could experience that forgiveness, could understand in our frail human way the depths of God's love and mercy. It sustains, it nurtures, it pulls us towards him as a magnet affects the metal around it through no effort on its part. But unlike metal attracted to a magnet, God wants us to choose. His power can't be accomplished without our consent. For God nothing is impossible except to force us to choose Him. And he created that restriction himself. The step forward is up to each of us. We can only be forgiven when we are ready to forgive those who have hurt us. I can only say that taking that step is the only sure path to Life.

This is my 6th week. Each week has been refreshing for me, I am beginning to see more of my inner being. As I read the writing of others, I see how much we all are alike in spite of our differences; we all have inner pain, sin, disappointments, and grief. Most importantly, we all have a loving God to turn to for help, we have Jesus as our savior and friend, and we have the wonderful Holy Spirit as our comforter, counselor, and helper.

The reflection for today was especially healing for me, in allowing myself to open up to my own inner pain, and disappointments from others, I can now lay those sorrows to rest and allow the Holy Spirit to move me forward in God's plan. As I reflected on the reading for today, I was led to pause and pray for each person making this retreat, and I believe each of us will emerge as stronger beings in God.

I am finding week 6 to be a difficult struggle. It is hard for me to move past the overwhelming nature of my own weakness and sinfulness, to think of God's love and mercy. I know it is sin in itself to become this despondent, but I feel that I try so hard and yet always fail, and that I can never satisfy the standard of perfection that God seeks. Never even close. I just become overwhelmed with feeling like a bad person and a failure. Again, I know that obsessing about my own failings and not seeing past them to God's love is itself sinful, but I can't seem to move past it. I don't feel the acceptance or love that is discussed. I don't know what to do. To be honest, I'm just sharing this and waiting for this week to end. In every thing I do this week, I see how it falls short of what I should do, and in my spare moments, I think of the past and all the other ways I have failed. I am so tired. To be honest, I get angry that it feels so impossible to be a good person. What is "good enough"? Can I ever feel it? I know that my anger is sin too. It's neverending!

This week has seemed very strange for me. I did learn to pray and ask for the grace to be able to "see" more clearly exactly where I have separated myself from God. I went to confession and said how I feel that I am not close at all to God. I have seen areas where I held resentments still toward people. I have prayed for them to be blessed. Mostly I feel like "I" didn;t do well this week. But I think I am begining to get a hint of understanding that is isn't "me" who can progress as I go through the exercises of this retreat, I can only pray to "Let Go" of self , and grab hold of the tiny bits of hope that seem to come for just a second as new "pieces of stuff I can't explain" gets into my heart. Thank you so much for a place to share this. It helps me. Week 6.

I had done this retreat a year ago with a spiritual director, but didn't really go that deeply into Week 6. I "did" the week, and then moved on. While I have "acknowledged" my sins, I never really thought of myself as all that bad. Since I finished the retreat, I've been praying that God would bring me closer to him, especially since I have always struggled with knowing his love for me. Several days ago, I became overwhelmed, for the first time in my life, of my sinfulness. I reviewed Week 6, and I see now that this is a grace from him, and the only way for me to grow closer to him is to finally truly understand my sinfulness before him, and to experience his forgiveness. It's very hard to realize my true level of sin. Please pray for me. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

This is the end of Week 6 of the retreat for me and there was a lot of "stuff" going on at work & home so I didn't think I was progressing. I found this picture of Christ crucified with rays coming down from the cross over the world. I see it as depicting His deep love for all of us. Although I haven’t been able to focus on the retreat images & work in the background like I did in the earlier weeks, I was able to focus on this image and tried to see myself standing next to the cross and feel myself being enveloped by those rays of love. It was consoling &, I think, a major grace this week. And now that I reflect, it seems that even though I’m thinking I didn’t “do the retreat right” because the events of this week seemed to be distracting me, they were in fact God’s answer to my prayer to shine a light on areas where I need to look—at repeating patterns of sin. At least this time, I did think of God and going to Him. Lord, I do need your forgiveness & love so much….and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help me to see more about breaking these patterns. I really need the grace to trust in God & His help.
Thanks again for providing this wonderful Retreat opportunity. My prayers go out to all of you responsible for this site and for those participating in the Retreat. Please pray for me also.

I have just finished Week Six. I had been on retreat at a Retreat Center a few weeks ago and spent time in a small chapel sitting alone before the Tabernacle 'confessing' the sins of my life before God. However, I found that I did recall some other sins this week in addition to many of the ones that I recalled previously as I prayed to God to allow me to remember all of the sins that God wanted me to. I know that when I prepare to go to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I get very embarrassed as I contemplate telling my sins to a priest. (What will he think? What will he say to me? Will he think that I am scrupulous?) I know that the point of the Sacrament is not what the priest thinks but seeking and receiving the forgiveness of God and being reconciled to God and the Church. However, I do not feel that type of embarrassment, that I am equating with shame, when I contemplate in my mind my sins before God. Maybe I should feel more of this type of shame before God? I do not know if perhaps I might let this contemplation be too much 'me centered' and not enough 'God centered' in order to feel this type of shame? However, I think that one of the reasons that I do not feel this type of shame when I come before God with my sins is because I feel that God already knows everything. God knows what I have done and what I have failed to do. God knows who I really am and will not leave me. I know that I am not worthy of everything that God gives me and that God gives me more than I deserve (including multiple chances). When I acknowledge these particular commissions and omissions as sins then I am being honest with and about myself before God. I am glad that I can somewhat easily come before God with my sins in the quiet of my mind and I pray that I will be more at ease with confessing sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation where I can tangibly know God's mercy and forgiveness.

I have been following this online retreat for the past few weeks, but always hesitant to write and share my experiences. It just seemed too personal. But today I read 2 things on the sharings that moved me greatly and I wanted to say thank you to all of you for sharing. They have been blessings. Someone wrote, 'St. Ignatius said that the desire to desire to change our heart is good enough for God', and another talked about how he/she had always seen himself/herself as the victim rather than the sinner. These 2 things struck me so deeply. I'm currently going through a very difficult time trying to forgive someone close to me. All this time I have seen myself as the victim - my hurt and pain were too great that I couldn't even see my own sins - how could my small sins compare to this other person who has hurt me so much? But God began to point out to me - ever so gently as he always does - how I do have so many sins of my own, how much I needed forgiveness too - that I even thought my sins were more forgiveable than this other person's - for that I needed forgiveness, because who am I to judge that? I know this person has been trying to be better, but somehow that's not enough for me, not enough to make up for the hurt caused, not enough to guarantee they won't fail and disappoint me again. Again and again, these words keep ringing in my head, 'the desire to desire to change our heart is good enough for God'...if that's good enough for God, how can it not be good enough for me, another sinner also in need of forgiveness?

Thank you for this online retreat and these sharings. They make God so real and alive in all of us.

Week 6: I am not a patient person. Falling into the same sins over and over again causes me to lose patients with myself. This causes me to become indifferent to my own sin: why bother I will never change. Reading Luke 7:36-50 helps. I see the humility of the women who pours perfume on Christ’s feet and I am humbled. Lord, help me to not sin and when I sin give me the courage and grace to continue to run the race for repentance and forgiveness. The Lord said: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." Mt. 11:28-30. Sometimes I humbly approach God as a miserable sinner needing mercy and sometimes as an angry child wanting justice, but I spend most of my prayer time with Jesus, my roommate, and Jesus, my friend. That is the Lord I look for when I go to pray. During this week, I have been given the grace that I should be more humble. Not that I should give up my relationship of Jesus as a friend, but I think it is critical I rely on him more. I need to be more mindful that I am a putting that needs to humbly pour perfume on his feet and that I am a child needing his protection.

Week Six: This has been a great grace and yet a tremendous challenge, I am taking a little longer with this week , because it has raised deep issues in my life and I need to proceed slowly. I did go to the sacrament of reconciliation this week which was a wonderful grace. I will seek some help to navigate this for the next few weeks and that is also a grace,something that I was afraid to do for awhile.

I have been guilty of many sins in my life and struggle on a daily basis with sin. I had thought that I was doing alright ,but the great fear of not being worthy and somewhat afraid of God at times proves troublesome. I love God and I am beginning to understand the concept that his mercy is above all other works. Being too ashamed of sin and not seeking his comfort is something I have struggled with and my prayer this week is to learn to be open with my sinfulness and my goodness. I pray that I can look at the cross and realize that his mercy is so much greater than my sin... hopefully with time , I will become so aware of his divine love that the patterns of my sin will change . I will be so indebted to him that I will seek not to offend him by my sinfulness, and yet go running into His arms for love , reconciliation and mercy when I stumble and fall.

I am a sinful being , and I need the confidence to truly feel God's deep and abiding love for me. I pray for joy to realize His unimaginable love.

The first day of Week 6, and what a start! I was given a foretaste at Mass yesterday. I was kneeling in my pew, feeling the weight of my failings and wondering at my apparent inability to overcome them. Then I read the opening prayer for the day:

Father, you taught us to overcome our sins
By prayer, fasting, and works of mercy.
When we are discouraged by our weakness,
Give us confidence in your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever, Amen.

I was overwhelmed with God’s mercy, at His continuing call to be made “perfect, as He is perfect.” When I realize that only He can make me perfect, and understand that all I can do is choose to cooperate (or not) with His will for me, I know that I must continue striving to be the person I am called to be. Failure hurts, but it is the effort that matters. With His grace, I will continue getting up when I fall and pray that I fall less hard and less often. I also ask for the grace of gratitude for His love and mercy.

I've been working on week 6 since Holy Family Sunday. The reading that day hit me particularly hard when Paul speaks about not holding any bitterness in our hearts regarding our spouse. My heart has been full of bitterness for years. Week 6 provided the key to the start of releasing that bitterness: I looked at my own sins in the marriage...and was deeply humbled for I saw my part in the disharmony whereas before I always cast myself as the victim. It is truly a wonderous and amazing grace to remove the blinders to our own sin. What freedom it gives...to move on and to change...for now I see how much I need to decrease so that Christ can increase in me. And through His grace the process begun in week 6 will continue. Thank you for telling us to focus always on Jesus and the Cross while doing week 6: the horror of my sins and the sorrow and pain involved in their uncovering would have overwhelmed me to the point of paralysis if I did not keep Christ in the center. Thank you. I trust that you keep all of us on this online retreat in your prayers daily. Please never stop for your prayers are needed.

I am in week six . I am asking God to help me experience the times I have been rebellious, with emotion; to help me explore concrete actions, attitudes, consequences of my decisions, habit that I developed and haven't change and opportunity to love, passing up the way I was deaf to the cry of the poor, my pride and judgements, bad single sin or the pattern of sin I am so aware of. To focus becomes a way for God to show me His Love and Mercy, it will be a profound grace. Please don't let me resist the temptation to stop there, with that single bad sin. Please unveil my whole life here. For the ways I am rebellious in my failures to praise, reverence and serve God are often quite subtle. I want to know and experience God's love for me as I am, not just because I do this or that. I want to experience love and mercy for who I am - who I have been and who I have become. Finally, Thank you Lord for loving me, help me love you with my whole heart and soul,speaking to you as my best friend and wanting to do all for, with and be with my Lord always.

The picture of Auctioning off The Cross hit me deep down inside...Is this what I have done with the sufferings of Jesus? And the answer was YES - in hundreds and hundreds of little ways. I have been content with being a "little" sinner...what arrogance and self love! The helps for the week helped me to begin to see myself as a sinner in need of forgiveness. I am a religious and some of our founder's words to us are " Be There for the Whole Church, be there as a pardoned sinner..." I began to understand better how my sinfulness effects my ministry - how could Jesus have continued to love me and forgive me...but he did/does...I have had so many second chances. Lord, help me to see where I need to change and how.

While reading the reflections for week 6, I realize that I have been guilty of both of these attitudes which make up the arms of the cross. Many times, I have felt so worthless... as though God made a mistake in creating me and should not have suffered and died for me. Other times, when my life situations seemed difficult, I resorted to devious and privately dishonest methods to resolve them, and taken great pride in doing so. Pride in my own cleverness and ingenuity. This instead of turning to or trusting in God. I did not wait upon Him. I see now that I still have a great deal of trouble waiting upon God. Help me Lord to see both the horror and the beauty of the cross and your sacrifice for me. Help me to realize that I am accountable for my actions and for my lack of action. Help me to see you in those I meet today and to fully realize that we are all worth saving in your eyes. Forgive me Lord for my sins and be with me today because I cannot do it without you.

Yesterday, I encountered something that was revolting. my first reaction was to condemn the person for the act. I tried to quiet my mind to get to a place that I could hear God talking to me. I prayed under my breathe and tried to see this person as a child of God, too; just like me. Then it dawned on me, that someone could have done the same thing for me. Sometime in the past, when I was doing a "no brainer", someone (probably my mother) prayed for my soul. That thought took a load off my mind, because then I knew I had something precious to give to this person. Thank you for this retreat. The format works very well. I can participate on a flexible schedule and enjoy the gifts that it produces. I am in week six, and it is a tough one to look at sins that I have buried and tried to forget. Looking at myself everyday and trying to catch the sins that I still generate; isn't fun either.

There is nothing more welcome than reading the struggles that so many of us share in our humanness. There have been gifts in every week - some more difficult to see or accept than others, but available, nevertheless. I am only at week 6 in the journey and I know I have so much to learn and grow from, if only I can allow it to happen. I have always been on the very self-sufficient side and can barely make a request of anyone, knowing I can do it alone, if not better than anyone I would hand it off to. I have had very few people in my life that I have allowed to contribute to me - and only in the recent past have I allowed that to happen more. It is just overwhelming when I let down the guard, trust, and let somene give to me. And I know I have not done that with God- always wanting to be in control myself (or deluding myself to think I am) and not letting God move in my life. I am working on letting go of that notion - and I know it will take time for me to get where I need to be - but I do recognize it more and more now having worked on the retreat. Please pray for me in this regard - I so want to allow God to use me and to accept what is offered from everyone in my life, especially the Lord. The story of the Prodigal Son this week is a favorite of mine. I read the book by Henri Nouwen on Rembrandt's painting, the "Return of the Prodigal Son", during an especially difficult time in my life and it made a tremendous impact on me. God Bless each of you who has opened up and shared your thoughts. I count each one as a gift.

I have just begun the sixth week of the retreat. I had not had a problem looking at my sinfulness. When I go to confession, I make a thorough examination of conscience. However, something that I did realize from the reading is that most people do not really think of the little things as sins anymore. I had been told by someone once that I make too big a deal out of the little things that I do (giving into envy, etc.). I know that people see me as a holy religious person and that sometimes makes me feel even more like a hypocrite when I know the feelings or things that I have done. I had also been told that if you believe that it is a sin then it is a sin for you and if someone else does not believe it is a sin then it is not a sin for them. Not to make myself sound more pius but I believe that I partly know how the saints felt when they recognized themselves as wretched sinners when everyone else saw them as saints. (I am not saying that I am a saint. I know that I have a way to go. But I am saying that I maybe can relate to this idea) It makes me wonder, and I don't mean this in a self-centered way, if I am truely a better person than I sometimes think that I am. I also wonder if it is even good to think that way. I know that the Lord said that the tax collector went home justified and the Pharisee did not in the one Gospel story. It makes me wonder where I really am in my life with the Lord.

I had stopped my retreat...just left it behind but God had not given up pursuing me.. The other day...I went to my bible... I don't know where it came from but a desire to read the old testmnet kind of just stirred my interest. I cannot believe I sat down and just read for hours about the story of David.. And then a few days later?... I wanted to return to the retreat. When I did I thought I will just brouse on thru this stuff.. but I got stopped on week 6..(i think the opening dialogue was about the story of David.. then I knew that is where God was trying to direct me too... Its how I treat others.....that is why I have no friends... it's a lonely life........when you run around with a strong critical parent in you......... well........that is all I have to say.........that is where he wants to take the knife to me.. and that is what causes me the greatest deal of pain for me....... I just thought I would share. Merry Christmas everyone........and keep going.......don't give up.......if you try I assure you God will just keep on hounding you........you see he sees something valuable in all he creates.....he can see thru the smuck..

I just finished week six and wanted to share that a few months ago I was doing a lot of thinking about my own sin. I was really wanting to be closer to God, but something was 'gettin' in the way' . It was like a wall blocking things every time I tried to pray. Then, I was compelled to go to confession, so I wrung my hands and cried for a week before I finally called up my priest. He said, "Why don't you come now"? Despite my nervousness, I went and told him what I called "old stuff". At the end of my confession, Father said "know that your sins are hanging on the cross, so you don't have to worry". Those words reached out and took hold of my heart. "My sins", I thought, "Jesus Died for ME"? It personalized it for me, so much. I felt so humbled, so reverent, but mostly, I felt grateful. More grateful than I had ever felt before. When I walked out of there, my sins were gone. And so were my tears. I learned so much that day. Jesus is there, waiting to pour out his loving mercy on us. And yet, for so long, I've resisted. I want His gift now, and then, I want to give Him a proper Thank You.

I am in my 6th week and I have recently completed my photo gallery for the past 59 years. There were some things that I am proud of and also a period of my life that I am ashamed of. But the exercise was wonderful. It was amazing what I remembered...getting a licking on a Sunday after Mass for dirtying my diaper (we had chicken soup that day)...lying on the side of the hill at about age 8, looking at the sky and feeling the strong presence of my guardian angel. One ommision that I felt sorry for concerned my brother who was a missionary up the Amazon River, got bit by a poisonous spider, was sent home weighing about 100 pounds...looked terrible. I was happy that he didn't die but I never did discuss his feelings about not being able to do this type of missionary work, something that he wanted and trained for his entire life, gone. God bless.

The 6th Week helped me realize that I sinned because my faith was weak, or nonexistent. I must not forget, even for one minute, that I live in the world created by God, the world in which He is constantly present. Abba, I have sinned against You and against other people. Forgive me. It happened because I did not live in Your presence, I did not seek Your ways, I disregarded Your commandments. Help me O God, repair the results of my sin wherever it is possible. Please, give me the grace to know my sin in all its dimensions, and the ways to compensate others if they were hurt by my sin. Above all, I beg you Lord to help me live in Your presence, to follow Your commandments and to always seek Your ways. Amen

I feel compelled to comment on what has touched me deeply, this morning ... and, that's the photo by Fr. Don: Auctioning of The Cross, Week 6. I am moved by the accuracy of the portrayal in the photo, and it's symbolism. My first impression (before I enlarged it) was of a rally or some sort of protest. And, at first glance the individuals looked oppressed, tense, even fearful or angry. Second impression, after enlargement: Complete disregard, disrespect, ignorance of The Cross. Perhaps a hint of awareness by the man holding it, as his "indifference" is tinged by his obvious discomfort in holding it. One man actually has his back to The Cross. Scanning the photo, no one is looking at it! No one, except the unseen photographer. Third impression: This photo reminds me of the sins I don't like to look at, and I find it unpleasant and I'll move on quickly. EXCEPT ... then I notice the beauty of the Light, high above The Cross, gently flowing in, highlighting, spotlighting it, in all it's Glory! And, I'm aware of God's Presence and my undeserved redemption through His Love and The Cross. Praise God! Thank You, Father! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You Holy Spirit!

It seems every time I ask God to lift the blindness from my eyes, to see what it is I am missing, what sin am I not looking at, I go back to my relationship with my mother. It's a hard place to be because I have never been good enough, or I don't have any rights to feel, or she just judges everything I do or say, and then she gets mad at me. I have wondered what sin is here that I am missing. I know I keep going back to this because I am missing something, and this week I realized that I too am critical of others like her. I judge not only God's intentions but my own, I am my worst critic and I never realized what a sin that was. I know God has healed my blindness here and I have hope and faith I won't be back, I can go forward now and see all my sin for what it really is. As I finish the 6th week of the exercise I know God is mercyfull and loving, and there is not anything that will keep him from loving me.

I'm on Retreat # 6....One of the first things that comes to mind is "All Sin and fall short of the Glory of God" Romans3:23 - 24 ...Well that tells me I'm not alone....BUT...as Christians we have a helper to help us overcome, Jesus, thru the Power & Influence of the Holy Spirit....God's Grace.. My second thought....my sins .....they seem to come and go and I believe the Holy Spirit keeps me informed when I do a no no...or such. Resistance or Rebellion seems to be a biggy & as in Retreat # 1 could see it happening in my youth. ... I did it again....and here I am,Lord, again, eating humble pie. What more can I say except....keep reminding me Lord thru the Holy Spirit & one of these days I'll get it right.
Thank You for this On Line Retreat & Thanks be to the Holy Trinity for keepin me on my toes.
PS: I"ve included Internet Families & Intentions on my Prayer list now,also....please do the same for me too.