Let Us Reflect on the Path before Us

Guide: Contemplatives in Action

This retreat is ending in one sense. In another, it will continue in the way it has changed our lives. Unlike a retreat to a retreat house, we didn’t retreat from our everyday lives. The path before us will be shaped by what new patterns we have developed through these exercises. During this final week, we want to identify the patterns we desire and choose the path before us. The “Prayer to Begin Each Day” gives a sense of our ongoing prayer:

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May all that I am today, all that I try to do today, may all my encounters, reflections, even the frustrations and failings, all place my life in your hands. Lord, my life is in your hands. Please, let this day give you praise. 301 The grace we ask for this week is simple: that our Lord would guide us in choosing how we will live our lives more with and in Jesus.
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We owe the inspiration for this retreat to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the author of the Spiritual Exercises. He has been our guide in recognizing God’s invitation to freedom; God’s mercy; God’s plan to save us; God’s invitation that we join Jesus in his mission; and God’s grace in allowing us to come to know, love, and desire to serve with Jesus most intimately. After guiding people through the Exercises, Ignatius would sometimes receive letters complaining that it was difficult to be con¬templative in the midst of a busy life. He would always answer that it was more important to be contemplatives in the midst of action. He explained that for those who had found intimacy with God in prayer, it would be easy to find intimacy with God in all things. He always included one qualifying addition: if they continued to die to self-love and act against whatever tempted them away from freedom to love of others.

• As we go through each day this week, let us ask:
• How do I want to keep naming my desires before God?
• How can I keep focused, in the background times?
• What patterns do I choose to make a habit?
• Which ones will I choose to be free from?
• Who, and in what ways, will I love as I have been loved?
• What will “dying to self-love” mean for me?
• What choices does living with and in Jesus lead me to?

o About my current and future life goals?
o About my lifestyle?
o About my relationships?
o About my solidarity with and concern and care for the poor?

The resources here offer concrete help for making this week a wonderful transition to everyday life.
Please consider making use of the prayer resources on the Creighton Online Ministries Web site.

Consider sharing the graces you have received
this week with others making the retreat.

Listen to each week of the Online Retreat
on a CD or on your mp3 player.