Facilitators - Week 5

Pentecost retreat 2020: Week 5 - Go out to the world

Thank you to all for your perseverance. It is beginning to feel a long time since Ash Wednesday.

These last two weeks leading up to Pentecost represent one movement, i.e. finishing the time we have spent together with a renewed sense of mission and being sent out in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the last week where there is a “thought” for the day. Next week, leading up to Pentecost there is an “activity” for each day. This is representative of the change of rhythm, we are leaving our prolonged time of retreat and reflection and going out to the world. Although the group still has a few meetings to go you might want to begin to think about how you want to finish and send people out. Perhaps you could give each person the chance to reflect on their experience over these months and to offer some words of affirmation and encouragement to others in the group, or give each person a prayer card or find a blessing that you could pray for the group.

The grace this week we are praying for is:

"That in these unprecedented times we will share with joy, God`s mission of loving the world."

David L. Fleming, SJ, describes Ignatius Loyola’s vision of life, work, and love in the following way.

It’s often said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But Ignatius Loyola reverses the saying: “When I believe it, I’ll see it.” He observed that our vision largely controls our perception. If we think the world is a bleak place, full of evil, greedy, selfish people who have no love for God or each other, that’s what we will see when we look around. If we think that our world is full of goodness and opportunity, a place that God created and sustains and loves, that is what we’ll find. Ignatius thought that this right vision lies at the heart of our relationship with God.

In keeping with this view of the world as a place full of hope and potential, we are invited to join God therefore as he works and “labours” (Ignatius` terminology) for the good of all.

Praying the Days of this Week

Day 29: Allow people to share what has struck them. Their own sharing is the life blood of the group.

The poem in the material suggests: Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now. The prayer suggests a conversation with God around the question: “what would you like to offer the world today”?

You could extend the sharing if appropriate by asking people what would enable them to make that offering? And what would get in the way of their desire/generosity?

Day 30: The quote from Ignatius, “we are created to love, reverence and serve God" comes from the Principle and Foundation of the Exercises. It sounds a bit dry but it is juxtaposed against the scripture passage, which describes a community where no one kept their “possessions” for themselves and nobody was in need. You could explore this with the group using the headings of `gift`. `gratitude` and `generosity`. How do people feel about these words, experience them and live them out? What are the barriers to living this way?

Day 31: The scripture is the sending out of the 70 disciples on mission. It would make a good imaginative contemplation. If you need further questions you could ask: in what situations have people experienced God was already there? And explore what makes us afraid of reaching out to others?

Day 32: All Paul`s misadventures! Allow people to share, nothing is better than their own conversation with God. An additional question would be: what can we learn when things go amiss?

Day 33: The Ascension. This would be a good imaginative contemplation. To whom and how are we sent?

Day 34: The passage from Micah is about God assembling all people and the poem about refugees and migrants. How do we share God`s mission of loving the complex world we are living in?

Day 35: Saturday is an invitation to review the week and repeat any period of prayer that was fruitful or unfinished in any way. This is generally hugely helpful in deepening the prayer experience, so it is good to encourage your groups to take time to do this.

Next week we are preparing for the beautiful feast of Pentecost and to receive all the wonderful gifts the Spirit has for us at this time.

Reminders for Sharing Personal Prayer/ Stories

• Encourage people only to share what is comfortable for them.

• Encourage them to concentrate on sharing their own prayerful meditation / reflection and what the Spirit is saying to them that is relevant to their lives.

• Ask people to use clear, simple language, and keep to the first person ‘I feel`.

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