I just got back from my first retreat. It was hosted by Home of the Mother. A religious order with HQ in Spain, and a outpost in FL. I met some very nice people, new friends, and saw old friends in new light. These are the first fraction of my notes. (I am working from my short-hand)
The four types of Prayer...
First. Oratio- oration. prayer of invoking the Holy Ghost. Without the Holy Ghost, we cannot even say that Christ is Lord.
Second. Lectio- Reading of Divine Word... is prayer! Must approach with intellect and whole being.
Third. Meditatio- Application of the will, memory, imagination. Application to your own life. Time of drawing conclusions.
Forth. Contemplatio- Passive, we cannot actively achieve. Sometimes given to us, sometimes not. Prayer of wonder and discovery. Undiscovered revelations or a deeper way than prayer before. Its like before and after.
On Gen. 3 1-13.
1-3 Serpent is cunning, of angelic intellect. Always will present God as unreasonable. He is your friend, God is Evil. Satan and the first lie. "Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?" Whoa, God didn't say all trees. The Devil is running with His words. Eve and the first mistake. To enter into conversation with the Devil. When you first feel doubt, anxiety, anger, can you continue on your own power? NO! Pray right then!
4-5 "No, you shall not die... Be as Gods, know Good and Evil."
6. Satan is a murderer from the beginning. Adam was absent. Wasn't doing his duty to be there to defend, wasn't there to be even be tricked by Satan. He ate knowing he shouldn't. He takes and doesn't give. He doesn't know how to be a man.
Rupture with God. Looses state of Grace.
Rupture with Himself. Harmony lost between body and spirit.
Rupture with Neighbor. Blames Woman. Blames God. " The woman that thou has gave me"
Rupture with Nature. Original Sin. St Paul speaks of creation groaning for redemption. That's the root cause of natural disasters. Tragedy in Haiti because of Original Sin.
Man points the finger at his neighbor and his God. But he should point it at the devil and himself.
The fear of God found in Gen is of man seeing a tyrannical and primitive God. Women tend to Implode with self accusation, self hatred, and self destruction. Men focus destruction outward.
The sin of our time is a "nothing" sin. It posses itself as nothing. We might think it has "nothing to do with us." Oh yes it does. I call it indifference. "Live and let live!" We'll be fine, it is nothing, don't worry about it. We will be okay. Will we?? To become a man we must stop caring what others think. Caring in this sense will enslave us. And as social beings we want to belong. We have needs. Well, these needs destroy! they lead to false worship. You think telling dirty jokes and making fun of people is clean fun? Well, Pilate and Herod were enemies. That is until Herod dressed Our Lord as a fool, mocked Him and sent Him back to Pilate. After that they were chums. He who hears the Good News and rejects it has it in worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.
Don't shun people. But don't compromise. Forgiveness does not compromise Truth. Good hearted people do bad things. But being good hearted is not enough.
The sin is not in the tree itself. The sin is in the taking and not receiving. Man is made for communication. Christ said "if you are my friend, obey my commands." Sinners are fanatics. They have a manic glint in their eye. Misdirected action. They let their passions take over and go numb. St. Augustine says "nothing is as sad as the happiness of sinners."
When we smile, is it a smile of true happiness, or of fanaticism? Are we happy inside and out? Do we have peace in suffering? Is it Vanity... Farce?
So many parts of our lifestyles are obscene. It is the nightmare of perpetual return. Its not a vicious circle, its a downward spiral...
A proof of God's divinity and love is that He asks us to obey His commands. If any one of our friends said "if we are going to be friends, you have to do everything I tell you." You would look at him or her like they are insane. But think about it. Only a God who is Love asks you to be His friend. There is a certain equality between Friends. Peers who are friends by default are on the same level. Ex. Hey lets go see a movie. But what if a friend is better than you. ex. Hey, I'll help you with your Latin homework. He or she is not meeting you half way, he is pulling you toward his level. Eventually creating equality. If God asks us to do everything he asks, its because He wasn't us to share in His Eternal Life. St. Thom Aquinas says the sharing of goods is friendship. God has the goods. He wants to share. The Tree of life is now the Cross. "God became man so that man could become God" - St. Augustine.
Confession is where lives are Changed. Confessed sins are like "reeds of straw cast into my burning furnace of love"- Our Lord to St. Faustina
Because of Justice, Mercy, and Forgiveness we can enter into a child-like joy but more intense because we are no longer naive. (more on this later.) God has the power to interrupt the nightmare of perpetual return. The truth is I AM A SINNER. However, after the sacraments I AM A SON!
When we are in front of the Blessed Sacrament give God silence... listen... obey.
Give God your sins, your heart, and your life.
St Augustine, Ora pro nobis.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Ora pro nobis.
St. Faustina, Ora pro nobis.
(up next is Rules of Discernment of Spirits)
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