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Retreat Day 2: Your Relationship
with God
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I always remember the wise words spoken
in a Pastoral Ministry class which could
be summarized: "Don't think that people
only begin to have a relationship with
God when and if they begin to converse
about it formally. Remember, God has been
in relationship with each person from the
beginning of their lives and all along
their journey."
Each one of us, whether we realize it
or not, has had God walking along with
us our entire lives. Perhaps we were
not so aware of him, but this good God
was definitely aware of us. For those
of us who are baptized, we know our
relationship involves the Trinity: the
loving, provident Father, the
self-sacrificing Son, and the
gift-giving Spirit. The New Testament
tells us that in the fullness of time
God sent his Son to bring us salvation.
Then at Pentecost the Holy Spirit
descended to empower all believers to
live and proclaim this new way. The
Acts of the Apostles chronicles the
activities of those who are sent,
showing that God's Spirit continues the
work begun by Jesus through the actions
of the early Christians.
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We need confidence
so that we hold onto the God who is so
good and caring, not allowing ourselves
to be overwhelmed by our own
limitations!
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Today, we followers
of Christ, belonging to "the household of
God" (Eph.2:19) are writing our own “Acts
of the Apostles” (those sent!). We are
writing it with our lives, and all the
world is reading it. What do those
around us make out as they read?
Hopefully they are able to clearly
recognize the life of the Son in whose
image we are being formed. It is a
gradual transformation—or divinization,
as our brothers and sisters of the
Eastern tradition call it. God slowly
refines us, purifying us to become lovers
like unto himself. In the meantime, the
Spirit mysteriously works, despite our
limitations and failings, to give life to
the world.
St.
Augustine encourages us to go to God
walking with both feet, specifying
these feet as humility and
confidence. First we need
humility because we need to be
profoundly aware of who we are and
whose we are. This is such an important
grounding; otherwise, we may lose
ourselves in the many false messages
swirling about us, telling us who we
should be and what we should have in
order to be “somebody.” Secondly, we
need confidence so that we hold onto
the God who is so good and caring, not
allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by
our own limitations! We walk by faith,
and with our brothers and sisters who
have gone before us, the saints, we
know we can accomplish much good since
we are in Christ. We just need to let
him work in us.
I would like to suggest for this
summertime retreat day that you do
three things:
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Thank the Lord for his presence in
your life since the beginning of
it
-
Recall who you are (God's beloved
child) and whose you are (you
belong to the Father, Son and
Spirit!)
-
Make an act of trust or confidence
in God as you continue to love and
serve in your own walk of
life
As a
follower of Christ, a member of God's
household, your life and your
activities make a difference for those
around you, and much more than you
think! Your faith-filled life
and activities are a continuation of
the same Spirit that worked in the life
of Christ and in those of his Apostles.
That sacred story continues with your
own journey. Ask the Lord that this
summertime retreat may bear fruit in
your everyday life: family, work,
relationships, etc. Perhaps there is
one specific area where you especially
need the Spirit to powerfully work. Ask
for that now:
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Before You, Lord, in Prayer
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Lord, I trust in you
who bless my life in so many ways. As I
make my way through this day, help me
hear your invitations and act upon
them.
Give me the courage to say "yes" to
you in the opportunities that present
themselves: to do good, to say an
encouraging word, or to show kindness
and understanding when it is lacking.
May all that I
do be a continuation of the work
you started on earth. May it
truly bear fruit that will last
because it is done in the name of
the Father, and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Bishop Simon Barrington-Ward
knows that your relationship with God
begins in simplicity, and so he starts
with the simplest of all prayers, the
Jesus Prayer. Take a moment to journey
with him into a deepened relationship
through this simple yet profound
prayer.
“Prayer is
essentially an entering into that
knowledge of the divine love holding
us. It is an entering into being
loved—and even while we are dirty,
broken, battered, and may feel
unworthy, we are in reality being swept
into this tremendous acceptance. I
believe that this is the beginning and
the end of prayer—being grasped by this
love. As we dwell in that love, and
rest in it, we find ourselves rejoicing
and giving thanks.
“Of
course we all have an instinctive
sense—which you can't help having if
you become aware of being in the
presence of God—of being unclean,
unholy, unready, and that feeling can
rightly be painful. But, at this point,
we invoke the name of Jesus: a
name to which the seventeenth-century
Welsh poet and Anglican priest George
Herbert, using the form "Jesu," wanted
to give the meaning "I ease you"—a name
which for him expressed the love that
bids us welcome and wants to make us at
home and event to wait upon us, as
Christ waited upon his disciples,
washing their feet. As we invoke
Jesus's name, we must let God's "yes"
to us in Christ overcome all our
negative feelings and affirm us
fundamentally.”
Simon Barrington-Ward, The Jesus
Prayer A Way to
Contemplation, pp.22–23
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