Ignatian Retreat in Daily Life

"FInding God in all Things"

Ten-Week 04 Daily Schedule

                                                                                    (Printable Version in Word)

Theme

Discovering God’s forgiving and renewing love in my life experience.

 

Grace/Desire

With God’s continual love and protection embracing me, I ask to know better the power of sin in the world and in my life.

 

Prayer Material for the Week

 

1.       Prayer of Consideration - The Sin of the Angels. 

 Jesus said, “I watched Satan fall like lightening from heaven.”  Luke 10:18

2.       Prayer of Consideration - The Sin of Adam and Eve. 

“Death came through one man … All die in Adam.”  1 Corinthians 15:21

3.       Prayer of Consideration - The Sin of One Person.

 “You fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul.”   Luke 12:20

4.       Prayer of Consideration -  Exercise on the Three Sins by David Fleming, S.J.

 a repetition of the above three days.

5.       Luke 7: 36-50  “So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, hence, she

          has shown great love.”

Consider that I am a loved sinner. Both words, “loved sinner,” are essential for understanding the reality of God’s love for me.

6.       Prayer of Consideration - A Meditation on Hell.

 “Come, you whom my Father has blessed … Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”  Matthew 25:34, 41

7.       Repetition.   Revisit the black holes and the volcanoes of the week. 

 

Prayer

 

Almighty and all-merciful God, I see with my own eyes the shame and wretchedness we humans practice on ourselves and on one another. I feel afraid that one force could cause so much havoc and destruction. But I ask to know that force in all its power and complexity. I ask to feel in human affairs and all through my own life world how subtly and virulently sin flourishes. Grant me courage, most holy God, to see sin in all its ugliness.

 

 

Background  material for this week:

Read:  “How I See Sin Today,”  by  Joseph Tetlow, S.J.

 

 

Additional Scripture for prayer and reflection

 

 

Review of the Week

 

 

For Further Reflection and Consideration 

 

A Reminder

Additional Scripture for Prayer and Reflection

 

1.   2 Peter 2:4   When the angels sinned, God imprisoned them.

2.   Romans 3:9-18   An account of how humankind now lives.

3.   Romans 5:6-11   Jesus died for us in our sin; we can trust Him.

4    Galatians 5:16-26  How we are torn between the Spirit and sin.

5.   Psalm 51

Review of the Week

 

Am I sufficiently aware of the reality of sin and evil in the world?  Do I recognize the social dimensions of sin?  What are the ways I use to ignore or excuse sin?  What patterns and dynamics in my life can reflect the blindness and foolishness of sin?  Do I prevent myself from seeing, hearing, or touching human need?

For Further Reflection and Prayer

 

"’ Colloquy’" is a term that describes the intimate conversation between God the Father and me, Christ and me, or perhaps Mary or one of the saints and me. This conversation happens on the occasion of my putting myself as totally as I can into the setting of the prayer.  I will find that I speak or listen as God's Spirit moves me -- sometimes accusing myself as sinner, sometimes letting myself be carried as a child, at other times expressing myself as lover or friend, and so on.  The colloquy does not take place at any particular time within the period of prayer; it happens as I am moved to respond within the setting of the exercise."

A Reminder

 

1.   The practice of looking back over your day before you go to bed gets more useful as these days go on.

 

2.   While you are praying over humankind's sin, you need to use your head.  That is, at this point I need to think, figure things out, ponder, consider.  Too much emotion is like smoke without either fire or heat.

 

3.   What I want during this week: I want to feel the power of sin in my human nature and to be confused that I have sinned and not suffered so much for it.