Meeting 4 — “Gratitude and Freedom” *********************************** .. tags:: content|love|Love, content|freedom|Freedom, content|cross|Cross, content|eucharist|Eucharist, content|jewish-traditions|Jewish traditions, method|text-work|Text work, method|sharing-questions|Sharing questions, type|formative|Formative Goal of the meeting + notes for the facilitator =============================================== All of yesterday had a dynamic centered on the seven words spoken by Jesus on the Cross. We tried to highlight each of them well. In this meeting we want to gather the fruits of those reflections and lead participants toward concrete application and the fruits of the retreat. We do not want to be listeners who stopped next to Golgotha, watched the events, and then simply went their own way. Encountering the crucified Jesus is overwhelming—it changes life. If something “slipped by” your group yesterday, do not try to “fix it” now. Some participants were ready to focus on each of the seven words; others caught only a few sentences. That is normal and expected. No matter how it went, move toward a testimony that God wants us not to remain indifferent to what He has done for us. Goals of the meeting: - Looking at the Cross of Christ in the light of sacrifice - A synthesis of the seven words of Jesus: sharing the fruits of Saturday - Seeing gratitude as a fruit of encountering Christ - Bringing liberating gratitude into one’s life Prayer ====== If possible, a spontaneous prayer. We suggest two elements in the prayer: asking for the fruits of the retreat, and thanking God for what is already behind us. For you this can be an opportunity to notice which kind of prayer is more “dominant” in your group—this may help you quickly discern where to place the emphases in this meeting. A Cross That Is Not Anonymous ============================= The entire day yesterday was focused around Jesus on the Cross. We adored Him, we shared His meaning in our lives. There are many crosses around us — in homes, churches, classrooms, by the roads, cemeteries, in wayside shrines. We do not have time to look at each one in focus and discover something in it. Ultimately, life somewhat forces us to make most of these crosses anonymous. There is something terrifying in the thought that the Cross of Christ can start to be “transparent” to us. Images of crosses differ from each other! Each emphasizes something different, speaks to us differently. .. note:: Lent helps us escape this danger — the Church veils images of the Cross so that we might one day look at it in a new way. - What image of the cross is close to me? Why? - How often do you pay attention to crosses in your surroundings? We received one small cross yesterday to own and were given the task to “assimilate” it, to make it ours by writing our discoveries on it. .. note:: We emphasize that the question is only for volunteers, as it may strongly intrude on privacy. - What did you write on your cross? - How did you experience yesterday’s Eucharist? Looking at the Cross, questions arise in us. Crossing the boundary of the “anonymity” of the Cross, we almost immediately collide with rebellion — “Why death? Why couldn’t it be otherwise?”. The culmination point of our retreat connected the Cross with the experience of the Eucharist. The Holy Mass is often called the Holy Sacrifice. Sacrifice has been inscribed in our faith. Let us try to start the meeting by understanding it better. Why Sacrifice? ============== .. note:: This part of the meeting involves transferring knowledge. Let us not avoid it. Adapt the information contained here to your participants. Jesus did not invent offering sacrifice. Neither did the Jews. In the 20th century, the term *homo religiosus* — religious man — appeared. Regardless of the historical period or latitude, people display a religious nature. In every culture, man felt the need to offer sacrifices to god/gods. In every culture, there was a human intuition that god is “owed” something from us. In this sense, this practice is a proto-cult towards the One God. The sacrificial gift is a symbol whose meaning depends on the internal attitude of the offerer. This attitude can express adoration and worship, thanksgiving and petition, admission of guilt and penance. The sacrifice takes place at the meeting place with God, where the distance that arose between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness is overcome, and thanks to it, communion between God and man is possible. We also find the echo of this proto-cult in the Bible: Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. -- Gen 4:2-5 In the Book of Leviticus, 5 types of offerings are distinguished. Let us try to look at them. .. note:: The facilitator pulls out cards and distributes them to participants. Each participant reads a card. One card with three questions is placed in the middle of the table in a visible place for everyone. Burnt offering (Hebrew *olah*): Also called entire offering, because the whole animal was burned to express the highest worship towards God. Every day, morning and evening, a lamb was killed so that this offering had to burn all day and all night: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and put his linen breeches upon his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar, and put them beside the altar. Then he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not go out; the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out.’” (Lev 6:1-6). It could never be interrupted and therefore it was called *tamid* — perpetual offering. Sin offering (*hattat*): Meaning offering for sin. The offering for sin was not known until the making of the Covenant at Sinai, because previously there was no legal possibility of purifying any sin through sacrifice. Offerings for sin and guilt were not at all the most essential component of the ceremonial part of the Law. The offerings that were most important in the Law are listed in the first commentary on the Decalogue (Ex 20:24) and these are burnt offerings and peace (fellowship) offerings, thus those which the Old Testament describes as “pleasing odor”. These very offerings were to be the principal purpose of building the altar. Offerings of atonement were a necessary evil, they were not pleasant to the Lord. Their purpose was reminding of sin and arousing contrition: “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? If the worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.” (Heb 10:1-3) Peace offerings (*zebah shelamim*) – communion sacrifices; Community offerings or offerings of peace; another name: fulfilled offerings; always connected with a ritual feast. Although the name of peace offering does not appear before the giving of the Law at Sinai, it can be assumed that already in the times of Moses this type of offering was well known. Proof of this is, for instance, the idolatrous peace offering made by the Israelites on the occasion of casting the golden calf (Ex 32:6). The first mention of the *shelamim* offering is contained in the commentary on the Decalogue concerning the purpose of the altar: “An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.” (Ex 20:24). Grain offerings (*minhah*) These are bloodless offerings of agricultural produce. To every bloodless offering belonged additions: oil, with which the sacrificial gift was poured over or mixed, as well as salt and incense. Only a small part of these offerings was burned on the altar together with incense as *azkarah*, meaning a memorial, because it reminded the offerer of Yahweh’s graciousness, the rest belonged to the priests. Grain offerings offered by priests were burned in their entirety, especially the daily one (*minhah*), offered by the high priest. These offerings were made in the courtyard or in the holy place. To this type of offerings belonged: the daily offering of incense, the showbread, the offering of wine and the light of the golden lampstand. Of the offerings made in the courtyard, particularly important was the one which the high priest offered daily for himself and for all priests, and the sin offering of the poor, who could not afford a bloody offering (Lev 2; 4:11-13). Incense offering (Hebrew *ketoreth*) From the verb to burn (an offering or incense) — often combined with the adjective “fragrant” (Hebrew *sam*). “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it. And when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy; and you shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you; it shall be for you most holy. And the incense which you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves; it shall be for you holy to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.’” (Ex 30:7-8, 34-38) - What type of offering do you have described? - What did this offering consist of? - Why was it offered? The concept of sacrifice to God evolved over time. God spoke to us more and more about its meaning. As humanity, we learned to offer a “good sacrifice”. The Mosaic Law precisely designated a kind of tariff in offering sacrifice, for example: +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | For the sin of | One had to offer | +===================================+======================================+ | A priest | a bull | +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | The congregation of Israelites | a bull or a male goat (Num 15:24) | +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | a ruler | a male goat | +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | An Israelite of the common people | a female goat or a lamb | +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | a poor person | a pair of turtledoves or pigeons | +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | a very poor person | 1/10 of an ephah of flour (4 liters) | +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ **Sacrifice evolves from “payment to God” or “recompense to God” towards a testimony of union with Him**. Christ defines His desire for sacrifice: “Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mt 9:13). This conversion of us by Jesus, so that we look at what is truly essential, takes place also while He Himself offers the sacrifice! Understanding Christ ==================== Let us read: And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. -- Lk 23:27-28 - What does it indicate that from the “great multitude”, Jesus addressed the wailing women specifically? - How might the women have felt after Jesus’ words? By drawing attention to the lamenting women, Christ shows that their behavior moved Him. In short words, He conveys a message to them: “this is not what it is about, you have not understood”. We can imagine their surprise and disorientation! After all, surely many of them did it out of sincere empathy. This event described in the Gospel according to St. Luke is also a strong warning for us — one can fail to understand Jesus’ message even when being next to Him in the peak hours of His life. We should take care not to commit such a mistake in our lives. .. note:: There existed an institution of “professional mourners”. There is a chance that the women described in the Gospel are exactly such persons. Regardless of the women’s motivation, Christ still “guides” this motivation onto a different track. - What “7 words” did He say to us from the Cross? .. note:: An introductory question, but also intellectually stimulating. However, let us not turn this into a middle school exam. If the group is distracted, help them (how many times has it happened to us that just leaving the church we do not remember what the Gospel of the day was about). We met together on the retreat to reflect on these words. We knelt before Jesus with the thought “Jesus, do I understand You well?” and the hope that it will allow us some important discovery. - Which of the 7 words is closest to me here and now? Which “had” the greatest impact on me in the past? - Where is my personal hope associated with the cross best expressed? What is the greatest strengthening for me: “today you will be in paradise”? “behold your mother”? “into your hands, father”? - What do Jesus’ words from the Cross change in my faith? What perspective do they draw? Jesus wants us to know how to love. He wants to draw us to love, to show that it is possible and we can participate in it. The lesson of the Cross is a lesson of Love. It is as if Jesus told us: “It is not about my suffering, it is about how I love!”. Christ radically places Love in the center. He shows that love is the key and meaning of life. Love in which we voluntarily and disinterestedly give ourselves to another person. It sounds beautiful, but it cannot be just a theory for us. Yes, it is true that Christ carries sheep on His shoulders. Yes, it is true that Christ hugs children. Yes, it is true that Christ tells parables. Yes, it is true that Christ draws us to Himself when He hangs on the Cross. Let us try to see what flows for our life from Christ’s teaching conveyed to us at this moment. - How can I translate the words: #. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” #. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” #. “Woman, behold your son; behold your mother” #. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” #. “I thirst” #. “It is finished” #. “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” into the concrete reality of life here and now in my life? Jesus wants our relationship with Him to be full in the sense that we will be with “each” of the Jesuses — doing miracles, teaching on the hill, eating with the Apostles, and going to Golgotha. It is the same Jesus. We lay people have such an affliction that we vow love “in sickness and in health”. We feel that love requires this. Do we have the same towards Jesus? Salvation History — Three Perspectives ====================================== To see Jesus maximally “in a full way” is the dream of every Christian. We spoke about trying to see His person fully in the context of what He said and did. This is one side of the coin. The other is seeing fully what He did. By His death on the Cross, Christ connected many signs and prophecies. Let us read: From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. -- Num 21:4-9 - How does this passage relate to Jesus Christ? To the Holy Mass? - How does God answer the weeping of the Israelites? Is it a fulfillment of their request? Christ was exalted. Christ crucified is the rescue for the mortally ill due to sin which is in their hearts. Just as the bronze serpent required trust and faith of the Israelites, so we see in the instrument of crime through faith a symbol of victory. The early Church understood these intuitions perfectly. Let us read: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. -- Jn 3:14-21 - How close to my experience of faith is the joy flowing from this passage? - To what extent do these fundamental Christian truths constitute the everyday reality of my relationship with Christ? - What do I pay attention to more often? That Christ came to save the world or that I would like Him to condemn? - What do the words “come to the light” mean to me? There is at least one more perspective, beautifully shown by St. John Chrysostom: “Do you want to know the power of Christ’s blood? We must go back to the account of its prefiguration, to the ancient story of the Passover in Egypt. Moses said: ‘Kill a lamb, and smear the blood on the doorposts.’ What do you mean, Moses? Can the blood of a sheep save a reasoning man? Yes, he says, not because it is blood, but because it is a figure of the blood of the Lord. (...) The enemy, when he sees, not the blood of the type on the doorposts, but the blood of the reality shining on the lips of the faithful, the doors of the temple of Christ, will withdraw even further. Do you want to know another way in which this blood has power? Look at where it flowed from and its source. It flowed from the cross itself, and its source was the Master’s side.” -- St. John Chrysostom - What power did the blood of the ritually killed lamb have? - Why were OT sacrifices imperfect sacrifices? Jesus Christ on the Cross combines exaltation with propitiatory sacrifice. Thus the victim, which in itself did not constitute the center of the cult, becomes what is exalted and adored. Jesus acts as the priest (He Himself offers the sacrifice) and the propitiatory victim. These connections were very clear to the Jews. The sacrifice of Jesus becomes the strongest possible sign of the OT in which the whole Tradition focuses. .. centered:: Christ is the first person who is simultaneously: King (exalted, reigns through service), Prophet (Explains the scripture with His person), and Priest (offers sacrifice on the altar). Opening to Grace ================ Encountering Christ changes life. But what changes in practice? The Church, speaking of the fruits of Christ’s Sacrifice, uses the term “Grace of the Cross”. Those who met Christ and believed in Him live in grace. This might be a bit disappointing at first glance. Grace is something difficult to grasp, to measure. A miracle is concrete, you can see it, you can name it and be delighted by it. - What is living in God’s Grace for you? - How does God’s Grace reveal itself in the sacraments? In which one do you perceive it most strongly? - Grace is often compared to living in the light, why? .. note:: This is a good place, facilitator, for your testimony about looking at life in the light of grace. About the strength of this light and power. Our cooperation with grace is a skill that develops over time. You cannot get to know the Cross “in a breakthrough way”. It is our regular returning to it and looking at both Him and our life from His perspective that will bear fruit. One of the first fruits of such openness is the **attitude of gratitude**. Looking at how much I was loved by Jesus and how much He did for me, I stop concentrating so strongly on my shortcomings, and I perceive more and more strongly how gifted I am. This experience of every single believer translates into our common giving glory to God. Let us see the following fragments of prayers and songs: Fragments of prayers and songs: #. Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation, * for through Your goodness we have received the wine we offer You: fruit of the vine and work of human hands /preparation of gifts/ #. Nourished by the sacred Gift, we give You thanks */prayer after communion/* #. We give You thanks for Your Son, Jesus Christ */Eucharistic prayer/* #. Our Shepherd has gone, who loved the people, O Jesus, thanks to You for the toil of Your passion. */Lenten hymn/* #. Blessed are You, Lord God, You give us a dwelling on earth, so that we may grow in mutual love and strive for perfection in the domestic Church, which is the family. Look with love on this dwelling and grant it Your blessing. */blessing of a home/* - Which prayer text appeals to you the most? Why? - To what extent do you pay attention to when we thank together, and when we ask / apologize together? The Church is a community of “grateful people”. It is a place of learning the attitude of gratitude. This attitude does not close itself within the walls of the temple, but affects my whole life. The fruit of growing in faith is growing gratitude — towards God and people. The attitude of gratitude in faith is beautifully expressed by the song Dayenu (lit. *it would have been enough*) sung by Jews during Passover: | How many are the favors, for which we should be grateful to the Omnipresent! | | If He had only brought us out from Egypt, and had not executed judgment against the Egyptians, | it would have been enough. | | If He had executed judgment against the Egyptians, and had not executed judgment against their idols, | it would have been enough. | | If He had executed judgment against their idols, and had not slain their firstborn, | it would have been enough. | | If He had slain their firstborn, and had not given us the wealth of the Egyptians, | it would have been enough. | | If He had given us the wealth of the Egyptians, and had not split the sea for us, | it would have been enough. | | If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land, | it would have been enough. | | If He had taken us through it on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it, | it would have been enough. | | If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, | it would have been enough. | | If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna, | it would have been enough. | | If He had fed us the manna, and had not given us the Sabbath, | it would have been enough. | | If He had given us the Sabbath, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai, | it would have been enough. | | If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah, | it would have been enough. | | If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel, | it would have been enough. | | If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Temple, | it would have been enough. | | How much more so then should we be grateful to the Omnipresent for the doubled and redoubled goodness that He has bestowed upon us; for He has brought us out of Egypt, and executed judgments against them, and against their idols, and slain their firstborn, and given us their wealth, and split the sea for us, and taken us through it on dry land, and drowned our oppressors in it, and supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and fed us the manna, and given us the Sabbath, and brought us before Mount Sinai, and given us the Torah, and brought us into the land of Israel, and built for us the Temple to atone for all our sins. -- Dayenu song, fragment - What captivates you in this song? - How often does God surprise you and give more than you expected? This song is over a thousand years old. It was composed after the destruction of the Temple and in the experience of the wandering fate of Jews among the nations of the world. Even in such an experience, Jews are primarily grateful to God! Let us read: For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. -- Acts 4:20 We started today’s meeting by sharing the experience of receiving a wooden Cross. We “made this Cross ours”. Today we will receive a second cross — the same as yesterday’s. We want to ask you to take it with you to your homes. Before you do that, at today’s Eucharist the Bishop will bless you in this task. We will be sent to carry the Cross of Christ to someone and tell about our gratitude for what He did for us. We can show them our Crosses with written discoveries, we will ask them to write their own, undertaking reflection on the meaning of the Cross in their lives. Do not keep what you received for yourselves. Tell someone about the 7 words of Jesus from the Cross, about what God said to You. **We are sent in the Church** — a soldier is safest in the barracks, but one does not become a soldier to stay in them. It is a task and a mission. God blesses those who are sent, He does not leave them alone. We are convinced that it will be a wonderful cooperation with the Grace of Christ. - To whom would you like to take the Cross the most? - What will be difficult about it, and what easy? Summary — Freedom ================= .. note:: This part is the facilitator’s summary. There are many expectations around us. We expect a better job, better grades, better internet. We expect that everyone will always have plenty of time for us. Many of these expectations are very good. It is worse if we have so many expectations that we stop remembering how much we have. What Christ brings is a liberation from constant expectation for something “better”. Christ brings us freedom. He frees us not only from sins, but also from the Old Man who is in us. Let us read: Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good. -- 1 Thes 5:16-21 - How do you understand that in every situation we are to give thanks? - How do you understand that in every situation we are to rejoice? St. Paul writes these words knowing that Christians suffer tribulation and are being killed. The joy that Jesus fights for for us is not caused by an Idyll that will magically start surrounding us. Its source is in hearts that have re-evaluated what is important and are able to thank much more than to ask. The application from the meeting will be to thank someone. For being there, for what they did, for what they said. Let’s hit up one person in our life and say “thank you”. It is a good first step to show Jesus that we understood what He wants to tell us.