Meeting 3 — What to bring to people? ************************************ .. tags:: content|mission|Mission, content|responsibility|Responsibility, content|communication|Communication, content|freedom|Freedom, method|text-work|Text work, method|sharing-questions|Sharing questions, type|formative|Formative Goal of the meeting - introduction for the facilitator ====================================================== This is the last small group meeting at this retreat. A lot depends on it. Firstly, we want to somehow summarize everything that has already been said, organize the material. It can also be the last opportunity to make up for something important that may have been missed somewhere, dispel significant doubts. Do not fear absolutely that you will not complete the outline! On the contrary, preparing this meeting sit down and **choose from this outline what may be useful to You, and reject what will not be useful**. If you see in Your group some problem much more significant than what is proposed here, boldly put it aside and follow your facilitator intuition. In all this **keep in mind that this meeting must fit in 80 minutes!** .. note:: Treat this outline a bit like a "neighbor's recipe", from which you cook or bake a cake, being like an experienced cook yourself, who suggests the recipe somehow, but ultimately relies on their craftsmanship and experience, adapting it to their own needs. You don't like pepper? Throw it out, add cucumber. You think more pepper would be useful? Do as you think! As long as in the end the dish is tasty, healthy and serves those for whom you cook ;) At the same time **the key goal of this meeting is to find a very concrete application of the content of this retreat in the life of each of us**. Let it be primarily practical and life-like! We want the participant who chose faith to find something simple but very concrete and measurable, which as a consequence of their choice they will decide to change in their life in the nearest, unambiguously defined time. As you probably guess, Your task will be to help them in this, and a very important tool of this help will be Your testimony here. It is important that you share with participants how You experience your faith in practice, what consequences flow in Your life from the decision to choose faith, how You take responsibility for your faith. Think: what would change in Your life if you rejected faith? This is much more important than reading plenty of wise words and "examining on giving answers according to the key". You create this meeting - show how You go out with your faith to the world, how You use what you have "Ad maiorem Dei gloriam", breaking your laziness, or as some prefer "leaving the comfort zone"! At the same time, today's outline does not provide for any place specially separated for the facilitator's testimony. Decide yourself which moment of this meeting is closest to You and what in this topic you want to share with your participants. It doesn't have to be much, important that it is from the heart - just as the whole group shares their life, feelings, etc. so You join in this sharing - in a word: weave testimony wherever possible! .. note:: Facilitator! it may happen that in Your group NO ONE during yesterday's evening prayer (nor at any other moment) made any decision. Prepare also for such an eventuality, be ready to approach each of your participants with love, respect and understanding. We do not drag the motif "since you chose faith" just because "the outline says that you chose, because that's what our train of thought predicts"! Since, as we said on Friday, no one respects our freedom like God (“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the hinds of the field, that you stir not up nor awaken love until it please.” (Song 3:5) ), it would be extreme hypocrisy if we - doing a retreat about freedom! - tried in this place to "trim" our participants to templates and molds prepared by us. Perhaps not everyone entered this retreat sufficiently strongly, perhaps something starts to sprout in someone, but for one weekend it is too much and too fast to make great decisions. Let's take an example from Jesus, who "will not quench a dimly burning wick" (Isa 42:3)! We propose in such a situation to focus on encouraging participants to search, to ask questions. Because in the end both a believer and a non-believer should constantly verify their beliefs and attitudes. 1. summary of the retreat, making up for what was missed, developing what is important for the group 2. showing real consequences of the choice of faith in life 3. drawing practical conclusions for application in life! (we turn word into deed, we introduce Light into Life) Prayer ====== Thanksgiving that God, infinitely respecting our freedom and individuality, invites us to build our life in relationship with Him. We thank that we are here, that together we can ask ourselves important questions. This is of course only a proposal. Above all, adapt the prayer to the needs and possibilities of your group. Introduction ============ Summary of what is behind us, verification to what extent participants caught what we mean. Discreetly we can try to check if they made any decision on Saturday evening. * If you were writing a post about yesterday, what 4 hashtags would you use to mark it? * What was most important for You yesterday? * Does anyone want to share some experience from yesterday's prayer? We encourage sharing thoughts, observations, doubts from the time of this retreat: * What did you discover at this retreat? * What questions appeared in Your head since you arrived here? * Did something surprise You? Something you never wondered about before? * Or maybe something shocks, outrages You? There is no freedom without responsibility ========================================== **Consequences of choices** We talked yesterday about the fact that every choice of ours made in freedom involves responsibility - it belongs to us to give an answer, always when someone says "check!". If you see a need to emphasize this issue (because e.g. it did not resound, or you see that Your participants are not sufficiently convinced of this), you can propose such an experiment: * Let's try to list (can be written down) such decisions/choices that do not entail any consequences. * Do these decisions/choices really not entail any consequences? * Maybe then de facto they are not a decision? And in any case - conscious choices? * Do most decisions we make in life look like this? Do they change nothing in this life? * What kind of decisions is easier/harder for us to make? As an introduction, to stimulate imagination, one can also recall the figure of V. Frankl and his idea for the Statue of Responsibility: Viktor Frankl - psychotherapist, who during the Second World War, staying as a prisoner in a concentration camp, thoroughly observed how human freedom behaves in extreme situations - emphasized that the essence of human existence is taking responsibility, making decisions, because relying on chance is a threat to the key value in human existence – freedom. Frankl even appealed to the authorities of the United States, where he enjoyed great respect of public opinion, to erect on the west coast of the country a Statue of Responsibility being a complement to the Statue of Liberty on the eastern edge of the continent. "Freedom is only half the truth" - he wrote. The choice of faith, if it is a responsible and conscious decision, all the more leads us to actively participate in the world, being hands and feet of the Church in its mission of carrying the Good News to the world. **It doesn't matter how much you have, it matters how much you give!** Let's read: For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ -- Mt 25:14-30 * How much is 1 talent? What does it tell us about our value in God's eyes? (If we are servants, and he the Master?) .. note:: 1 talent = 6000 drachmas; Generally a pile of dough, because a drachma is a Roman coin with 3.85g of silver, equivalent of a Greek denarius, which was a day's wage of a laborer. That is 1 talent is 23.1kg of pure silver, or as some prefer - equivalent of 6000 daily wages!. * Why does the Master condemn the last servant? Because "he didn't make a fortune"? What does he really rebuke him for? * How do you understand the words "You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much"? Conclusion: we are to act and not vegetate! God does not want an attitude from us "How You created me Lord God so you have me"! Similar fragment: And he sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him, and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living.” -- Mk 12:41-44 * Ok, so now how much is this penny? .. note:: lit. 2 leptons, i.e. 1 quadrans, i.e. a coin with equivalent of 1/64 denarius - that is 1/64 of a laborer's daily wage (and let's notice that she was a widow, not a working laborer!) * Why does Jesus praise the offering thrown by the widow? After all, she contributed nothing! * What conclusion for us from this? The widow's offering did not contribute much to the temple treasury (there were 12 other baskets into which many people threw much more cash for the temple), but Jesus praises her deed, because it shows the great sacrifice of this woman. Out of love for God and His house she gave everything she had, although she could have kept half (1 coin) for herself to buy necessities for life. It is not that we are poor widows and have nothing. God endowed us with talents, one of which has the equivalent of 6000 x 64 = 384 000 widow's mites! What we want to show here is that the most important are not so much our objective achievements compared to others, but **how much we use of what we have, how much we give of ourselves!** Examples from life: * 2 persons, with very different characters: who does more work - the one who always smiles for everyone because "by nature" is nice and polite, or the one who despite their nasty character, with great effort manages once in 100 to look with understanding at someone who terribly annoys them? Let's find own, similar examples! * [if necessary one can be inspired by such call slogans]: * shyness (similarly as above) * 2 students ("smart" and "less smart") The point is to show that individual effort is more important and how one uses one's possibilities, than what success one objectively achieves… (and it is known that to whom more was given, from him more will be required!) .. warning:: This also means that Your faith, even if it seems terribly small to You - for God already means a lot! It is worth keeping a certain distance (or if someone prefers: limited trust) towards one's own judgment. The fact that I think that my life is not very interesting, or completely unsuccessful, does not mean that it is so in reality - at the last judgment I may be very surprised when I see what my influence was on the life of many people. God sees without veils. The same applies to faith in my life. It may seem to me e.g. that my prayer "did not work out" and is worth little, and meanwhile in heaven there is a great wedding feast that finally I crossed an important stage and stopped "riding on emotions". As br. Roger from Taizé used to say: “In moments of prayer we may not feel an immediate effect. But God gives us the Holy Spirit and God's life in us can sprout, grow and inspire our thoughts and actions.” -- brother Roger of Taizé Since we are talking about sprouting, we can read: And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” -- Mk 4:30-32 * What does this mean for me? * Do I sometimes want to be a good/wise/holy man, and instead I feel that I am small and mean nothing in the world? How do I deal with this? What does Jesus answer to such doubts? **For doubters…** .. warning:: Facilitator, consider whether this would not be a good moment to convey a certain important thought-encouragement to all persons who "do not fit into the scenario" - i.e. not having convinced themselves so far sufficiently strongly to faith, they did not make any decision; or their faith is exactly this "dimly burning wick", which under no pretext we are allowed to quench, or simply it only seems too small to them... (or also they simply ignore it, because they don't care - they also have such a right!) Besides the above fragment and assurance that even the smallest faith is enough to give beginning to a strong tree, one can also recall the words of Fr. Tomáš Halík, a very important figure when it comes to the dialogue of the Church with non-believers: "For me, a believer is one who experiences life as a dialogue, who tries to understand challenges, advice or warnings and responds to them. And a non-believer is one who experiences his life as a monologue, who listens to himself". -- Fr. Tomáš Halík * How do I understand these words? Do I agree with them? * What does such a putting of the matter encourage me to? * Do I understand faith in a similar way? The point is that the most important is not the division into people who believe in God (whom we commonly call "believers") and those who do not believe in Him (called "non-believers"). What is important is whether a man in humility still stubbornly and anew seeks the truth or dares to claim ultimately and indisputably that he found it. **So even if evidently, someone of these young people is not interested in faith even a bit, it will be a success to inspire, stimulate him precisely to search!** .. note:: If you want, you can also use the call from the prayer of the faithful from Good Friday: Let us pray for those who do not believe in God, that they may find Him by sincerely seeking all that is right. /Prayer in silence. Then the priest sings:/ Almighty and eternal God, you created mankind so that all might long to find you and have peace when you are found, grant that, in the midst of the harmful obstacles of this world, they may all recognize the signs of your fatherly love and the witness of the good works done by those who believe in you, and so in gladness confess you, the one true God and Father of our human race. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen. **Salt of the earth, light shining before men** .. note:: optional point Let's read: You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. -- Mt 5:13-16 * What task stands before Christ's disciples (and therefore before us, if we decide to follow him)? * What does this mean for me concretely? .. note:: if it helps You, you can use an interpretation in a similar style: "Let's close our eyes. Imagine that we are in a cave - there is no light source. Our decision is to light a flashlight to be able to go further. However, when we cover it with some material or hand - a small part of the light will illuminate the road and it will be hard to take any actions. Faith is lighting our torch in the world. However, when we obscure it, the decision becomes bland, worthless - brings little. But when we open up completely and let it act - everything around will light up, and we can walk the road further lighting others. Because won't two, three flashlights in a cave illuminate the road better than one?" * Can I share my thoughts with others (conclusions and discoveries, as well as questions or doubts? “Grace bases on nature” - individualism of every path of faith ============================================================== We want to show that just as Christ comes to each of us with a proposal of faith in a unique and completely individualized way (see: Saturday), so we too, taking responsibility for the faith we choose, do it also in a very personal way, proper only to us. For this purpose let's distribute short descriptions of a few figures from the Old and New Testament and saints - one figure per person (you can draw, distribute, whatever, as you like). As part of a small activation let everyone read to the others what they got. These figures constitute an incredibly diverse mix. Moses - curious and not liking public appearances When God called Moses to lead his people out of Egyptian slavery, he took him by a trick. Wanting to use his curiosity he appeared to him in the form of a bush that burned but was not consumed. Moses, who was just pasturing his father-in-law's sheep, became very interested in this phenomenon, came closer and so "the talk began". But that's not all. Moses, like everyone, has his stronger and weaker sides. When he finds out what mission God wants to entrust to him, he swears that he can't speak well (and maybe actually the guy e.g. stuttered, who knows). God also quickly finds a way for this: “Ok, so you'll go with Your cousin Aaron - I'll talk to You, You'll pass to Aaron, and he'll present it nicely to the Israelites later, so they catch on ;) “ - and so from this innocent banter began the great story of the liberation of the Chosen People from Egyptian slavery, which we remember to this day! Jonah - runaway and egoist In the Book of Jonah we read that God told him to arise and go to Nineveh, to which he "rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord" :D Who would have thought that God chooses such people for prophets! And yet… Jonah didn't like that God wants to give Nineveh, where the greatest enemies of the Israelites lived, a chance for conversion, that he wants to forgive them their bad behavior. He does not understand God's logic, therefore at all costs he tries to run away from God. In his escape he ends up on a ship, from which they throw him into the sea to save the ship from the storm (it was guessed that this man is "chased" by God himself!). It would seem that Jonah will die in the depths of the sea, but he will gain at least this much that he won't have to go to Nineveh… Not likely! Jonah is swallowed by a big fish and it spits him out after three days on land. So Jonah finally goes to Nineveh and due to him the whole city converts, although in fact he doesn't tell them anything special! He only goes and cries "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!". Jacob, pseudonym "Israel" - schemer and claimant Jacob, although physically rather weaker than his older brother Esau, from an early age was characterized by cunning and the ability to effectively fight for his own. And basically not only his own, because when their father Isaac was already a blind old man and wanted to bless his eldest son Esau, Jacob by trickery impersonated him and obtained the blessing due to him. (Suffice it to say that this affected his entire family life later). But that's nothing! Jacob tore the blessing even from God himself! In later years, a very strange "accident" happened to him: one night he hid his entire household on the other side of the river, out of fear of his brother, with whom he still had, to put it mildly, not the best relations, while he himself returned to his camp. Then, as we read in the Book of Genesis "a man wrestled with him". They fought until dawn. This strange stranger dislocated Jacob's hip joint, but could not ultimately defeat him. In the morning it turns out that the mysterious stranger is a messenger of God himself! Jacob did not want to let his opponent go until God blesses him and ultimately forced a blessing on Him. And He said to him: “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” Thomas the Apostle - "doubter" Thomas, sometimes unjustly called "doubting" (and after all he did not betray Jesus, like e.g. Judas), maybe not so much proved to be a doubter, but rather was simply inquisitive. Still a lot of time before the passion and resurrection, when Jesus tells the apostles “...I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going”, Thomas tries to find out what this Jesus is trying to tell them again. Ba! He even dares to answer Jesus: “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”. Since Thomas by his nature was inquisitive, did not accept everything "as it comes", then all the more it cannot surprise us that he did not believe the other apostles on their word when they announced to him that Christ ROSE FROM THE DEAD and came to them when Thomas was not with them. The guy puts the matter clearly: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Fortunately God understands him perfectly! Jesus comes after eight days, when Thomas is staying together with all apostles and fulfills his wish so that he believes and follows Him until giving his life... Sons of Zebedee - push for glass As we read in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons and kneeling before Him, asked Him “Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom”. After all, this is evident "arranging a stool for her sonnies"! It seems that James and John - sons of Zebedee, initially became interested in the famous teacher from Nazareth, mainly "for fame" - they wanted to snatch something for themselves from His growing popularity, and best, get to power in this kingdom Jesus talked so much about. Fortunately, Jesus has a way for them too and answers them: “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” When they answer that they can, then Jesus patiently explains to them: “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father”. Anyway, the sons of Zebedee, apart from their inclinations to try to be higher placed than others, are actually good apostles and faithful confessors of Jesus! When he called them, not without reason he gave them the nickname "Sons of Thunder". Also the cup announced by Jesus they finally actually drank - giving their lives for faith, already after the Resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Samaritan woman - complicated family matters… About the Samaritan woman who talked with Jesus at the well basically we don't know too much. We don't even know her name. Nevertheless, almost the whole 4th chapter in the Gospel according to St. John is devoted to her meeting with Jesus, so probably it had considerable significance in the history of salvation! Its course was more or less like this: Jesus sits at the well. A woman from the Samaritan town of Sychar approaches to draw water. Suddenly Jesus says to her to give Him a drink. We need to know that at that time for Jews Samaritans were more or less who people from Sosnowiec are in Katowice (and actually worse), that's why Jesus' behavior is unimaginable! (Holy Scripture says directly that disciples, when they joined Jesus after shopping, “marveled that he was talking with a woman”!) What about the Samaritan woman? Perhaps she considered it a "pick-up" - after all, as we learn later, she already had more than one guy. But maybe thanks to this, she was not afraid to talk to Jesus and ask Him questions, even though the mysterious wanderer from her perspective actually talked strange things, and in addition knew everything about her (and about her "disordered" life straight from "Trudne sprawy" or "The Bold and the Beautiful"). Thanks to this the Samaritan woman learned that Jesus is the Messiah who came to give people freedom and fascinated by this meeting she went to her town and - like a woman - passed the news further, so that in the end “many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony”. St. Hildegard of Bingen - atypical-typical nun from the 12th century In Hildegard's life cooperation of faith with reason was visible at every step. Although from an early age she had visions, she did nothing of the multitude of things she occupied herself with without relying on thorough education she acquired in the convent. Yes, her calling by God, was all too typical for her era - according to custom the tenth child in the family was destined for religious life. However, in this case the parents' decision "corresponded to Hildegard's desires", who later consciously took perpetual vows, and after years became the superior of the community. However, the most interesting thing in the life of St. Hildegard is how she realized her vocation. A few years ago, when this word was still fashionable, we could say about her "hardcore"! She completely did not care about prejudices prevailing in her times against women, described even as "failed copy of a man, greedy, bad, subordinate to her passions and stomach, of frail intellect, contaminated nature and greater inclination to sin"! Well, Hildegard was for her contemporaries a living denial of such stereotypes: she composed, wrote both poetry and theological treatises, designed costumes, founded new monasteries and erected temples, dealt with medicine and herbalism; made 4 pastoral journeys, preached public sermons calling for a change of life both simple people and clergy (!); took active part in the reform of the Church, and when it was necessary, wrote letters with a reprimand even to the emperor! “list of open inspirations” place for own ideas (if the facilitator wanted to add a few more examples from the head, because e.g. likes to talk - just not too long! - and knows cool saints): Edith Stein, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene After getting acquainted with the descriptions, let's look briefly at each of these stories: * What do these people have in common? What makes them different? * Does any of these stories speak to me more? Any less? * Does any of these stories shock me? (e.g. Jacob fighting with God, or Jonah who openly says to God "I won't go!", and after the finished mission reproaches God that he gave Nineveh a chance for conversion instead of razing it to the ground) * What feelings, reflections does this colorful "catalog" arouse in me? How does it give me food for thought in the context of my own faith? What is important in the above catalog? God called each of them so that it fit their character, but also each of them realized their "mission" in their own way and **one cannot say that any of these ways was better, and any worse!** Spaces of my life, needs of the world ===================================== Let's try to fill in a simple table - each participant fills it in for themselves. +----------------------------------+--------------+------------------+------------------+--------------+ | what I devote most time to: | during day | during week | during month | during year | +----------------------------------+--------------+------------------+------------------+--------------+ | to what activities? | | | | | +----------------------------------+--------------+------------------+------------------+--------------+ | with what people? | | | | | +----------------------------------+--------------+------------------+------------------+--------------+ | in what places? | | | | | +----------------------------------+--------------+------------------+------------------+--------------+ Let's give ourselves about 7 minutes to estimate what are the main spaces of our life. It doesn't have to be mega accurate! We don't even have to arrange "from smallest to largest" - it is enough to choose more or less 3 matters/environments/places to which we devote the most time during the day/week/month/year. We can say in a certain simplification that we indicated in this way the main spaces of our life, our functioning in the world. .. warning:: It may happen that something that is important to us we did not write down here, because although it is something very significant for us, we do not devote so much time to it - if only because e.g. a given activity is not very time-consuming. One can mention this so that such "spaces" do not escape us either. Let's look at these spaces of our life, involvement, use of our energy and wonder: * To what extent do I consciously participate in these things, build relationships with these people? * Does everything suit me in these "spaces"? Or maybe something doesn't fit me? Maybe I notice something that would require change? * What questions regarding these spaces does faith ask me? Can something from what I wrote down be somehow positively used to extract even greater good from it? Does something from this conflict in some way with my faith? (Let's not press of course on too personal topics if someone doesn't want to talk. It's naturally not about a public examination of conscience. But some concrete must be!) **Optionally (rather for older groups)** Let's try to look at our life in a broader context of events and problems of the world surrounding us: * Do I know what questions and problems currently consume the world/Church/country/my surroundings? (write down at least 5 like this) * Which of these matters bother me personally the most? * What influence can I have on them; how can I change the world for the better? (possibly hint: from general to specific; think globally, act locally!) Summary and application ======================= * If you had to describe the content of the meeting in two sentences, what would they look like? .. warning:: At the very end we want to find and resolve something simple, but concrete. Something that in the near future I will change in my life, due to the fact that I consciously want to be a believing person. .. warning:: If I did not choose faith (see: very beginning of the outline), it does not mean that I do not resolve anything. I can e.g. resolve what and how exactly I will search? So let's ask the question: * What after this retreat (or even already now during) do I want to change in my life? (E.g. in one of these spaces that we tried to realize a moment ago) Let's write it down in a notebook to be able to check it in a day/week/month. Tip: it can be seemingly a trifle! Like e.g.: 1. 10 minutes of walk every day for the next week (the more so if it were a person who normally e.g. does not leave the house at all), 2. "Next Sunday at mass I will listen to the Gospel" (because e.g. I never did it), 3. "By the end of December I will try to exchange at least one normal sentence with Mietek, with whom no one in the class wants to talk", 4. "I will write the next physics quiz myself, even if I were to get a fail", 5. "Next time when Facebook, based on its brilliant algorithms shows me on the Home Page a new super outrageous news (No matter in what climate: whether the world is ending because "sodom and gomorrah" and "avada cedavra leftist w***", or "Polistan, cathols in dark ages, for Kaczyński on knees to Jasna Góra") - instead of thoughtlessly letting myself be manipulated, I will make a little effort to at least check the source!" The main thing is that it should be something measurable, possible to implement and defined in time! It will also be good if such a resolution will be as personal as possible, corresponding to my way of experiencing faith. One can also put it this way: let's not ask ourselves the question "What will I be doing?", let's ask rather "What will I do?" Prayer ====== Let's entrust at the end all our decisions and their consequences to God, let's ask for strength to implement our resolutions (or to make them, if we haven't done it yet). To increase the individual dimension of prayer (in line with what we talked about), it is worth e.g. adding an element of short prayer in silence, so that everyone presents to God from their side what they want and how they want.