Meeting 1. - Discovery of human value¶
Goal¶
Discovery of human value (what one is capable of, what constitutes one’s strength, what makes the slogan “Man - it sounds proud” true). Discovery of one’s own value - I am also capable of doing great things, I have this potential in me.
Prayer¶
Spontaneous prayer (in younger groups remember to check if this form of prayer needs introduction) to the Holy Spirit asking for a good retreat experience and His care.
Introduction to the meeting¶
We ask participants to introduce themselves at least by name and surname and give some information about themselves. Then, as part of getting to know each other, we ask each participant the following questions in turn. Their goal is to make participants aware of what is valuable to them.
What do you spend the most time on?
Without what can you not imagine life?
Note
what is important to us in life? Can we, for example, survive one day without Facebook? What do we value - friendship, love? Can we imagine life without friends? One can talk about a close person -> this is a question about the value system; priorities we have in life.
What behaviors of people around you do you appreciate?
Note
this question aims to discover from participants what values they appreciate in others. What they like in people and what they value in them; one can also ask, on the principle of opposites, what annoys us in people.
What do you value in yourself?
Note
question about what own traits, views one considers right and whether I am proud of it.
Value of talent¶
The summary of the above exchange of views is a passage from the Gospel:
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who 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 scattered no seed, 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 sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 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 everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
—Mt 25:14-30
What do I understand by the term talent?
A talent is an ancient monetary unit used in the Middle East and Greece. Have I ever wondered what value this coin has? Here follows a “trick” with the Millennium Bible. We open to the word Talent and read the definition. We show that one talent had tremendous value. To realize the value of this coin even more, we emphasize that 1 talent = 6000 daily wages (32 kilograms of gold, 1 TALENT). This fact can be further emphasized by calculating that with normal work during the year (i.e., 46 weeks a year, deducting holidays and vacation time) and 5 working days with 8 hours of work, 46*5=230 daily wages per year, which gives 26 years of work -> after so many years we would receive payment in the amount of 1 talent.
For comparison, one can read the text about the widow’s mite:
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small 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 offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
—Mk 12:41-44
Offerings mean thanksgiving. One penny can symbolize our offering - we give so little to God, even if it is everything we can give Him. We receive from Him much more than we are able to offer Him ourselves. What we can give to God will never be commensurate with what we receive from Him (but God will always give us everything).
We ask participants to open the Holy Scripture to Psalm 8. We read aloud.
Questions:
What arouses delight in us in the surrounding world?
Do we perceive the power of God in the surrounding world?
What role did God give to man?
What made man actually the master of creation?
God possesses unlimited power, is all-powerful and great. However, He gave power over all this to man, who, looking at the enormity of things created by God, falls into amazement.
- CONCLUSIONS:
Delight in God and His works arouses delight in man (not the other way around)
Questions:
What constitutes our greatness?
God made us in His image, made us masters of this earth, we gained our greatness because God is great.
Note
ask participants to give examples testifying to the greatness of man, e.g., some scientific discoveries, humanitarian actions, speed of decision making in case of e.g., threat of war, possibility of global communication etc.
Warning
make participants aware that we are talking about THEM, not about OTHERS. About each of them individually. It is possible that our participants have not achieved any great things like discovering a new element and probably will not achieve them. But under the term great things we can sign such things as e.g., being a faithful friend, conscientious fulfillment of duties, honest work in the future, volunteer activity.
Application¶
The application from this meeting will be to go to the evening prayer with a reflection on oneself - what is important to me, how can I serve other people.
Ending¶
Spontaneous prayer to the Holy Spirit containing thanksgiving for the time of the meeting and for the gifts that each of us received from God.