Meeting 4 — Quo Vadis?¶

Tags: Decisions, Vocation, Hope, Kingdom of God, Time, Text work, Definition work, Formative

Goal¶

This is not the end of the retreat. The meeting is not any clasp or finishing. The goal is to find an application in the participants’ life of the theory considered over the last days. Answering oneself the question what to do to wisely go towards the goal. Preparation for stumbling without the “end of my world”. Paying attention to others on this path.

Prayer¶

Adapted to the possibilities of the group.

Introduction¶

We wonder and know where we are (day 1). We ask ourselves if and how we are going. We looked for our own ambitions and goals, meaning (Meeting 2). We were called by the example of Jesus’ way to not only speak about the way, but specifically walk, because… it is He who comes to wake us up and raise us to the dignity of our vocation (Meeting 3), so that waking up we open our eyes and see more (Sunday Gospel). What now?

We are together with Him on the way and before us one simple question: “where to take the next step now?”. Generally answering this question is easy, because many times we heard these answers “towards Love”, “towards Good”…. but does this help me make a decision how I will use tomorrow or this evening?

How did the realization of the application from the last meeting go? What did the first 45 seconds of my day today look like?
Do I perceive today as a new chance?

Having a goal - where am I heading?¶

Each participant receives a sheet with a table:

	This week	In a year	In 5 years	In 10 years
Personal
Professional
Spiritual
Social

Tries to write down for themselves things towards which they are heading – both the “strong” ones and “maybe, but I don’t know yet”. We distinguish the strong ones e.g. by underlining. It is known that such a task is difficult to perform – we do only what we can.

Which fields were hardest for You to fill in? Why?
Which easiest? Why?
How many things are Your direction/goal by Your choice, and how many “life turned out”?

A question may arise – does planning for 10 years ahead make sense? After all so much can change. “Better not to plan so far ahead, because then one gets disappointed”. Let’s compare two fragments of the Holy Scripture with each other:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

—Mt 6:31-34

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

—Rev 3:15-17

What does it mean neither cold nor hot?
What does it mean to be anxious about tomorrow?
How can we understand these two fragments put together?

These two fragments of the Holy Scripture perfectly describe our spiritual condition. On the one hand we need to be people of deep hope, who are ready to accept every day as God prepares it for us. On the other hand God does not want us to be bland and colorless. He expects from us a clear definition…. He himself calls us to this after all.

Is it possible to combine both these attitudes? In what way?
So finally are we to plan where we want to be in 5 years or not?

We should know in which direction we are going, so as not to wander. We know the direction in which we are going at a given moment. When I assumed that my path is mathematical studies, I do not consider throughout the lecture for 2h whether I surely chose my major well – it will inevitably lead me to a situation in which due to lack of time for study I will discover that “God surely does not want me to study mathematics since I haven’t passed a single exam” :).

Note

If participants want to it would be great to share some of our goals from the sheet we filled out

But how so? Now one has to be consistent and not give up on anything?! That’s impossible!

Not to lose the goal from sight (?)¶

Did it ever happen to You to lose the meaning of what you are doing while performing some activity? What was it?
What does losing meaning from sight lead to?

In what moments do we often lose this meaning in such everyday matters? Maybe looking at such “ordinary” examples we will be able to notice some connections?

Note

hints for the animator although surely they will have to find own examples for their age group:

You clean the room for your mom, or so that it is clean?
You learn to have a matura paper or to be an educated person?
We validate the ticket on the bus so that the ticket inspector doesn’t catch us or to pay for the service?
[note-example for older ones] You do not cohabit with your girlfriend because it is bad or because you would have to confess it?

Let’s see what consecutively losing meaning can lead to:

I sweep dust under the rug so I inhale it into my lungs anyway later
Then why do I cheat?
In that case when I traveled the route forgetting to validate the ticket I tear the unvalidated one and throw it into the bin?
In that case in Germany where there is no auricular confession you would already be in bed with her?

Each time losing meaning is very simple and usually leads to complete distortion of the meaningfulness of our action. We lose the goal from sight sometimes, change decisions, make simple human mistakes.

Let’s read:

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

—2 Cor 13:5

What do I do when I catch myself on the fact that I “lost the meaning” of some action of mine?
Do I have a habit of asking about my motivations for undertaking some actions according to 2 Cor 13:5?
What is the difference between losing the goal and not seeing it?
Am I ready for the fact that sometimes I might not see the goal, but despite this I should go forward? Have I experienced this ever?
What do I do when this pursuit of…, in my feeling loses meaning?

It is easier when the goals we set for ourselves are not so very distant. I can e.g. assume that I try to master a graphics program and give myself an honest 2h of work daily for 30 days for this. After this time I certainly achieved my goal…. because it was not becoming a master of computer graphics but the attempt undertaken. After such a deadline I can decide “that wasn’t it” and not set myself another goal.

I do not know therefore in advance whether I will be an architect or a graphic designer…. but for the last 30 days I did not wander from place to place…. only had a clear goal. It is important not to jump from flower to flower…. Every hour a different idea. And this applies to every sphere of our life….

Did I notice that the world proposes 100 things to me at once?
What does the danger of 100 things at once consist in on individual spheres from the table? (personal, professional, social, spiritual)
How to defend against blurring the goal through an attempt to undertake 100 things at once? (God! He damn wants to care about this! Let him!)

Lose feelings, but always trust!¶

We often have it that at all costs we want to maintain ourselves in the “feeling of meaning”, light. When in our life we do not feel that it has meaning then we assume that immediately it does not. Today’s psalm, so perfectly known to everyone that it is practically bordering on a miracle to try to see something new in it, is intriguing in this respect:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;

he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil; for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

—Psalm 23:1-4

God leads on “paths of righteousness”, but despite this immediately in the next line there is talk of “valley of the shadow of death”.

What is the valley of the shadow of death?

Note

If God leads there then it cannot be sin… darkness can be “slums” in which light is missing, because people are still waiting e.g. for me to help them find meaning

What does such a juxtaposition in the psalm suggest?

Note

the valley of the shadow of death can be part of the Lord’s way. Moreover it can be the right path! However we must remember “Thou art with me” so the light did not leave me

Do you have an experience of passing through the “valley of the shadow of death”, but exactly in the presence of Jesus?

The way sometimes leads through a dark valley. One can discuss for what reason, but one thing we can consider certain: we will meet a dark valley in our life. Maybe one should not run away from the very thought? The psalmist is not frightened by this vision! He says “I fear no evil; for thou art with me”.

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

If we are really the light of the world (in today’s gospel this term also appears) then aren’t we exactly supposed to go to the whole world? Do dark valleys not need illumination most strongly?
What does this call of Jesus mean for me?

Meetings during the way¶

Note

I recommend playing the song

Let’s read:

The horizon is an act of connecting blue with a piece of land

And if one had to appreciate the malicious sensitivity of instruments

The goal is attainable from flight as a result of a cruise or by march

Rhythmic sequence of steps, in any chosen time

The distance from the horizon chaotic due to assumptions

Allows observers to acquire subsequent illusions

And change them into conviction that this place is a tangent

The more one relies on it the closer it becomes

Further than thought reaches lead forward footprints

Patiently tempting from afar those who would like to wade through

The distance eternal in its own scale and extent

Horizon tender emotion in the defenseless pupil of the eye

Leaving hope too great for one life

Further than thought reaches lead forward footprints

Further than thought reaches lead forward footprints

– Raz, Dwa, Trzy – Dalej niż sięga myśl (Further than thought reaches)

We are not alone on the way. When today at this retreat 25 people once again choose Jesus Christ as their direction of life and make a step in this direction… then necessarily we will all get closer to each other (triangle inequality). The further each of us will be in this way the easier it will be for us to “bump into each other”.

What does it mean for me that something is connecting blue and land at the same time?

Note

The horizon towards which we are heading is always on the border of earthly and heavenly matters. TRULY distant goals towards which we are heading are located in the connection… neither in heaven, nor on earth

What is my horizon, the line I see furthest although I might not know how far it is located and when I will get there?
Do I have an experience of a master who left me “footprints”?

It is worth remembering these people on my way. It is worth calling by name what I received from each of them, what role they fulfilled/fulfill in our wandering.

Summary – courage of the next step¶

The next step is mine and no one will do it for me. Let’s summarize together:

Know where you are
Have your ambitions, goals, desires – call them by name
Be a person in motion, want to go
Take a concrete step
Be aware that you do not go alone
Do not waste time, because so much can be done!

We read (listen) together:

In full sun in the middle of summer

Among gentle waves of greenery

Frantic work is seething

I put a boat on dry land

Insect trembles in blooming bud

Peasant wades up to shoulders in rye

I working day and night

Have already sides and plating

Build the Ark before the flood

Summon all your strength for this!

Build the Ark before the flood

Even if the crowd mocked your work!

Need to save what is most precious

And after all there is already so much of it!

Build the Ark before the flood

Reject today every superfluous gesture

I must build such a boat

To fit the whole life in it

No one believes my words

Everyone has important news

Someone argues about property

Or sniffs easy prey

Before they wake up from sleep

I will already have a mast and rudder!

Build the Ark before the flood

Let the chorus of fools not delude you!

Build the Ark before the flood

Can hear already the thunder of storm clouds!

Leave your quarrels for later

Give faith to premonitions once!

Build the Ark before the flood

Before it finally swallows you!

Each of you is a boat in which

Can measure with the flood

Come out whole from the storm cloud

Must only believe in it

But in the downpour thunder after thunder

And too late scream for alarm

And too late mouths with mud

Spit out my warning!

Build the Ark before the flood

I hear steering into the heart of waves!

Build the Ark before the flood

Screams the one who laughed before!

Build the Ark before the flood

Of our tears over own fate!

Build the Ark before the flood

For the first and for the last baptism!

– Jacek Kaczmarski – Arka Noego (Noah’s Ark)

Do I have determination in me to undertake my way, to even put a boat on dry land?
Is what I want important enough for me not to be discouraged?
“Each of you is a boat in which Can measure with the flood Come out whole from the storm cloud Must only believe in it” what does this mean for me?

Warning

key summary question

“Need to save what is most precious And after all there is already so much of it!” - do I look at my life as something that cannot be wasted because of what is already in it? (and not because of what can be)

Today we return to homes and life will go on there just as two days ago. Will this retreat change something? Maybe not, maybe yes. Very much depends on us. Life is too precious to escape us on playing online games, watching series and walking around shops. It is easy to call everything that was said here “beautiful, but unrealistic vision” justifying oneself. It is easy to live in dreams and complain about what I have outside the window.

Christianity is taking the bull by the horns, a life full of passion, seeking and finding oneself in places surprising to us. A consistent life, but not by the force of a template that we fill. We tirelessly pursue the Holy Spirit… and thanks to this we end up in new places and spaces….

… and everywhere there so much good, of which we can become participants - “We must only believe in it”.

Application¶

Where am I heading then? Let’s name it, let’s not leave it only in the head. We can say it boldly now at the meeting, we can write it down for ourselves on the other side of the sheet with the table and put into envelopes, and then read in a few months or years. But let me answer this question as I feel and see the answer for today.