Meeting 1 — “O my ‘Three’! O my all!”¶
Introduction for the Animator¶
Crucial for this meeting is taking up St. Augustine’s thought about changing expectations towards the Church’s actions (this retreat). Instead of waiting to hear something that bothers us, we want to fill this place with love. Only starting from love will prepare us to receive light and wisdom. This love should be as concrete as possible, verifiable - so here and now it should be towards each other within the small group. Love in Christianity is not “optional” - it is the starting point, it is the gate that will open us to the mystery.
Introduction¶
It is possible that everyone in the group knows each other. Regardless of whether we know each other or not, let’s want to start our meetings with questions that will allow us to get to know each other:
[if not everyone knows each other] Please say a few words about yourself, what you do in life, what you do in the Church?
With what three words would you describe your faith today?
During our retreat we want to listen to the voice of other communities/people from the Church. We will try to accept the words of the Other with cordiality and kindness. God speaks to us not only directly in prayer, in the Liturgy, through the Holy Scripture or the Magisterium of the Church - His voice also sounds in the Mystical Body.
Today’s meeting is inspired by the Lectio Divina of a Salvatorian retreat giver, texts of St. Augustine and the prayer of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity.
Note
Basically the outline is built based on the Lectio Divina scheme, although interpreting it quite freely. The individual parts are: Lectio (Gospel), Meditatio (deepening St. Augustine), Contemplatio (Prayer, poetry, mysticism), Actio (Application), Oratio (Evening prayer)
Gospel¶
Let’s read:
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
—Jn 16:12-33
After a moment of silence:
What is God conveying to me currently “plainly, without any figure of speech”?
In what way is the unity and love contained in the Holy Trinity a call for me to build bridges of reconciliation and love in the concrete of my life?
Know through loving¶
Meditations on this fragment of the Gospel were undertaken by St. Augustine.
Let’s read:
Therefore, dearest ones, do not expect to hear from us what the Lord did not want to tell the disciples, because they could not yet bear it; but rather grow in love, which is poured out in your hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to you, so that being fervent in spirit and loving what is spiritual, you might bear with inner sight and hearing the spiritual light and spiritual voice, which carnal people cannot bear. This does not appear to carnal eyes through any sign, nor does it sound with any voice in carnal ears, but you can know it by inner sight and hearing. For one does not love what one does not know at all. But if one loves what one knows a little, this love causes one to know it better and better and more fully. If therefore you make progress in love, which the Holy Spirit pours out in your hearts, He will “teach you all truth” (…) Thus it will happen that not external teachers will teach you about this, but God will teach you all about what the Lord did not want to say then, so that what you have learned externally by reading or hearing and believed about the nature of God, not corporeal, not enclosed in any place, not extended through infinite spaces of places like some mass, but everywhere whole - perfect and infinite, without the gleam of colors, without line drawings, without signs of letters, without a series of syllables, by the spirit itself, so that you might know it.
—St. Augustine, Homily 96
What does starting from growing in love mean for us very concretely? How can we help ourselves in “not expecting to hear what we cannot yet bear”?
St. Augustine says that one loves what one “knows a little”. What in me was what I knew about God, and what consequently led me to zealous love of Jesus?
St. Augustine shows a wonderful process of maturation. First before knowledge is supposed to be love (“Do not expect to hear from us… but rather grow in love”). However, to really be able to love one must first “know a little” (“For one does not love what one does not know at all”). If we know a little, and then we love, we will come to full knowledge! (“But if one loves what one knows a little, this love causes one to know it better and better and more fully”), and through this we will make “progress in love”!
Love and knowledge for St. Augustine are intertwined, inseparable.
Prayer¶
Wanting to start from love we encounter a clear obstacle. It is difficult to describe love. However, we do not want to dodge and we will try to face it. Let’s enter the experience of loving and expressing love, inspired by how Bl. Elizabeth did it.
Let’s read:
O my eternal God,but let every minute immerse medeeper and deeper into Your mysteries.Calm my soul.Make in it your heaven,your beloved dwellingand place of your rest,so that I may never leave You alone there,but that I may be there whole,whole living by faith,whole adoring,whole surrendered solely to Your creative action…O my “Three”! O my all,my glory and happiness,infinite solitude and immensity,in which I lose myself whole,I give myself to You whole as a victim.Hide me, dwell in me,so that I may dwell in You,waiting for the entrance into Your lightand into the abyss of Your immensity.—Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Which fragment of this prayer is closest to me at this moment of life? Why?
What does my personal prayer look like?
In what way does love for sisters and brothers from the community strengthen my relationship with God? In what way does the relationship with God enable me to love others?
Application¶
Each of the participants chooses and names one thing they want to do after this meeting.
Do you want to say what you chose? If so, to what did our time together inspire you?