COME, HOLY SPIRIT
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created;
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. LET US PRAY.
O God, who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people by sending them the light of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen
O Holy Spirit, sweet Guest of my soul, abide in me and grant that I may ever abide in Thee.
Day 2
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
Our Lord in His love created humans. His desire is that we in turn love Him. Yet He does not force us to love Him. He invites. He waits. In our youth, with simplicity and innocence, we approach Our Lord as a child would approach a loving parent. We trust, and we find it easy to rely on Our Heavenly Father’s help. As we grow, we begin to believe in our own strength and wisdom. There is the opportunity to begin to stray from Our Lord and rely on our own perceived strength.
In the story “A Fire,” the wood of the fire represents us. The fire represents the love of Our Lord in the form of suffering. This may seem a contradiction that love can be suffering, and yet suffering has the ability to bring a soul in close union with God. For it was God who chose suffering to show his ultimate love for us. As John revealed, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).
Goal: Our Lord desires our love, but He does not force us to love Him.
Sit quietly for five minutes while thinking of Mary and Joseph in need of a place to rest, but there is no room for them.
Day 3
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
In the story “A Fire,” the wood represents each of us. This wood comes from trees. There are many varieties of trees, and within a variety there are infinite ways that a tree may form and grow. There may be some salient characteristics about a particular type of tree, such as how fast it can grow or a region in which it can survive and flourish. Some trees lose their leaves in the winter, while others do not. No matter what is done to a tree that loses its leaves in the cold winter, nothing can be done to stop this process. It is part of the way it was created. Even if a tree tried to fight this fact and become a different type of tree, it would be futile. Yet even within the confinement of being created as a particular type, trees may differ in many ways even when they are of the same species or variety.
The specific location where the tree is planted has a great deal to do with how it matures and grows. We know from Scripture that a tree planted near running water brings its fruits in season (cf. Psalm 1:3). Some trees are given space to spread their branches and grow tall in the sun where birds can come and find shade. Other trees are planted tightly and have little foliage. If water is scarce or infrequent, roots may go down very deep to find underground stores of water. In this case more of the tree may be present under the ground than above.
Often where a tree is growing has to do with the providence of where its seed happened to fall. It was not under the control of the tree. Yet the tree has the abilityas it grows to bend and reach towards other types of trees. This is within the control of the tree. Some other types of trees may have disease, and growing with them close together may mean that this disease can spread.
In the spiritual sense, this can apply to each of us. For we are born in a place in the world that was not of our choosing. Yet as we grow, choices are available to us. The friends we choose to keep have a great effect on us. If the friends we choose chronically make decisions that draw themselves away from God and His love, then we may also find that this has an effect on us. Yet if we bend toward trees that grow strong in the love of Our Lord and make good decisions, we may find we are encouraged to also make good decisions. The disease that the trees may develop through bad decisions represents sin. This is a spiritual illness. It can be treated by returning to Our Lord and asking forgiveness, but untreated it can serve to distance us from God.
Goal: We sprout in God’s garden, but as we grow, we make decisions that either draw us closer
to God or distance us from Him.
Sit quietly for five minutes while thinking of Mary and Joseph rejected from the inn and thus having to retreat to a corner in a cold cave with animals.
Day 4
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
As we continue to contemplate the wood of our tree, let us reflect on Scripture when Jesus approached a fig tree. Jesus was hungry and “[s]eeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, ‘May no one ever eat of your fruit again!’” (Mk 11:13-14) One might begin to wonder why Jesus could be disappointed that a tree is not producing fruit out of season. Yet cultivators of fruit trees know that often fruit trees will fruit in alternating years. Thus, a tree without tending may be without fruit and will be covered in leaves as the fig tree was that Jesus found. Yet if the vineyard keeper heavily prunes the trees, he can encourage the trees to produce fruit in the “off year.” This pruning Jesus also speaks of later in Scripture when he says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit” (Jn 15:1-2).
Goal: Pruning, often perceived as suffering, allows us to bear more fruit.
Sit quietly for five minutes while thinking of Mary who had to abandon all of her ideas of where she wished to bear her child and rather accept the reality of God’s plan.
Day 5
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
Sometimes one sees a tree that from the time it was a tender sprout it was sickly. It never grew as one would expect and struggled from its earliest existence. One may wonder why such things happen. In a similar way there are children who are born with disabilities, and from their first breaths they are weak. This reality is particularly hard to understand. The disciples also pondered this question and asked Our Lord for an answer as they passed someone who was disabled from birth: “As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him’” (Jn 9:1-3). Thus, one sees that God can be particularly active in souls to whom He gifts such limitations. He means to work through them and profoundly to “be made visible.”
It may be the experience of many who know families who have raised a disabled child that so often the bond between parent and child is particularly intimate and loving. This may come from the fact that the child remains more dependent on the family throughout his or her life. Being the source of strength for another creates a close intimacy. One can see how Our Lord always wishes His children to be dependent and reliant on Him even into their adulthood. Recall these words of Christ: “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3).
The beauty of this gift of a disabled child is borne out through the family members who often relate that their family would not be the same without the disabled child. Somehow this child with disabilities brings out good things in those around him. Surely having a child with a disability is not easy. It is a struggle, but God provides.
Goal: Our Lord created us with a certain mission, and the disabilities and weaknesses He gave us are gifts to help us complete that mission.
Sit quietly for five minutes while thinking of Mary and Joseph in the cold cave anticipating their new child.
Resources
The retreat can be done using a physical book, watching one our videos each day or with our online Consecration journey. Both the videos and online readings are free to use so there is no obstacle to starting! We have a whole website designed just to support the Consecration journey.