Living in Hope Retreat
Week 1 - The Trinity
Dear Friends,
Happy 1st week of Advent!
Each week for our retreat, we will focus on one person or persons who helps us live in hope. For our first week, our focus is The Trinity. Specifically, I want us to consider St. Ignatius' meditation on the Incarnation in the Spiritual Exercises (#102-108).
In this meditation, St. Ignatius invites us to imagine the Trinity looking down on Earth from Heaven. As the Trinity pays attention to what is unfolding on Earth, they decide it is time to send the second person of the Trinity to Earth to "respond to the groaning of creation". And the Incarnation is set into motion!
The Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, help us live in hope because they continue to dwell within our hearts and in our world, through Scripture, through the Sacraments, and through each person on Earth. When you think about it-- it's hard not to be hopeful, because God is everywhere!
And the Incarnation, God becoming flesh, opens the path for Jesus to show us God's abundant activity, love, and mercy in our lives. This week, let us pray for the grace to notice the dwelling of God within our daily lives!
Know you are in my prayers!
Peace,
Becky
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TEACHING US HOW TO LIVE WITH HOPE: THE TRINITY
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PRAYING WITH HOPE: THE WORD OF GOD
The below Readings are from the Sunday Readings for the First Sunday of Advent. Pick one reading each day for prayer. Throughout the week, repeat the scriptures that capture your attention.
If you would like to pray with the daily readings this week in addition to the Sunday readings, the USCCB posts them daily here.
When praying with scripture, I invite you to try the prayer method of Lectio Divina. Click here to download a guide.
First Sunday of Advent
Lectionary: 3
The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and Judah.
In those days, in that time,
I will raise up for David a just shoot ;
he shall do what is right and just in the land.
In those days Judah shall be safe
and Jerusalem shall dwell secure;
this is what they shall call her:
“The LORD our justice.”
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
and for you I wait all the day.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,
and his covenant, for their instruction.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Brothers and sisters:
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God
and as you are conducting yourselves
you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.”
from www.usccb.org
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REFLECTING ON HOPE:
1. If the Trinity looked down on the Earth today, what would they notice? What do you notice about our world today?
2. Where do you feel God might want to enter the world and dwell? Where do you notice God entering our world?
3. Where in our own lives would God might want to enter and dwell? Where do you notice God entering your life?
4. How do you feel called by God to be part of spreading the light of the Incarnation?
5. What are the concrete steps you will take to answer the call placed on your heart this Advent season?
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