Self-Directed Discernment Retreat

 

The Institute for Diaconal Studies is a distinct program

that addresses specifically the mission and identity of diaconal ministry while educating men for the three-fold ministry of service

to the Word, Liturgy and Charity

Day 2 – Living a Balanced Life

 

Each day we come in contact with men and women who live lives of ordered, purposeful creation. They live in harmony with nature, have meaningful relationships—they are in balance. Our hope is to be inspired by their example and come into harmony with God’s creation. God has granted us this beautiful freedom to choose to live purposeful balanced lives.

 

When I hear the word indifference it makes me…

Most of the time my desires and choices are geared toward…

My friends look at me and say about my life…

 

Today, I will strive to name and be inspired by people who are models of freedom, giving of themselves in living freely for others.

I will mediate on the words of St. Ignatius:

 

We should use God’s gifts of creation however they help us in achieving the end for which we were created, and we ought to rid ourselves of whatever gets in the way of our purpose.

 

Ever-present God, I long for meaning and purpose for my life—a purpose that brings joy and grace to myself and my family and service to your faithful. Most importantly, I ask for the grace to be inspired by those around me and come to the fulfillment of my purpose in being an inspiration to others. May I balance my work, my family and my potentiality in the freedom you grant. I pray in your Son’s name, Jesus.

 

This day…

 

I will fast from lunch (Remember, follow your doctor’s orders when it comes to diet and exercise – be sure to hydrate and have small, nutritional snacks).

I will set aside alms for the poor (that I will deliver to my parish’s poor box at the end of the week).

I will enter into silence for 15 minutes in a special place.

I will open my bible and pray Psalm 40 slowly…and then pray it again even…slower.

 

A question to ponder this day…

 

Am I able and willing to talk to others about my faith?

 

My Morning Meditation…

 

O that today you would hear God’s voice! (Psalm 95:7)

 

Consider this urgent plea of Psalm 95. Listen this day to God’s voice. Now. Today. Etch that word “today” on your mind and heart. You can remember yesterday; you can imagine tomorrow; today alone can you live. It’s the supreme importance of the present moment. We are tempted to tolerate the routine or rupture of the present, with an eye to the rapture of the future; it endures today’s travail, in hope of tomorrow’s ease. Never for a day have I forgotten a framed sign I read decades ago in a convent chapel: “Priest of God, say this Mass as if it were your first Mass, as if it were your last Mass, as if it were your only Mass.” Something similar can be said to you each day: “Child of God, live this day as if it were your first day, as if it were your last day, as if it were your only day.”

 

- Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., Creative Communications

 

My Evening Contemplation…

 

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? (Romans 8:31-34)

 

Many voices ask our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove that you are a good person.” Another voice says. “You’d better be ashamed of yourself.” There also is a voice that says, “Nobody really cares about you,” and one that says, “Be sure to become popular, successful, and powerful.” But underneath all these often very voices is a still, small voice that says, “You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.” That’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen.

 

That’s what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us ‘my Beloved.”

 

- Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey, 1997

 

Before I rest…

 

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. And I detest all of my sins, not because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all-deserving and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life.

 

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.

                                                                        Luke 2: 29-32

 

Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.

 

Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this exile show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

 

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

 

May the all-powerful Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death. Amen.

 

 

Institute for Diaconal Studies