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4) This
transformation is gradual. What God wants from us at any given
moment of our lives depends on our needs and capabilities. The
Lord doesn't expect the same behaviour from us when we are trying
to break away from a life of sinfulness and self deception which
is destroying us, as some years later, when we become aware of
subtle attachments, or even later when we love so much that we
become sensitive to the needs of our brothers and sisters around
us.
God's plan for each
one of us has many degrees. What is needed from our side is a free
and loving acceptance of His will. That we let our hearts be
inspired by God's loving presence. We can divide our spiritual
journey into three stages:
a) In the Morality
stage we come to understand and reject evil and deception. We love
goodness and honesty. The law is being written in our hearts. The
Spirit moves us to wish and desire what is pure, good and true. As
soon as we fail to do what we know is right, we acknowledge our
wrong and let the Spirit bring us back.
b) As we grow spiritually we let the Spirit transform us beyond
the requirements of morality. We wish to live by the Spirit of
Jesus. Our wishes and desires are inspired by the example and
presence of Christ.
c) Little by little we show in our lives the fruits of the Spirit:
peace, courage, wisdom, understanding...
5) The final test
of our prayer life is the maturity of our behaviour in daily life.
There are many spirits. The evil spirits will disguise themselves
as angels of light to seduce us. When we want to live by the
Spirit the evil spirit will tempt us to do "good" things, but
under his influence we will waste time, create confusion and even
drift away from God. In the meditations of the TWO STANDARDS we
pray for the grace to understand the snares and deception of the
enemy. We ask for the grace of discernment, for the "sense of
God".
We always can be seduced by attachment to things and people. Our
"ego" can become stronger and the Spirit of Christ weaker. It is
through our behaviour that we will know the spirits that move us.
We have to pay attention to our feelings, to our relationships, to
our inner detachment as well as to our desires for poverty and
humility. We know the Holy Spirit is moving our hearts when our
behaviour is more and more like that of Christ.
THE LANGUAGE OF GOD - We want to help our young friends
understand the language of God. In other words: how does God
communicate with us? Starting with the two evenings before the
retreat, in the opening talk, in the short guidelines we give them
throughout the retreat, we have to initiate them into the
"language of God". Since the Word of God became human, we have to
look at the human person in order to understand God's Word. Each
one of us, in our humanity, is the privileged ground where God
wants to reveal Himself. Therefore the basic guidelines are:
1) "Who am I?" My future is wrapped up in mystery in
God's heart.
2) We pray in the name of Jesus.
3) The Spirit communicates with us through inner
movement and light.
4) The Spirit quietly invites us and doesn't impose
Himself on us.
5) God's inspirations do not exempt us from the need to
study, consult and decide.
6) God talks to us through the experiences of life.
1) Who am I? My
future is wrapped up in mystery in GOD'S HEART. By His
invitations and calls, God reveals to me who I am. The more I
surrender to Him and let His Spirit guide and transform me, the
better I discover who I am. God brings the best out of me.
Therefore I do not want to guide God and win Him over to my own
plans. God is the one who has to guide me according to His plans.
The reason why I wish to listen to His calls is that I believe in
His love and in his calling.
We do not see the retreat and our encounters with God in a
negative way: finding all the sins we have committed in our daily
life! God is not a "law enforcement officer" whom we wish to avoid
as much as possible. God is our best friend, "Emmanuel", "God on
our side" like a doctor, a lawyer and guide. We are not afraid of
God as being too demanding. We do not believe that "God makes
suffer those whom He loves". God comes to us as "good news" and
His Spirit brings us joy and peace. Mary encourages us to
surrender our hearts to God. She was not God's victim. Mary was a
victim of our sinfulness. In God Mary found strength, hope and
joy.
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