How often have we heard or given the advice , “Be true to yourself”? It seems very simple but if you sincerely want to do that you may come face to face with a real dilemma – do I really know who I am? Is there a blueprint or a guidebook that can help me in this quest? For teenagers and young adults this journey to self-knowledge is a necessary stage of development. But it does not end when we are old enough to vote or drink or serve in the military. Usually that is the beginning and there is no time limit on how long the search will last.
For the Christian this is more than a self-centered search for the happiness that is promised by our culture. We believe that it is only in God and with God that we come to realize the wonder and spiritual power of being created in the image of God.
This retreat season we will enter into the richness and depth of Psalm 139. It is more than a beautiful prayer. It is an invitation to become aware of the tremendous intimacy that is possible in our relationship with God. God sees who we are and who we can become. God loves the totality of the you and the me He created. God embraces us when we reflect our potential for goodness and grace. God gently leads us out from behind the masks and false images that we create for ourselves.
Can you welcome and love the totality of that person God loves ?
This is the path to holiness and it is the promise of Psalm 139.
“Lord, you have probed me, you know me: You know when I sit and stand; You understand my thoughts from afar. My travels and my rest you mark; With all my ways you are familiar. ..behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me. I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works!
Come on retreat this season. Meet the person God loves. YOU!
The Weekend Retreat: An Opportunity for Grace
Among the many types of retreats and day programs that find a home at Our Lady Queen of Peace Retreat Center, the weekend retreat continues to be a particularly significant means of coming to know God and oneself. The retreat is a forty eight hour experience providing participants with a variety of ways to pray, to share faith, to be alone with God. The weekend theme is woven throughout the prayer services, conferences, small group discussions and reading materials that are provided for quiet time.
Since we began the weekend retreats, the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. This has been affirmed over and over by the number of retreatants who return each year.
If you have not come on a weekend retreat recently or if you have never come, consider making a retreat in 2011-12. While weekend retreats are usually sponsored by a particular parish, they are open to everyone. As money gets tighter it may seem that coming on a retreat is an unnecessary luxury. Perhaps this is where paying attention to the nudging of the Spirit is a very good investment – one that will definitely reap surprising dividends!
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