Day 7 - March 13

The Joy of Mercy Online Lenten Retreat

Day 7 – March 13

Today’s Theme: “What Difference Can I Make?”

Today’s Scripture

And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” -- Matthew 25:40

Fr. Kempf’s Reflection

   Given the enormity of the suffering in this world, it can often feel like we have so little to offer. But we must do what we can.

   Once a woman brought her young child to see a concert by the great pianist Ignacy Paderewski. Before the concert, she was talking to a friend sitting next to her and didn’t notice that her son had slipped away until the lights dimmed. As the curtains opened she saw to her horror that her son was sitting at the concert piano plunking out the tune “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

   At that very moment, Paderewski came out to begin. He saw the child and realized what was happening. So he slipped in behind the young boy and whispered, “Keep playing.” As the little boy played the tune “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” with one finger, Paderewski put his hands on either side and began to fill in a wonderful accompaniment, to the delight of the entire crowd. They both bowed, and the little boy went back to Mom.

   And so it is with our efforts to reach out to those who are hurting in any way. We can’t fix it all. But we can offer our simple bit of help, and God, the master musician, fills in around us to make something wonderful from our simple efforts.

(Excerpted from Two Minutes Toward Meaningful Living)

When or how have I experienced God, the master musician, “filling in around me” to make something wonderful from my efforts?

When and how might God be able to do this if I only gave God the chance?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful God, make me an instrument of your peace. Help me to do my part to make a difference in this world.

Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.

Used with Permission.  All Rights Reserved.  

Day 6 - March 12

The Joy of Mercy Online Lenten Retreat

Day 6 – March 12

Today’s Theme: “To Whom Do You Listen?”

Today’s Scripture

Let anyone with ears listen! -- Matthew 11:15

Fr. Kempf’s Reflection

   Years ago, I was hiking with some friends in the mountains. On a narrow path on the side of a mountain we were suddenly face-to-face with a black bear. We called to Tom, who was in front, to back up. But Tom didn’t move. The black bear raised itself up on its back legs and then let its front legs drop back to the ground in an effort to back us up, but Tom still stood there. Tom’s wife called out to him, “Tommie, don’t be stupid.” When he heard that, Tom came back to where we were, which freed up enough space for the bear to find a way off the path down the mountain. Tom listened to his wife.

   Do you let anyone challenge you? To whom do you give authority? We all need a willingness to let someone outside ourselves speak a difficult word that we might need to hear. It is easy to find people who will say what we want to hear, but are we willing to hear the difficult word that challenges us?

   God often speaks through those we don’t expect: sometimes the imperfect and ordinary people right around us. Who causes you to grow?

   Ultimately, Tom listened to his wife. To whom will YOU listen?

(Excerpted from Two Minutes Toward Meaningful Living)

Who are the people who generally agree with me? 

Who are the people who do (or might) challenge me when I gave them the chance?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful God, I need YOUR wisdom. Speak, O Lord, and help me listen.

Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.

Used with Permission.  All Rights Reserved. 

Day 5 - March 11

The Joy of Mercy Online Lenten Retreat

Day 5 – March 11

Today’s Theme: “Make Every Moment Count”

Today’s Scripture

Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. -- Luke 10:41

Fr. Kempf’s Reflection

   Maybe you are a worrier. Maybe you think those bad things didn’t happen because you worried. No. Worry didn’t help anything. It just kept you from being as alive in the present as you could have been. When the anxiety comes, acknowledge it. But don’t stay there.

  In Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, a high-school girl, Emily Gibbs, dies. She pleads to return to earth for just one day. She is told that she will have to live it just like she did, and no one but her would know she is back for just one day. She pleads and argues, and they finally let her go. Emily goes back to earth for her 12th birthday, the day was for her painful and sad as she watched so many troubled and worried people race through their day. Dad offers her a birthday greeting then bustles off to work. On the inside she is screaming, “But, Dad, I only have this one day. Just look at me. I want to drink in your face.” Mom wishes her a happy birthday, then tells her to get dressed and ready for school, while she cries out—on the inside—“But, Mom, I only have this one chance.”

   At the end of this day, she says: “Wait. One more look. Goodbye world! Goodbye Grover’s Corners—Goodbye Mama and Papa—Goodbye to clocks ticking—and Mama’s sunflowers—and food and coffee—and sleeping and waking up!”  And she ends so sadly, “Oh earth, you are too wonderful for anyone to realize you.”

   Jesus offers a different way than the worry that keeps us from being truly alive. He says, “Don’t worry. Just love now.”

(Excerpted from Two Minutes Toward Meaningful Living)

Who are the people in my life who might be saying to me, “I only have this one day”?

What would change if I could really believe, “Oh earth, you are too wonderful for anyone to realize you”?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful God, help me see this ordinary day for what it is: precious; filled with you.

Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.

Used with Permission.  All Rights Reserved.  

Day 4 - March 10

The Joy of Mercy Online Lenten Retreat

Day 4 – March 10

Today’s Theme: “One Essential Ingredient”

Today’s Scripture

That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by. -- Ecclesiastes 3:15

Fr. Kempf’s Reflection

   Worry has a corrosive power that eats away at our bodies, our relationships, our peace of heart. What if we did what Jesus said and chose, instead of worrying, to just “seek the kingdom”? In other words, to just love.

   In any moment, worry will not help me in any way. It will rob me of the life and joy that is only found in the present moment. Whatever the worries or tensions, regrets or fears, one thing only is asked of me: to love now.

   We hold firm to what we know is true. We trust. For me, that means—not that everything will be okay but that—no matter what life holds, I can be okay. And so, instead of worrying, I am called just to love now.

   That is all that I really can do. That is all I need to do. It is one of the essential ingredients of a holy, happy, joy-filled life.

   Jesus is not saying don’t plan for the future. He knows we have to think ahead and use our brains. He is just saying don’t live there. Live now. Love now.

   Jesus is not saying don’t learn from the past or act like it didn’t happen. He is just saying don’t live there. Live now. Love now.

(Excerpted from Two Minutes Toward Meaningful Living)

When or how have I experienced the fact that “not everything will be okay” but “I can be okay”?

In what ways am I living in the past?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful God, help me to feel the peace of your presence within me. And when I can’t feel it, help me choose to trust that you are there.

Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.

Used with Permission.  All Rights Reserved. 

Day 3 - March 9

The Joy of Mercy Online Lenten Retreat

Day 3 – March 9

Today’s Theme: “Who Me? Worried?”

Today’s Scripture

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.  -- Matthew 6:25

Fr. Kempf’s Reflection

   Do you ever worry? Maybe you even worry about whether you can be forgiven. Or maybe someone else’s harmful actions cause you anxiety, and forgiveness is difficult.

   Perhaps this part of a longer prayer I wrote will help you:

I know that You are with me.
You’ll never go away.
Things aren’t the way I wanted,
but You are here to stay.

We are troubled. We do worry:

When we think we don’t have money to pay our bills.
When we wonder whether we will get good grades or whether our children will.
When our car makes a noise that we haven’t heard before or our body gets a lump that we haven’t felt before.
When the conversation didn’t go well and we think the other person is mad.

   We worry…we worry a lot.

   Jesus comes to us in the midst of all that in our Scriptures and says: “Do not worry.” Remember that Jesus, even as he told people not to worry, could see his own cross looming on the horizon. The famous preacher from some years ago, Charles Spurgeon, put it this way: “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its trials; it simply empties today of its joy.”

(Excerpted from Two Minutes Toward Meaningful Living)

What things do I worry about the most?

If Jesus came to me, what would he say about those things I worry about so much?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful God, so often I do worry. Yet, you have promised to be with me always. Free me from the grip of my worries, and help me to trust your amazing and unconditional love.

Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.

Used with Permission.  All Rights Reserved.  

Day 2 - March 8

The Joy of Mercy Online Lenten Retreat

Day 2 – March 8

Today’s Theme: “Know That You Are Loved”

Today’s Scripture

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. -- Luke 6:36

Fr. Kempf’s Reflection

   Once I was visiting a friend of mine while his two children played in the other room. We overheard the older of the two, in an attempt to get her younger brother to behave, say to him, “If you don’t stop that, Daddy isn’t going to love you anymore.” My friend knew it was one of “those moments,” so he went into the room (while I peeked through the crack between the wall and the door). He put one child on each leg and said to them, “It is very important to me that you understand this: Your daddy loves you always. When you behave well, I love you with a happy heart. When you misbehave, I love you with a sad heart. But I will always love you.”

   Those children are fortunate to have such a father. They will be able, perhaps more than many, to understand the incredible mercy of God and that they are more than their sin.

   We are so much more than our sin. Yes, we are each a mix of saint and sinner and are in trouble if we deny either part of that. Perhaps we sometimes don’t see the reality and the consequences of our sin and its harm on the world. There is also, however, a temptation for many to over-identify with our sin. Maybe there are those who never let us live down our past mistakes, as if that were mostly who we are.

   No. You are so much more than your sin. Whether or not you heard this growing up, God would say to you, “Deep down you are good, you are wanted, you are loved for yourself as you are. In my heart, you are safe. You are more than your sin.”

(Excerpted from Mercy--A Message for Children)

When and how do I fail to see the consequences of my sin?

When and how do I fail to realize that I am more than my sin?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful God, sometimes it is hard for me to trust that you love me just like I am. But—even with all my faults—you deeply love me. You do.

Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.

Used with Permission.  All Rights Reserved. 

Day 1 - March 7

The Joy of Mercy Online Lenten Retreat

Day 1 – March 7

Today’s Theme: “There Is No Life in Sin”

Today’s Scripture

A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. -- Luke 15:13

Fr. Kempf’s Reflection

   A teenage Sunday school class was asked to describe the parable of the Prodigal Son in their own words. One young man rose and said the following: “Once, a kid talked his dad into giving him a lot of money. Then he took off, ran away from home and spent half his money on wine, women and song.” He added: “And then he wasted the other half.”

   The primary sin of the son in this story is not that he spent his money on wild and dissolute living—not that we are encouraging that. But by Jewish law, one does not get his father’s inheritance unless dad is dead. By asking for his share of the inheritance now, he basically says, “I wish you were dead. But since you are not, you will be like dead to me.” It was like spitting in his father’s face. Then, off he went, messing up his life as only sin can do.

   But then came one of those key moments in his life—as in the lives of all of us sinners: he came to his senses, thinking, What am I doing? This is waking up. Sin is a false light. There is no life there. This is such an important awareness…and it is itself a gift of God.

(excerpted from Mercy--The Sacrament of Reconciliation)

Who are the people who I treat as if they were dead to me?

What habits or attitudes do I have in which there is “no life there”?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful God, the “false light” of sin is so alluring. Yet it does not hold life. Remind me of the deeper joy that comes from your way. Help me be willing to “wake up” to your call.

Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.

Used with Permission.  All Rights Reserved. 

Introduction

The Joy of Mercy—Forgiving and Forgiven

Introduction

Welcome to our online Lenten Retreat for 2016.  This daily retreat is designed to give you an opportunity for prayer and reflection during this Lenten season.

You may use the retreat at any time and in any environment that is convenient and conducive to your personal prayer and reflection.  You may also use the retreat in a family or faith-sharing environment.  Don’t worry if you miss a day; you do not have to complete the retreat on the appointed days.

Here are some suggestions which you might find helpful:

1. Choose a time and location for your daily retreat.

2. Take a few moments to relax and quiet yourself before you begin the retreat.  If necessary, make a list of the things you need to do or think about after you have finished your prayer and reflection—this will help insure that these things don’t distract you during your retreat time.  Notice the theme for the day’s reflection.

3. Read the daily Scripture.  Read it a second time if you wish.  Consider what words, phrases or ideas stand out for you.  In what way might you “connect” to this scripture reading?

4. Read Fr. Kempf’s reflection.  Think about the ways in which you can identify with what he has written.  Are there ways in which your experience is similar or different?  The questions following the reflection may help you think more about the reading. 

5. If time permits, spend a few minutes pondering the reflection and its connection to your own life.  How would you summarize the point of today’s reflection?  How does it apply to your own life?

6. Pray today’s prayer.  Pray it a second time if you wish.  Try to identify a word or phrase you want to remember and repeat throughout the day.

Remember to share your thoughts or insights with other people participating in this retreat.

We wish you a blessed and fruitful retreat experience.

The material in this year’s online retreat is excerpted from The Joy of Mercy—Forgiving and Forgiven,  published by Creative Communications for the Parish.  This material is copyrighted and all rights are reserved.  Published by special arrangement with Creative Communications for the Parish.