​Notes from the MALVERN RETREAT Sept. 28-30, 2018

INTRO (Fr. Dan):

• It is Christ who calls you on retreat, not you who “go” on retreat
• Identify how Christ speaks to you
• Spiritual life isn’t a circle, it’s a progression into a deeper relationship
• Ask the Lord to reveal where you disengage, reveal distractions that feed your emotions.  Are distractions your way of detaching from the Lord? (kids, job, etc.)

HOMILY 1 (Fr. Dan):
Church is on pilgrimage

• Matt 8:26: “You of little faith … why are you so afraid?”
• Go “lightly-clad” knowing you will make it through desert
• Matt 12:43-44: vacuum in hearts → crisis in Church
  • Emptying heart in spiritual direction doesn’t = filling void. Dead parts need to be handed over to Christ
• Restoration = return to fullness at baptism
• Grateful heart fills vacuum

Home visits

• Luke 19:5-10: Zacchaeus: result of encounter →  restoration of identity (salvation comes into the heart)
• Matthew 8:14-15: Peter’s mother-in-law: result of encounter → service (God’s presence in your life)
• Matthew 9:23-25: deceased daughter: result of encounter → new life
• Luke 15:11-31: Prodigal son: result of encounter → authentic joy

Christ’s gaze

• Mark 10:21: Rich young man: Christ looks at him with love → invitation into intimacy, rejection of Christ’s invitation/inability to see Christ’s gaze → we go away sad
• John 4:1-42: Woman at the well: Christ speaks into her heart→ she is restored by his gaze
• John 19:25-27: Foot of the Cross: Christ looks at us in our suffering → He offers his mother in our homes

TALK 1 (Fr. Dan):
Suffering

• At the foot of the cross you will always find a faithful woman
• “Wherever there is suffering there is solidarity”
• Understanding your own suffering → enter pain of church with salvific understanding
• Wounds in Mother Church → attack on unresolved wounds in individual hearts
• Mary is immovable, always at foot of cross
• John 3:16: “For God so loved the world”. The greater the suffering, the greater the desire of God to place His son in its midst
• Christ enters suffering through a woman, baby in womb starts process of restoration
• Christ came as a priest. Priest = one willing to sacrifice entire life
• Matthew 10:22: Take up your cross → rejection/misunderstood hated for His sake → acceptance in face of rejection → purpose and co-redemption
• Mark 10:29:  detachment
• Luke 4:40: allow Christ to heal you, and receive healing joyfully

HOMILY 2 (Fr. Swink):

• Servium, morning offering
• St. Michael chaplet
• St. Michael: “Who is like God,” St Raphael: “God’s remedy,” St. Gabriel: “Strength of God”

TALK 2 (Fr. Swink):

• Mark 4:35-41: Storm on the Sea of Galilee
• Dream of Don Bosco, Church sails through pillars of 1) Our Lady 2) The Eucharist to safety
• Focus on Christ, not the storm
• 2 Timothy 2:16: avoid idle talk and godless chatter
• Pope Pius: “renew all things in Christ”, moral relativism
• When a priest dies, Christ will ask him, “were you Me to them?” When a priest isn’t Christ, souls aren’t saved
• Love the Pope but read the Catechism. LINK to Father Swink's Talks on the Catechism: https://www.sacredheartlaplata.org/rcia.html
• Rebuild the church on your knees
• 7 sisters apostolate (www.sevensistersapostolate.org)
• “Woman behold your son, son behold your mother”: The priest who loves Jesus is always going to his mother
• Lady of Fatima: Are you willing to offer your suffering for the conversion of sinners?
• mortifications=little deaths
• First a priest has to deny himself, then teach the people to die to themselves
• Fridays are for fasts or suitable sacrifices
• “Give me an army praying the rosary and I will conquer the world”

TALK 3 (Fr. Dan):

• What does it mean to RISE?
• 1) Fear 2) Sadness 3) Locking Christ out.  All are affecting the Church.
• Luke 24:17: Road to Emmaus - sadness defies the virtue of hope
• John 20:19:  Doors were locked for fear of the Jews
• Luke 1:45:  “Blessed is she who believed” -  Belief that we will suffer - die - and rise!

Live in hope - bring light to the situation - Mary doesn’t commiserate

Mark 1:11 The Baptism of the Lord
Christ: IDENTITY “This is my beloved son,” encounter with the Father
Church: Renewal
Daughter of God: Believe you are Beloved

Mark 1:12-13 The Temptation in the Desert
Christ: TEMPTATION
Church: Confrontation
Daughter of God: Evil one attacks your belief in your identity

Mark 1: 14-15 The Preaching of Good News
Christ: PREACHING
Church: Strengthening / protection
Daughter of God: Person/woman of immovable faith

Hear these things in YOUR heart and in MARY’S heart.  Pray for Joy and Gratitude.

Luke 1:29 The Annunciation
Grace: communion
Contradiction: doubt/troubled heart
Response: purity on the deepest level

Matthew 2:8 The Birth of Jesus
Grace: new life / adoration
Contradiction: fear
Response: confident trust

Matthew 2:16-19 The Flight into Egypt
Grace: trust
Contradiction: rage/lack of peace/homelessness
Response: perseverance

John 2:7 The Wedding Feast at Cana
Grace: awareness/effort to fill jars
Contradiction: control/embarrassment
Response: The Eucharist (unmoveable)

John 19:27 The Foot of the Cross
Grace: freedom/Marian presence
Contradiction: sadness/desolation
Response: salvation/hope


TALK 4 (Fr. Dan):

• Luke 2:41-51: Jesus is found in the temple. Church is a dynamic moving encounter. Have we lost the child during this current crisis? He can be found in the temple. Mary and Joseph searched for 3 days among kin and acquaintances. We need to seek him in the house of the Father.
• Can’t just look for him in other people, but in the temple of our hearts in the intimacy of the Father
• John 14:17: Spirit of truth - ask and you will get it
• John 15:26: Sending of the Advocate who gives the grace to be witness in and out of the temple
• John 16:13: Spirit will guide you to all truth
• Upper room=symbol of Church
• John 15:12: Spirit teaches how to love; sacrificial love, humble service, real joy
• John 13:3-15: Washing of feet. Spirit leads to humble service (not volunteerism) and communion
• John 15:11: Spirit gives joy so that your joy will be complete
• John 15: 1-8: “I am the vine, you are the branches” Spirit leads to great communion, never isolation or fleeing
• Spirit of God pulsates life into your members
• John 14:27: Spirit gives lasting peace.  Peace of the spirit differs from peace of the world. Culture’s peace = absence of violence or a sense of success and cleanliness, Spirit’s peace = inner freedom
• Signs of the Spirit = peace, service, joy
• John 14:3: Christ prepares a place for us, and returns to us. Are we ready or are we distracted?
• John 14:23: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” God makes His dwelling place within us. Don’t get caught up in what our exterior should look like.
• There was a false spirit at the Last Supper - but the ambiance was agape love. Don’t look out the window at Judas - stay present in the encounter with Christ.

HOMILY 3 (Fr. Darrin):

• God doesn’t want us to be gold-plated, but pure gold
• Become a living flame of Love
• “I will raise up a great army of little saints” St Therese
• “My mission is to make Love loved” St Therese
• How many souls will be in heaven because you said “yes”
• Nuclear explosion has an epicenter, and that epicenter is Love
• God wants to work miracles through you