This morning in meditation, I went through my
retreat notes. The director to which I
was assigned asked each of her directees to begin each prayer hour by telling
God what grace we wanted from that prayer hour but to also ask God what grace
He wanted for us during that time. In
all of them I asked the Lord for the grace of intimacy. Other gifts for which I asked were a deepening
of my faith and trust. Many times, the graces which God
asked for me were similar to what I was asking.
Here is one of the gems
of that week spent alone with the Lord:
The Lord reminded me that
His love for me is everlasting, eternal, forever (He really wanted me to
understand the “forever”); that He loved me before I was born, created me out
of love, that I have been placed here on earth to learn to love and to be loved
and loving. He also reminded me that I
am to love others as He loves me, that is, unconditionally. He asked that I love them through their
difficulties and when they are being difficult, as the one suffering the most
when they are difficult is the persons themselves. Therefore, it is important,
especially at those times, as the Lord prompted me, to be gentle, kind, compassionate
and loving. A difficult person may be
unaware of being difficult and it is then that kindness, gentleness, compassion
and love are extremely important.
There are many other retreat
gems that I might share with you throughout the year! I encourage you, if possible, to take time
apart to just be with the Lord in prayer and reflections on the Scriptures. I
encourage you to watch for opportunities at retreat centers for this kind of
space alone with God.
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