An 8-Day Self-Directed Retreat Advent of Hope, Peace, Joy, Love
- Shields-Wright & Vigliotta
- Nov 17, 2022
- 11 min read
Follow the Way of Mary and Her family towards Christ the King
As the people of Israel waited for generations for the promise of the Messiah, we share in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming by recalling the mysteries in the Gospels of Son of God becoming man for us. For Advent is a time of preparation, of waiting, of longing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and a time of renewing our desire for Christ’s second coming. (CCC #524)
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary
Preparing for Your Retreat
Review of Retreat Guidelines and Prayers
Links to Ways of Prayer
Night Before Preparations
In preparing for tomorrow’s prayer period: read the next day's meditations for understanding; and "after retiring, just before falling asleep, for the space of a Hail Mary, I will think of the hour when I have to rise, what I am rising, and briefly sum up the exercise I have to go through" (SE 73).*
Retreat Mornings - Preparatory, Lectio, Close, Reflection
Each morning consists of the Preparatory, the Exercise ( Lectio), Close, and Reflection
1. Preparatory Prayers: See below.
2. Lectio: Imaginative Contemplation Read the mystery slowly and pray attentively using all of your faculties - faith, and feelings - your interior senses, imagination, recall – as you pray with each section.
What do you sense were the experiences of Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, and the crowds? Imagine being present there - what do you see, hear, and smell?Where are you in the scene?
3. Close of the Prayer: Close your prayer time with your own words ( a colloquy), then a vocal formal prayer (Our Father, Hail Mary, or Glory Be)
4. Reflection: At the end of each prayer period, note down your experiences on what were your insights, feelings, thoughts, images, and memories that came up for you.
Sit a while to savor the graces.
Retreat Day Time - Recalling
During the day, let your heart settle within the morning's contemplation
Retreat Evenings - Examen, Journaling
Pray The Examen. Consider the graces from your Morning Prayer time and Day time recalling.
Journaling is recommended after your review in the morning or after your Examen in the evening.
Self-directed or Directed
Due to the intensity of reflecting upon scriptures, it is recommended to be accompanied along with way. This self-retreat is designed for those with experience in the ascetical ways of prayer. We recommend, if you are new to mental (discursive or interior) prayer or to Ignatian Retreats, to consider a director to accompany you along with way.
Preparatory Prayers
Offertory Prayer
Beginning your prayer time: At the beginning of each prayer period, offer yourself to the Lord. Pray the “Take and Receive”
Take Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me.
To Thee, O Lord, I return it.
All is Thine; dispose of it wholly according to Thy will.
Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this, is sufficient for me.
Amen
Preparatory Prayer
“The preparatory prayer is to ask, God Our Lord for the grace is that all my intentions ( wants and desires) , actions, and operations (Interior mental activities) , maybe order purely to the service in praise of the Divine Majesty” (SE 46).*
Write in your own words your intentions ____________________________________________
Petitionary Prayer
Now being situated within the mystery, after reading it the night before (or before the prayer period begins) we ask for what we desire from the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how we may go forth to meet the will of God.
Share your desires with the Lord for this day's retreat. ______________________________
Suggested Petitionary Prayer by St. Ignatius
Lord, grant me the grace of an "intimate knowledge of our Lord, who has become man for me, that I may love Him more and follow Him more closely." (SE 104)*
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Mysteries
The gospels were written as an account of time past so we may know the truth.
Day 1: Beginning With Hope That God Promised A Savior
The Protevangelium (Gn 3:9-15, 20)
The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat? The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me— she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.”
The Lord God then asked the woman: What is this you have done? The woman answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the snake: Because you have done this, cursed are you among all the animals, tame or wild; On your belly you shall crawl, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head,while you strike at their heel. The man gave his wife the name “Eve,” because she was the mother of all the living.
Day 2: Moving From Shame to Trust
You Are The Potter (IS 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7)
You, LORD, are our father,
our redeemer you are named forever.
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
with the mountains quaking before you,
while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,
such as they had not heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.
Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways!
Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;
all of us have become like unclean people,
all our good deeds are like polluted rags;
we have all withered like leaves,
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.
There is none who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to cling to you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.
Day 3: Moving from Doubt to Desire
The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold (Luke 1:5-25)
In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.e
Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John.f
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of [the] Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.* He will be filled with the holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah* to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.” Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel,* who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute. Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home. After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”
Day 4: Moving from Fear to Humility
The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38)
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.lAnd coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived* a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Day 5: Moving from Gratitude to Praise
The Visitation & Magnificat (Luke 1:39-55)
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “ Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord* should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed* that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
The Canticle of Mary.
And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm,
dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones
but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped Israel his servant,
remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Day 6: Discernment to Obedience
Annunciation To Joseph (Matt 1:18-25)
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord* appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,* because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, ”which means “God is with us.”When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus
Day 7: Wondering
Birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:57-66)
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcision the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.”
But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
Day 8: Proclaiming
Zechariah's Prophecy (Luke 1:67-80)
Then Zechariah his father, filled with the holy Spirit, prophesied, saying:
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has visited and brought redemption to his people.
He has raised up a horn for our salvation
within the house of David his servant,
even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to be mindful of his holy covenant
and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father,
and to grant us that, rescued from the hand of enemies,
without fear we might worship him
in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord* to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our Gods
by which the daybreak from on high* will visit us
to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow,
to guide our feet into the path of peace."
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert
until the day of his manifestation to Israel.
*(SE#) All quotes are taken from The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: based on Studies in the Language of the Autograph by Louis, J. Puhl. SJ
Comentarios