St. EugeneFaculty Retreat

Conference #1

Marriage, Mary and the Wedding Feast of Cana

Changing Water……into Wine

Lord Jesus Christ, We thank you for having called us together here.

We offer you what we are about to undertake,everything we think, do and experience

    during these coming days in your honor.

We also offer you any fatigue of this day,from the various events of the past week,    because this - too - is our “daily bread.”

Grant that we may begin this retreat with a spirit of hope and anticipation

That you will feed our hearts and souls in the days ahead...

    in the name of the Father and of the Son    and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

• Interactive• Challenging

Conferences will be….

• Coherent• Audible• Paced• Relevant• Fun

Presentations should be….

PreambleReading the “Signs of the

Times”

“Faith impels us to read and discern the signs of

the times in the present history.”

Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict XVI, 2012

“(The current times) should prove a stimulus to the Church: To increase its vitality, To take stock of itself, To give careful consideration to the signs of

the times,

Always and everywhere ‘proving all things and holding fast that which is good.’"

(Ecclesiam Suam, Encyclical by Paul VI “On The Church,” 1964 )

Preamble

Preamble

In other words, the Church asks:

Where were we? …….. Where are we? ……… Where are we going? .. What’s good? ……….. What’s not? ………….

(Past) (Present) (Future) (Keep or make

better) (Change or discard)

And….how do we discern this? (next slide)

Reading the “Signs of the Times”

An Interactive Exercise

As a Church, where do we see:

An increase in vitality? The Church taking stock of itself? The Church giving careful consideration

to the signs of the times? “Holding fast that which is good"

Reading the “Signs of the Times”

As a Church, where do we NOT see:

An increase in vitality? The Church taking stock of itself? The Church giving careful consideration to

the signs of the times? “Holding fast that which is good"

Reading the “Signs of the Times”

As a BELIEVER:

Where do you see an increase in vitality in you life?

How are your taking stock of yourself? Who helps you give careful consideration

to the signs of the times? What is good in your life to which you

are, and should be, “holding fast?”

Reading the “Signs of the Times”

As a BELIEVER, where does there need to be conversion/redemption: What areas of your life are lacking vitality? What areas of your life have not been examined?

(“Taking stock of yourself”) Whom do you still need to consult to give

“careful consideration to the signs of the times?”

What is NOT good in your life onto which you are still “holding fast?”

Reading the “Signs of the Times”

Questions:What is this that we’re doing?

Why is this important?

What saint is famous for this process?

Extra Credit:What religious order did he found?

What book did he write?What Pope is a member of this order?

What secular examples do we have of this process?

“They asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works of God?’ Jesus

answered …

(To start….) “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:28-29 (NIV)

But what does that look like ?(2 examples)

Christifideles LaiciGifts, Charisms

and the Dignity of the Lay Faithful.”

Spiritual Gifts Inventory

Catherine of Siena Institute

Gifts vs. Charisms

What’s the Difference?

Gifts vs. Charisms

Gifts :Difference?

Supernatural Given by God TO

you… Given by God FOR

you For your

sanctification

Charisms :

Natural Given by God TO

you… …for OTHERS! For their consolation

Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Gifts:

1. Wisdom (desire spiritual > temporal) …..2. Understanding (know truths beyond faith).. 3. Knowledge (circumstances) ……………….4. Counsel (right/wrong judgment) …………. 5. Fortitude (courage) ………………………………6. Piety (reverence)…………………………………...7. Fear of the Lord (wonder and awe)………..

Corresponding Virtues:

Charity Faith Faith Prudence Courage Justice Hope

But what are charisms?How do In know which charisms

I have?

Charisms: Sacrificial & Consecrating

Penance/ConfessionObedienceMartyrdom

Silence Solitude Prayer Charity Poverty

Charisms: Speaking

• Teaching• Exhorting/

Encouraging• Pastoring/

Shepherding• Apostleship• Evangelization

Words of Knowledge

Words of Wisdom

Prophesy Tongues Interpretation

Charisms: Ministering

• Helping• Hospitality• Giving• Government/

Ruling• Showing Mercy

Faith Discernmen

t Miracles Healing Exorcism

Charisms… determining, and discerning

Discerning Ministries and Charisms:

Catherine of Siena Institute

“Called and Gifted” “

Spiritual Gifts Inventory”

Steps:

Explanation and inventory First session (1 hour ) Going in Depth Discern How to Apply in

Life Start to Apply / Experience Re-Discern

How could do you do this on your own ?

End of PART 1

“They have no wine” (John 2:3)

St. Eugene Faculty RetreatFaculty RetreatConference #2

Goals

•Information, leading to…

•Formation, providing..

•Hope.

Are Catholics “allowed” to read the Bible?

Pope Pius XII – “Divino Afflante Spiritu” (1943)

Pope Pius XII Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943)

•Let also the minds of the faithful be nourished with this same food, that they may draw from [the Bible] the knowledge and love of God and the progress in perfection and the happiness of their own individual souls.

The “Big Questions”• Suffering

• My Family

• What Should Lay People Do? ▫(vs priests & nuns)

• Women

• Human Sexuality

Where we get the answers.

The Word !

But what exactly is “The Word” ?

The Word (Reformation / evangelical Theology)

• The Word = The Bible

• Whole of Christian truth - found within Bible’s pages.

• All material needed for understanding:▫Who is God▫Who am I▫My relationship with God▫My relationships with others

The Word (Reformation / evangelical Theology)

• Material sufficiently clear…

• No need for any other teaching authority to help one understand it. ▫ (Like “apostolic tradition” or the Church’s

“Magisterium”)

• Anything extraneous to the Bible is unnecessary, non-authoritative or wrong - may well hinder one in coming to God.▫ (ibid) 

The “Word” (Catholic Tradition)

• Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God ▫ (Vatican II, Dei Verbum para. 10)

• …there exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture.

• Both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, merge into a unity. (Ibid)

• Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit …

The “Word” (Catholic Tradition)

• …while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity …

• ….so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may - in proclaiming it - preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known.

i.e. … applying the Scriptures, in practical ways, to everyday situations in our lives.

The “Word” (Catholic Tradition)

• Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed.

▫ Both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence.

▫ (Vatican II, Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation para. 10))

The “Word” (Catholic Tradition)

New wine – New wineskins

• Mark 2:22 …

• “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; ▫ or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, ▫ the wine is spilled, ▫ and the wineskins are ruined.

• New wine must be put into new wineskins.”

As Catholics, how do we begin applying the

“Word” – in new ways – in our lives today ?

The “Great Questions”• Suffering

▫When Bad Things Happen to Good People (Rabbi Harold Kushner)

▫Salvifici Doloris (1984 Pope John Paul II)

• Family (1981, Familiaris Consortio)

• Laity (1988, Christifidelis Laici)

The “Great Questions”

• Women (1988, Mulinaris Dignitatem)

• Human Sexuality ▫ (1968, Humanae Vitae, Paul VI)▫ (1979-1984, Theology of the Body, John Paul II)

For Adults For Young Adults

“An encounter with the ‘Word’ is an encounter with Christ (St. Jerome)

Other Real World Examples

Faith in ActionMary as the Model

Faith Applied in Action:

•Discern for yourself what the Lord is telling you during your retreat this year.

•Discuss this three times with at least one person over the course of the next year.

Faith Applied in Action:

•There are 18 Marian celebrations and feast days…

•Celebrate just one of these days that honor Mary this year.

Faith Applied in Action:

•Commit to saying the Rosary (or Divine Chaplet) daily during October, the month dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.

Faith Applied in Action:

•Mary is mentioned close to 50 times in the New Testament. …

•Over the next year, chose and read just one Marian story or passage. Sit with and pray with this passage for one week from one Saturday to the next.

Mary as the Model

What you might experience:When you do this:

• Joy

• Trepidation

• Trust

• Confusion

• Wonder

• Treasuring Memories▫ “Pondering”

• Meditation▫ “Reflecting”

• Tasting ▫ The fruits

End Presentation…St. Eugene FacultyConference #2