18 March 2024 · 2024-03 newsletter
Michelle Davis, Single Women’s League. Agnes Aldana, Single Women’s League & PMA Coordinator
The 2024 Lenten Retreat Weekend for Women took place at Mt. Schoenstatt, Mulgoa from Friday evening, 16th February to Sunday afternoon, 28th February. The theme was taken from Jn 3:16 – “ FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORD…”
It was pleasing to see 17 ladies being with us for the start of the retreat on the Friday evening.
I am a child of God, our loving, merciful Father
Sr. M. Elizabeth began with an introduction to the weekend, sharing with us what she hoped we would gain from this weekend – that God loves me – personally and unconditionally. While this is the truth, many of us find it difficult to fully believe and accept due to some of the older Catholic Religious education which tended to portray God as a judge and thus instill fear, our family of origin, and for our modern world the loss of Fatherhood.
The belief that God does not love me anymore or that I am unworthy when I sin can get in the way of a personal and loving relationship with our Loving Father God (and the Trinity). Sr. Elizabeth’s hope was that during this weekend we would come to appreciate even more that God is not only our Father, but that He is a loving and merciful Father who loves us not because we are good, but because He is Father. My self-worth is that I am a child of God the Father. I am valuable for what I am – a child of God.
For God (or any father), to be a father they must be in relationship with the child. So, to accept God as my Merciful Father, I must accept that I am his child. Lent is a perfect time to reflect on the Father’s word’s to Jesus “This is my beloved Son (child) in whom I am well pleased”, words which we can apply to ourselves once we have opened ourselves to the Father’s merciful love. Lent is a time for us to pray, strive and repent – to make our relationship with God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit, stronger, to start over, and rise to a new life in Christ on Easter Morning after journeying through his passion and death.
During the evening, we were also introduced to the “theme song” that would be sung at the beginning of every gathering, “Dilexit Me” (He – God – loves me).
Mary facing the suffering of the Cross
On the Saturday morning, it was wonderful to see about 35 ladies seated in the Conference Hall, ready for the morning’s sessions. Sr. M. Isabell began by drawing us into the Paschal Journey, the end days of Lent, leading up to the deepest act of Love where we are invited in to identify with Christ’s life, suffering and Resurrection.
As humans with a broken nature, we do all we can to avoid suffering, we tend to think that if God allows suffering in my life, it is a punishment. In fact, suffering is part of being a Christian – identification with Christ, who we profess to follow and strive to be like. Every life has some element of suffering.
Sr. Isabell shared with us that Our Lady went through a process of growth and maturation. Mary remained loyal to her “Let what you have said be done to me”. Although she struggled to fully understand all that would be asked of her in the moment of the annunciation, she fully believed and her “Yes” was firm. We see Mary fully living out her YES at the crucifixion, watching her Son suffer and die: in the sculpture of the Pieta, the baby she carried in her womb, we now see as an adult in her arms. She cradles the lifeless body of her son under the cross, her faith and belief still strong. Sr. Isabell shared with us passages from Isaiah, God’s letter identifying the role of the servant.
She spoke of how Schoenstatt’s Covenant of Love and spirituality assists us in our understanding of our personal mission, opening our hearts to receive God’s graces and live the fullness of life in love and relationship with God as a child (servant) after the example of Mary. She challenged us to try to see life through the eyes of God.
Our relationship with God the Father
In the second session, Fr. Pawel spoke of God as our Father, all knowing and ALL LOVING. He shared that in scripture there are 120 names for God.
Fr. Pawel was very honest and shared with us his journey of how he grew to understand that God is Love, rather than the God of “fear” that was instilled in him as a child – that God the judge is looking to catch you out, and his maturation of getting to know the loving merciful Father-God.
Fr. Pawel used from scripture (Mt. 6:6-1) the prayer Jesus taught us: the “Our Father”, to accept God as Father, to accept the truth that we are invited into a relationship of love not duty.
The truth is, NOTHING can take away God’s love for us. He then broke open for us the very well-known passage Luke 15:11-32: The Prodigal Son and how neither son had a relationship with their Father. This passage highlights our relationship with God, that sin is not a blockage to God loving us, it is our closed hearts or us dwelling on the “I” and my unworthiness.
God wants our relationship with him to be restored, for us to accept his love. We are called to a relationship not of fear and duty but of freedom and love. We just have to accept the love of God.
One example of how to do this is the great Thomas Merton who said: when you pray “Take Time” to build friendship and a relationship with God – just talk to God. Jesus showed us how to have an intimate relationship with the Father, to spend time in prayer. There are many examples of Jesus in prayer.
Growing to see God as Father
The final session for most of the women who attended the Saturday was given by two of the members from the Mary and Martha Mothers group, Angela and Zenny. They shared the significance of previous experiences from their lives in growing to see God as Father through their family life, and particularly in their relationship with their own fathers. They shared how God’s love has both led and carried them through their lives.
Relaxing with the Father
As it had been a rather intense day, Sr. Elizabeth offered a session on the Saturday evening entitled, “relaxing with the Father”. During the day we had spoken about Father Kentenich, as a transparency of God the Father. However, for some of the ladies at the retreat they knew nothing or very little about Schoenstatt’s founder, so Sr. Elizabeth offered to show a film on the life of Father Kentenich. It was interesting to note that even those who had been involved in Schoenstatt for some time, also attended.
In the Father Room
Afterwards the ladies all went to the “Father Room” where Sr. Elizabeth explained the meaning of the room and some of the things found in the room, such as the Father Statue and the red carpet on the floor.
As this was an evening with the Father (Father Kentenich as well as God the Father), the group sang a number of “Father songs”, interspersed with some actual experiences that people had had with Father Kentenich that reflected his fatherly qualities, such as his caring of and concern for others, his sharing of all he had (especially in Dachau), sharing his love for Our Blessed Mother with others.
Afterwards we went to the Shrine for night prayer and the opportunity to give thanks to Our Mother Thrice Admirable and God the Father for all the blessings we had received during this day.
Sunday morning
On the Sunday morning, it was wonderful to see many of the ladies who had been taking part in the retreat since the Friday evening, still spiritually empowered from the sessions and other retreat activities so far.
As some went for an early morning walk, others spent time with the Blessed Mother and her Son in the Shrine. A few of the ladies who had been there on the Saturday, came back for the Sunday, together with 3 newcomers, bringing our group back to about 25 ladies.
Living with the Father
After the Morning Prayer in the Shrine there was a Session – ‘Living with God the Father’- presented by Ann Panitz, from the Fiat Mother’s Group. Here, she talked about her experiences in ‘Living with God as Father’ and her ‘father – child’ relationship with her own father. At the end of the talk, Ann gave us some suggestions on ways to build a stronger relationship with the God the Father. These included speaking with the Father, spending time with the Father, prayer and sacrifices for the Father and our Blessed Mother and most importantly, to remember that God loves us and accepts us in our weaknesses because He is a merciful Father.
Covenant Sunday
As our Covenant Sunday also fell on this Lenten Retreat Weekend, the Covenant celebrations were programmed into this day. Although this would not normally be part of the Lenten Retreat, it did allow some of the newcomers to experience what a Covenant Sunday means for our Schoenstatt Family members.
As part of the normal Covenant Sunday Celebration, talks and input are video pre-recorded but on this day, the input – ‘An Inclusive and Welcoming Church’ – was presented live at Mt Schoenstatt and via zoom for others participating outside Mount Schoenstatt. The talk, which was presented by yours truly, is a portrayal of the whole picture of what makes a welcoming church as encapsulated in Schoenstatt. Here also was mentioned an example of a welcoming church depicted in the Parish where yours truly, humbly belongs – St Michael’s Parish in Meadowbank. The Covenant Sunday Input was presented in conjunction with the Motto for this year: ‘Walking together, loving the Church’. It was wonderful to see how the ‘newcomers’ so wholeheartedly took part in the celebrations.
Conclusion of the Retreat
At the conclusion of the day, Sister M Elizabeth summarized the main points presented during the weekend and gave us a summary “package”, filled with abounding thoughts to ponder in our hearts: the merciful love of God which is the reason which motivated God to create us, to lead us and to rule us.
Yes, God is love. God is merciful love, his very nature, his very essence is love.
Yes, we are endlessly secure in the Father’s love, and nothing can separate us from the one who loved us so much that He brought us into existence and continues to accompany us every second of our lives; the one who so loved us that he sent his only Son to redeem us through his suffering and death but who also give us unending hope through his Resurrection.
It was a weekend filled not only with rich spiritual input, but also a real sense of community and walking together. During our Covenant discussions it was great to hear from people who were new to Schoenstatt, who had never been to Schoenstatt before, speaking of how welcomed they felt and how after just a short time had felt all their anxieties about coming to something unknown, leaving them.
As we concluded this enriching weekend in preparation for Easter, and “walking together”, the women all went home with blissful hearts, feeling loved and loving God after an awe-inspiring retreat weekend “for God so loved the world . . .” Jn 3:16.
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