Friday, October 24, 2008

An Invitation to a Retreat (3)

A Retreat Prayer


Lord, here we are in Your presence. We have left behind our families, our jobs, our responsibilities and obligations, our friends and community to be with You in this retreat. Let us place the care and protection of our families, our jobs, our responsibilities and obligations, our friends and community in Your care and protection. Give us the peace and confidence that You will take good care of them in our absence.

Father, we approach You with great expectations and fear. We have high expectations in this encounter with you. Yet we are fearful because in Your light and holiness, we may discover things about ourselves that we are not comfortable with. Help us to discover and face the truth about ourselves. May the Holy Spirit works powerfully within our hearts, minds, and souls. May we rediscover ourselves in new ways and give us the strength to be transformed to the likeness of Your Son. Give us more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Father, we ask for a more intense revelation of Yourself to us in this retreat. We want to know You, know more of You and to love You. Help us to break the many false concepts of You that we have developed over the years, some of which we have made into idols. Help us to know You as revealed in Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Give us the grace to follow you. The road ahead is hard and rugged. We are afraid, O Lord. We are afraid of pain and suffering. We are afraid of things that you may ask us to give up. We are afraid of illness, loneliness, dryness, despair and constant stress. Know our weaknesses and be gentle with us. Forgive us in our failures when You test us. As you make a saint of St. Peter, make a saint of us, we pray.

Most of all, Lord. We ask that You will show us the splendour of what You have given us: our life in You; a life lived here on earth with Christ. We ask that You show us and lead us into simplicity of life and of heart. Lord, help us to know You in our daily life, to know You in the breaking of bread, in song, in fellowship, and in the cleansing of our hearts by penitence and prayer.

In the Name of Your Son we pray.

Amen

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