BEFORE YOU GO

Thank you for joining us again in today’s retreat. We hope that you learned something, and–more importantly–that you were able to pray.

As always, we invite you to share any insight, question, or additional prayer that you might have in the COMMENTS section below.

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Again, you are not required to register your real name or email address. You may use a pseudonym if you wish. Our online spiritual directors will try to respond to your posts as soon as possible.

You are also invited to read your fellow retreatants’ posts, respond to them, and especially to pray for them.

We also have launched a LIVE SPIRITUAL CHAT, and the response yesterday has been overwhelming. For those who wish to consult our online spiritual directors today, please be patient if they cannot immediately attend to you. Click here to go to the LIVE CHAT, and click the tab that says “ONLINE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR” at the bottom of the page.

We hope to see you again tomorrow! Meanwhile, keep our virtual community of retreatants and online spiritual directors in your prayers!

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159 replies on “BEFORE YOU GO”

Lord,

Let me choose You everyday, every hour, every minute, every second.
Let me choose You the way You choose to suffer, to agonize, to die.
Let me choose You just as You choose me.
Let me choose You constantly.

Thank You for leading me in a path where I am able to know pain and suffering a little bit better.
I am able to understand your pain a little bit clearer.
You guided me in an experience that allow me to know compassion deeper.
Somehow, I understand now that Your love, compared to mine, is always greater.

May every actions that I do manifest how I honor the things that You do for me. Thank You for doing these things lovingly.

Amen.

Thank you Fr J and team. You all are truly enlightened. Thank you for being vessels of God’s light and love. You have used what others would call “worldly mediums” to truly touch us to the core.
Love Actually has also been one of my favourites. And that particular scene is also my most favourite one. Never did I expect that I’d feel God’s love through it and that it will leave me shaking, crying hard; “hard” is almost like an understatement; but through that scene and lines, I felt God talking to me, accepting me, loving me unconditionally. In my wretchedness, I am loved. In my ugliness, I am accepted, unconditionally loved.

The death of our Lord created doors, passages and pathways leading to Him. He overcame death to show us that there is nothing to be afraid now because what we have suffered here on earth He also suffer.. in what other way will he not understand about us? Hear now and see.. He never abandoned us.

Thank you Pins of Light. This Holy Week has been so much more meaningful because I decided to join this online retreat.
I have an even better appreciation of the Lord’s ultimate sacrifice for all of us. It inspires me to strive even more, to become more worthy of His love.
Whenever I read the parable of the Prodigal Son, I know that I am the older Son. And you are right that self-righteousness and resentment are what I struggle with every day. Please pray for me that I may be relieved of this pride in my heart, as it keeps me from being closer to His will.

Thank you for this online retreat. I now live in a country where Holy Week is not as holy. I miss the retreats that we, as a family, went to during Holy Thursday. Though I sing in the church choir here, I feel empty, spiritually. I needed this retreat to help me look into myself and make the Passion of the Cross more meaningful. Again, thank you to all of you who put this together. May God always guide you to enlighten others like me.

Dear Jesus,
I wouldn’t allow any person to suffer for me that way. My conscience wouldn’t be able to take it. But you did it for me anyway. At first it may seem that I have no choice – you already chose to die for me whether I like it or not, no matter how it makes me feel uncomfortable. But I realized that while I have no choice in how you love me, I do have a choice in how I receive Your love.

“I have no choice in how you love me, I do have a choice in how I receive Your love.”

Well said, anonymous.

I just lost mom and this holy week meditation has made Christ’s passion a lot more personal. It is said that human love is but a glimpse of Divine Love and as I reflected on the scriptures, I have come to the conclusion that the closest image we have is that of mother’s love – laying down one’s life, serving generously and tirelessly, selfless, unconditional, patient and merciful. When I lost her I told myself that now more than ever, there is no goal but heaven because a day on earth or purgatory is a day without her. But reliving the Lord’s passion, His madness to go after sinners like me, leaves me in great awe and expectation for that Divine Love which I have had the blessing of a foretaste through my mother’s love.

Blessed be the Holy Trinity now and forever. I pray to meet all of you in heaven one day. Amen.

Condolences on your great loss, Anonymous.
As we enter into the celebration of Easter, may you be granted the graces of the mystery of the resurrection as you go through your grieving. To meet each other in heaven is our one hope that Christ has made possible for all of us.

Jesus is love and mercy itself. I am moved by this, because I know i am a sinner. My prayer has always been “Jesus have mercy on me a sinner”.

Thank you Jesus for being Love and Mercy. May i embody them in those I am called to love.

I am moved to sing a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s infinite mercy.
This is my promise, Lord.
“Each sigh, each tear, each smile of mine,
Shall be an act of love divine,
And everything that I shall do,
I’ll do, dear Lord, for love of you.
Jesus dear, thee do I love,
And everything that I shall do,
I’ll do, dear Lord, for love of you.”

We hope we could hear you sing, Bibbet.
Maybe next year’s technology will allow that in the comments section.

Thank you for this great opportunity to be able to reflect, commune and reconnect with God during these fast-paced times. Being in the medical field, retreats requiring you to be physically present for a couple of days are almost close to impossible, so thank you very much for providing an alternative. It has been an enlightening Holy week.

Being in the medical field, you must have a very concrete experience of suffering, allowing you to enter into the Lord’s passion. Thank you for joining us despite your busy schedule, C.

I couldn’t even attend the mass on Maundy Thursday because I wasn’t feeling well. Then I opened my fb to see if my sister was online but came across a suggestion from rappler. I like the part that God remembers our prayers in the past. Thank you Pin of Light for the initiative. May you continue to be a blessing for others.

We should come up with an online washing of the feet ritual next time, Anonymous. Hehehe. Glad it was worthwhile.

The story of the prodigal son reminds me of myself. I am not the son nor the father but the elder son. Sometimes I wish to be rewarded more than what I deserve. I do things not because I have to but because I want to be rewarded. I don’t think that’s bad at all but sometimes I wish more to the point that I become greedy. And I pray, Thank You Lord for making me realize that You have given me more than enough and have blessed me more than what I deserve, I am sorry if I have this feeling of resentment. I know that You will be the one to help me overcome this feeling and I thank You for always being there and guiding me all the way. May You continue to bless me and give me the strength to continue working for Your name and for Your glory. Amen.

Mark of Love Actually also reminded me that there are Christ-figures in our everyday lives, ready to give us unconditional love. Loving us even if they don’t get loved in return. We sometimes take them for granted and fail to recognize their effort of making our day just a little brigther. I take this opportunity to thank all those people that have made my days brighter. Without your help, I may not get through those dark days that I’ve been to. I am sorry that I took you for granted and failed to recognize your efforts. I am sorry that I haven’t given back what you deserve. To those people whom I failed to recognize and left, I am sorry but thank you. To those whom I failed to recognize but are still there, thank you and I hope that you will still be there all throughout. I hope that you continue to make my days even more brighter and enjoyable. Thank you for the unconditional love.

That made me realize that we can be Christ-figures in our own little way. Even by just greeting someone a happy day hoping they get through their day well will make someone’s day a little brighter. Spreading good vibes all over will surely make a difference.

Lord God, I only ask that you touch my children. I worry that I have not taught them well, that I have not shown them well, that with my imperfection, I have betrayed You to my children. I’m sorry Lord. But in your mercy and forgiveness, bless my children more and my family. Bless my eldest as the others may follow. Bless Jk, Jy, Js and An. And also, please give me the courage to have mercy myself to those I have hurt and to those that hurt me. Bless our family and teach us to love and have mercy. I am sorry Jesus and I love you.

Dear Lord, thank you for going out on a limb for us, for risking your life Anne dying just to save us. Thank you for the unconditional love.. Thank you for accepting us despite our wretchedness, our weaknesses. Thank you Lord for your mercy. I know that I am truly unworthy of your love yet you reached out to me. Despite my weaknesses, despite my lack of will and my laziness, You came to me and plucked me out of the darkness and brought me into the light. Lord continue to strengthen me, to lead me not into temptation. Give me the courage to overcome my weaknesses, give me the strength to continue to do the work that you have started unceasingly. Open my mind and my heart to realize the goodness in you and for me to see the goodness in others. Lord God we pray for your mercy, Amen.

Thank you very much for this online retreat! I was very much touched by the statement that God was not just waiting at home for the lost son (or daughter) to return but He sent Jesus to seek us out!

I am not worthy and yet God thinks that I am…

Thank You Lord. Thank you pins of light my heart is overwhelmed with God’s love for me and for all of us. I am very grateful to have joined this online retreat.

Thank you, Lord, for D and other online retreatants who participate and share their insights, reflections, and prayers. 🙂

Thank you for posting Day Two of the retreat. Something totally unexpected happened today. Jesus became real to me in a way I never imagined. The Passion became more than just a story. It became an experience that opened my heart in a way that I became a participant in His death. I cried so many tears today, I don’t know how I can still see. My eyes are so puffy. For the first time, we had a conversation where I shut up and opened my heart to Him and I realized ours wasn’t a friendship but an unrequited love: His. I’ve been so blind to the way I’ve been treating Him so shabbily, that just hit me so hard. Yet., through it all, His suffering and my part in it, all I could feel was His love. I will never be able to fully explain it. I had the Sacrament of Reconciliation and it was the first time remorse and regret consumed me. I was almost sobbing to the priest. To reconcile with God is unbelievable. I can’t even think straight yet. I know my issues will not vanish completely,but unlike then, now, Jesus is enough. Thank You, Jesus, for never giving up on me.

Wow, Miss Spinsterrific. Sounds like you had a very emotional Good Friday. Yes, more than our guild, it is God’s love that makes the Sacrament of Reconciliation so deeply powerful.

I didn’t know which end was up, to be honest! It never happened to me before. I can’t even say for sure if it was guilt that Is felt, but an unnamed emotion borne out of the realization that what I thought was the depth of God’s love and mercy was just the tip. Fathomless, maybe that’s the depth. And to feel that, as opposed to just knowing it using the head, was overwhelming. Yesterday, I felt the love and the loss was unbearable. Even if I knew this was going to lead into Easter in my head, yesterday, my heart felt the loss. It was beyond words, to have that love and lose it. I just thank God for retreats, online or not. I’d never be led to that experience without the help and guidance you provided.

I always know that God is always there for us no matter what. He has greater plans for us eventhough sometimes we felt we are being abandoned and outcast.

This session made me realize How God loves us,how He sacrificed his own son for our sake. God’s love is unconditional.

Thank you Fr. J and Pins of Light team for coming up with this Online Retreat. I also shared this to our youth community. Looking forward for this evey year.

I always know that God is always there for us no matter what. He has greater plans for us eventhough sometimes we felt we are being abandoned and outcast.

This session made me realize How God loves us,how He sacrificed his own son for our sake. God’s love is unconditional.

Thank you Fr. J and Pins of Light team for coming up with this Online Retreat. I also shared this to our youth community.

For you have looked upon me with so much love and tenderness…
For you have held me in your loving arms…
For you have redeemed me from my sins…
O death, where is your sting?
Not even death or sin, can separate us from the love of God…
I am Jesus, beloved… Tis my security, my identity…
Thank you Jesus…

Dear Lord,

Thank You for making me an outcast of this world to remind me that I am loved in eternity. Thank you for your unconditional love. I pray that I can love you back in eternity.

Bless our spiritual directors for making us closer to You. Thank you Lord!

Anonymous, indeed, there is much to celebrate. And we always begin our response from a position of gratitude.

Dear Father,
May God continue to inspire you with His Spirit that you may speak and write His message of love, mercy and compassion.
God bless you more.

Hello, Susan. May God likewise inspire you to be an instrument of sharing his love to others through your word and witness.

An advance Happy Easter, Father Johnny!As always, your Lenten retreat was so beautiful! I watched “Les Miserables” here in Manila and was deeply struck how Jean Valjean’s mercy towards his tormentor, Javert, paralled the mercy of God, and Javert’s despair, like Judas. It was like watching the story of Christ’s crucifixion and spiritual suffering live in a broadway show.Your doors theme is most apt this year as we have these doors of mercy in churches. However,the doors of mercy being explained seems lacking in dimension. The explanation of entering these doors emphasize on the gaining of plenary indulgences but for me it goes beyond that. The doors as you explained should open our hearts to OTHERS in need aside from being open to the mercy of God. It works both horizontally and vertically. Another issue of mercy that keeps haunting me is when then can we apply justice if we will be totally forgiving? A priest friend of mine told me that when he confronted a fellow priest who has been keeping a woman in the presence of his Bishop, the Bishop told my friend ” In justice, there is mercy” Case closed. This has been troubling me because this has been the cause of many of our political ills in the country not to mention the laxity of the Church on many erring priests. Thank you, Father once again for a most inspiring retreat.

Well, Mercy does not mean we should not rectify the wrong-doing. I can see why that disturbs you.

Will relay your greetings to Fr. Johnny.

Thank you, Tess, as always for your words of appreciation! I agree with you: There can’t be mercy without justice. But unfortunately–or fortunately for us, that’s not how GOD’s mercy operates. I’m not saying we should follow that: We ought to discern every case (sometimes mercy at all cost is not formative and can be damaging, as in the disturbing case you cited). So we need to figure out how we are called to dispense the mercy God has so freely given us in this very troubled world of ours!

Thank you Fr. Go for walking us through this online retreat. There is no wasted time but bountiful moments with the Lord through r every word we read.

Thank you for guiding me towards a deeper more meaningful holy week experience.

What struck me most was the line from Love Actually. “To me, you are prefect. And my wretched heart will love you no matter what.”

How we long for this kind of love. And look for it in all the wrong places!

When it has ALWAYS been ours to have. Truly. Madly. Deeply. The Lord finds great joy in me.

In spite all my imperfections. I am known fully. And loved. And that makes all the difference in the world!

Thank you Fr. Johnny for this online retreat. This is the first time I tried Pins of Light (though I have always wanted to do it), and I truly found the experience valuable and enriching. In these times when I have been feeling lonely, miserable and always uneasy, it was nice to be reminded of how much Jesus understands me, knows what I am going through, and continues to love me no less. Cheers all the way from Australia. 🙂

Thanks for joining us. Indeed we are never alone even when we are at our loneliest, most miserable, and uneasiest. Be strong there in Australia. If you’re new there, you probably know it’ll take at least a year to feel at home–and that’s fast. So be patient with yourself and treat yourself gently. 🙂

the past years had been full of challenges, pain and suffering for me – family relationships and career. i had to give up a lot to take care of so many people and although my days are always filled with so many responsibilities for others, i feel so alone and sad. too many responsibilities yet i feel i had no one with me, no one to talk to, no one listening, no one to share my burdens with. everything i feel and think, i kept inside me. lately i have started to wonder if God can still hear my prayers, if God is still with me. i had stayed away from Sunday mass for I had started to feel empty every time i attend, merely going through the motions and saying prayers by memory. seeing fellow Catholics professing faith and practicing rituals yet not living the teachings, treating people badly yet praying the rosary and novena endlessly…. all these had made me question more, alienated me more..and God seemed so silent even during my prayer time alone at home.

this has been my 3rd year joining this online retreat, since a facebook friend decided to share the site in 2014. this year, i started with a sincere prayer for renewal of faith, that i may find my way back home and feel God’s presence in my life again. and today’s message felt like God answering my questions, easing my doubts. I feel that Jesus’s death as we remember today has once again opened God’s door of mercy to people like me, outcast and abandoned by our present world.

for people like me who prefer to pray in silence and without need for rituals, this online retreat has been a channel,…a door, for renewal of faith and reconnecting with our Lord.

Hi! I’m a fellow retreatant. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to respond to comments/sharings here, but I felt moved to drop a line to simply affirm you for not walking out on God amidst your chaos, for staying put in your “upper room”. I pray the door that was opened during this retreat will lead you to discover God in the most unexpected places of your life.

I know how you feel as i am in a similar situation.. I need to work so hard knowing how so many relatives need my help.. Sometimes I geel it is so u fair that they do not try to do anything to improve their plight and just like spoiled brats, rely on me.. But God seems to continue blessing me and my family… I have only gratitude in my heart and i know he approves of what I do..

Please keep this online retreat an ongoing annual event. Words cannot sufficiently express my gratitude that this exists, and my deepest thanks also goes to the person who shared this on FB so that I may see it. May the Lord bless and keep him always. May God bless our online spiritual directors and continue to enlighten them with His Holy Spirit to touch as many lives as possible and bring as many souls as possible back to Jesus. I pray also for my fellow retreatants: May our Lord Jesus touch you and heal you according to your own particular needs and desires. My Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me so much and opening Your heart to my wretchedness. Hold my hand firmly and keep calling me as you have done so clearly these past six years.

IT was blessing for me to open this online retreat . And i truly felt GOD’s grace touching the core of my being.
Thank you Lord for the channel you provided me so you can speak to me and touch my heart during this Holy Week. I felt reassured of your unconditional that will sustain me as I journey thru LIFE.

I completed my Good Friday Retreat (online). Hindi po nasayang ang Unlimited internet ko dito!
Kudos to PinsOfLight and to the whole team!

This online retreat feels like a Jesus-reaching-out-to-Judas experience to me. I had been so reluctant to leave the comforts of my airconditioned room to attend any of the Holy Week services (partly also because I don’t find big parish activities spirituslly nurturing). I almost thought I’ll just go through the motions of this Triduum without truly experiencing its spirit. But Christ who doesn’t give up on anyone reached out to me and I’m glad to have extended my hand. Without wanting to appear self-righteous I would like to think I’m responding differently from Judas by not walking out into the chaos. I know He is holding my hand as I face my inner chaos because He knew what it was like to be in and to live the chaos.

Thanks for sharing, La Loba. There are places where the Holy Week services are more intimate, if that suits you better. You should also give those a try next year. 🙂

Thank you so much Fr. Johnny for this very meaningful and thought-provoking retreat. This is my 3rd time ( or possibly even more ) to celebrate my birthday on Good Friday and it really was extra blessed by the reflections and prayers that came while I was doing the retreat. Wishing everyone a very blessed Holy Week!

I am grateful dear Lord for you unconditional love. It reminds me to always love others too ( especially to the least of my brethren) without hope and agenda. In remembrance of your suffering and death, I hope and pray that I will continually serve others especially to those who are in need.
Thank you dear God for constantly bringing us back to you. Amen.

This Retreat never disappoints ~ just as we think about our Lord’s Pain in knowing His “would-be betrayal by Judas on Holy Thursday – this Good Friday even far exceeds the painful experience by Jesus’ carrying the Cross, being nailed to it & eventually Dying there… UN IMAGINABLE!
We thank Him for HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR ALL HUMANITY – WE LOVE YOU LORD JESUS – Help us to find OPPORTUNITY IN OUR DAILY CHAOTIC LIFE TO GIVE BACK IN OUR SMALL MINUTE WAYS WHAT YOU HAVE GIVEN & CONTINUE TO GIVE US (no matter how undeserving we are) . Help us to always think of your Good Friday Sacrifice especially when we come face to face with our Crosses w/c are far more tiny than Yours. Redeem us by YOUR GRACE.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your constant guidance and protection. Thank you for giving meaning to our lives. Please help us to be the hands and hearts of your suffering people, to grow in mercy and compassion. Here I am, Lord. Please use me as You will.

Thank you for bringing new light into the Gospel and the Word of God that really made us reflect and feel we are loved unconditionally and mercifully.

God bless you all Team PinsofLight!

This is my second year in joining Pins of Light Online Retreat. Truly, this has been yet another enlightening and humbling experience. I am very grateful that online retreats are now made available to those who wish to pray and reflect at the comfort of their home, anytime.

I have learned a lot in today’s retreat and again, have viewed some of the Bible passages in a different light.
This definitely struck me today: That Jesus willingly experienced the sinner’s separation from God in order to open his heart to our misery and EMBRACE OUR WRETCHEDNESS. Jesus took the risk, the harm, the fall, in order to open his heart to us sinners.
I also appreciated the beautiful reminder of Christ’s UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for us..one without hope/agenda, without imposition. I felt so humbled as I imagined Jesus telling me “To me you are perfect. And my wasted heart will love you no matter what.”

Lord, teach me to accept Your love and the freedom You suffered enough to win for me. Help me to seek You as I choose to enter Your wide open door and follow you home. Amen.

This online retreat has been a blessing to me for the past years. Each year, I found the Lord’s grace ever bountiful for me, the experience ever refreshing and my faith always renewed. I thank the Lord for the endless mercy He has shown me no matter how difficult life has become. It is with this thought that I constantly comfort myself and help me go through the struggles. Jesus is with me all the way because He knows I am suffering and having a hard time. I need not fret.. Thank you for being able to do something for Jesus by praying for Him during his most troubled hours at the cross.

Ang Imong pagpasakit og pag-antos O Ginoo alang sa kapaysaloan sa akong mga sala naghatod kanako sa kaulawang hilabihan. Nga tungod niini, ako nagmahinusulon. Pasayloa ko O! Dios sa akong daghang mga kasaypanan. Salamat sa IMONG KALOOY og GUGMA O! HESUKRISTO. Amen

Lord thank you for your unconditional love.Thank you for blessing us. Thank you for your healing. Thank you for touching me. Lord please help us your people to stop war.So many people are suffering and dying.I am praying Lord for world peace.

I am on duty today. I am just thankful that you have this online retreat. It guides people like me, who has to go on their duty during this lenten season, in their prayers. Very helpful.

I have been doing the online retreat for 3 years now. It has and always been a meaningful and profound experience. Thank you as always to the Pins of Light team. You’re a blessing!

This is my first time..online-retreat. It is an awesome experience. I feel so humbled,loved and bless. Thank you Lord Jesus..Thank you for this blessing. May we continue praying not just for ourselves,our family but also the world..with all the wars going on-the homeless,displaced people. May Gods mercy be upon them. In Jesus name, AMEN!

We are happy you had a positive experience in your first-ever online retreat. It’s not over yet. We still have day 3 tomorrow.

Here I am Lord, your servant listens. Where else can I go but to You!
Thank You for your unconditional, unending love.

I thank the Lord for the opportunity and the blessing of joining the online retreat. It fits me perfectly, given my personality and manner of praying. I may not remember in my mind all the lessons learned during the retreat but I firmly believe that they are all written in my heart. The online retreat definitely provides me with the much needed time and opportunity for reflection, prayer and resolution.

Hello, It’s me. (I just had to do that.)

Don’t worry about remembering all the details. If you stick with one reflection and try to deepen that experience, it would be time well-spent.

This online retreat is really a blessing for everyone. There are a lot of people who are not able to go out and attend retreats and spend time with Jesus. Thank you very much for such retreat. Thanks be to God for this wonderful online retreat. May it flourish and continue to help our brothers and sisters have time to pray and spend time with Jesus more and more.

Thank you so much for doing this for us…. Truly precious time spent with the Lord! New things learned… The old seen in a new perspective… Quality time with God… You finish the days recollection yearning for more….God bless all of you more… Again I wish I knew of this when it started!

I’ve been attending this retreat from more than 3 years. It’s a perfect prelude to the afternoon Church services from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday. I often reflect on the insights of this retreat & try to link it to the services’ activities. It’s made my Holy Week more fulfilling & helps to try to be a better person. Not always successful in that trying but knowing God’s mercy, I keep trying.

This is a nice practice. This allows the message of God’s love and mercy sink in our lives.
Thanks for sharing this.
May we never give up trying to become a better person 😉

Thank you for this retreat! I’ve been doing this retreat for 2 years already, makes holy week more fulfilling. Congratulations to everyone behind this. God bless.

Thank you for this wonderful experience you shared with us. I just got back to my regular prayer time a month ago. I got lost for a while. And since I came back, I haven’t felt God’s presence in my prayer time no matter how hard I asked for the Holy Spirit to be with me. But for two days now, I can feel him present in this journey. I’m just so glad to feel his love once again. Again, thank you for all the effort you put for this online retreat. I pray that God bless each and everyone of you for your generosity. May God continue to empower you to share his love and mercy to more people.

We are glad to see that this retreat has somehow given you back a feeling of His presence. We pray that this will be the start of more of such encounters 🙂

I am forever humbled. I am forever loved. Thank you Lord Jesus for calling me by name. Thank you for loving me inspite of myself. Thank you for all that you have been to me and my family. You are my shepherd. And with you I can walk through any darkness. Help me see how I can better serve you.

Thank you, Pilgrim.

God’s love and mercy melt and reshape our hearts. Sometimes, we feel that we don’t deserve such a love. But still, God bestows us His love. Thus, we become forever humbled.

It is our assurance that the same love from God will bring us to a better service to Him – a fruit of a grateful heart.

I joined this online retreat so that I could fully enter the door of Easter. I realized that more than reaching for Easter, I am invited to fully experience the Passion of our Lord and savor the graces of mercy, forgiveness and compassion. It is my prayer that the “good feel” and wonderful insights never remain as they are but be translated into a commitment to be a better follower of our Lord. Thank you Fr. I and Pins of Light team for praying with us and accompanying us in our prayer moments. God bless you & all those who have committed to go through this online retreat.

Journeying with people in prayers is a beautiful encounter with God for us. Thank you for sharing to us the fruits of your prayers.

We are one with you in praying that the “good feel” and wonderful insights that we experience here in the retreat will be translated into a commitment to follow our Lord.

Thank you for taking the time to go through our comments and writing us back. It feels great to be connected with you all in prayer. God bless

Again, i am grateful and indebted by your consideration in providing us the online retreat, it is my fourth year here and it is still refreshing to experience God’s mercy through the retreat. Thank You.

Thank you so much for this online retreat. I wish you could also do your Mary The Queen recollections too for the older generation, Fr. Go. 🙂

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity for me (us) to walk meaningfully with Jesus as he offers himself up for my (our) salvation. The exercise will hopefully bring about true change in me, to have the courage to follow Jesus through the doors he has opened in order to offer mercy to those i encounter.

We pray with you for the true change that you hope for, to not only have the courage to follow Jesus through the doors that he opens but to recognize more easily these doors that he creates for us to go through.

Thank you for this enriching 2nd day of our retreat. Being an outcast is something that we all abhor. However, God is telling us that He himself, who was once was an outcast will never in anyway abandon us. Instead, He has offered His greatest unconditional LOVE and MERCY to ALL OF US.

Being who we are, we cast ourselves out by our sins. But because Jesus always looks for us and follows us, we can never truly be outcasts.

Thanks for the refreshing spiritual retreat online. I am blest and moved all the more to mercy and compassion.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam. In omnibus amare et servire Domino.

We are consoled to see that this retreat has born such good fruit in you and we pray for more in the coming day. Ad majorem Dei gloriam.

I always felt I am not loved enough by my husband and he does not reciprocate the kind of love I give to him. I always felt that I should be treated the way I want him to be. Ive forgotten that he does love me but in his own ways and not my way. I penalized him for mistakes that he might not realize that he did because I expect too much from him. I continue to lift myself up to the Lord and remind myself of his unconditional love and mercy. Please help me pray overcome this and that Id be more loving and open.

Rest assured that we are praying for your intentions and that you may continue to strive to see things the way God does.

Its like I could have written this entry myself. I will be praying for you…
May we be able to love unconditionally…and may we focus more on the Lord. He’ll take care of our husbands. :))

Thank you for sharing this Traveler. It is exactly how I feel also about my fiancee. We are getting married next month and I humbly ask prayers from the community for the grace to love unconditionally, like how Jesus is with us, and also to be more appreciative and open in loving my future husband and others as well.

I will be praying for you Traveler.

Thank you Fr. Johnny and the whole team for this retreat. You are all God’s instruments of love!

Thank you for this insightful journey. I pray that God will continue to bless you as this is a very nice way to see, talk and walk with God not only for this Holy Week but for always .

I once felt abandoned…not knowing what to do…..not knowing what to pray for anymore. Now I learned that the Lord remembers our past prayers. Now He is answering them one by one.

It is such a refreshing image to see that God answers prayers in His time, which is to say, for ALL time. Stay with that image 🙂

I like that… “the Lord remembers our past prayers.” Our prayers may seem unheard before but it is reassuring to know that God remembers them and may still answer them today or tomorrow.

Wow, this is such a powerful thought. In God’s time as it is said.

Thank you Pins of Light. This has been another meaningful reflection because of your initiative. We are grateful.

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