END OF GOOD FRIDAY RETREAT

We reach the end of our Good Friday Retreat. Hopefully, it was a satisfying experience. More than that, we hope it was a disturbing experience too because only such experiences can move us to stretch ourselves and to grow.

Once again, we invite you to consider sharing the fruits of your online retreat experience. You may want to talk about an EXPERIENCE during the retreat that you found particularly moving–or an INSIGHT about the Lord or about your life. You may also opt to post a PRAYER that you would like to share with our online faith community.

You may want to play this song as background music as you prepare your sharing. Or you may simply want to pause here and listen to it contemplatively.

Alicia Keys (“If I Ain’t Got You”)

If you want your posts to be anonymous, you may want to use a pseudonym; otherwise, it will be marked Anonymous.

Once again, our online spiritual directors will be available for those who wish to consult them. Just click HERE. Click on the orange tab at the bottom left. If you don’t immediately get a response, you can either wait a bit or return to the site another time during the day.

Let’s keep praying for one another. And as a friend reminded me last night, let’s also pray for those who have no one to pray for them. 🙂

We hope to see you again tomorrow for our Holy Saturday/Easter Sunday module.

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117 replies on “END OF GOOD FRIDAY RETREAT”

Lord, help me to overcome my timidity.
That I may not be afraid to do and to follow your will,
Always remind me of your love is greater than my fears.
Amen.

Lord, help me find the words and actions that will help me overcome my timidity and become one of your audacious disciple.

Grace with the knowledge and the courage to speak for You.

Amen.

I do hope and pray that I could like Jesus give the kenotic love for others… Especially my children. God be with me and my husband as we abide each day giving such love… Amen.

Thank You, Lord, for all that You have done and that You do for us.

We ask for the grace of courage and audacity to speak / do what is right. Help us not to be afraid of having a different opinion from the majority – help us to free ourselves from the need to please others. May we be audacious enough to stand up for what we believe is right even if we might be the only one standing.

We ask for the grace of Love. May we allow ourselves to be consumed by You, that Love will be the only language we will speak – no hatred, no bashing of others.. Just pure Love that will dispel all fear away.

Thank You so much for this chance to pray with You.

Love, Jen.

Thank you Lord for giving me the discipline to finish today’s retreat despite all the distractions.

Doing the right thing
Awareness of others
Christ’s unconditional love

Thank you Lord for reminding me of your great promise and for your sacrifice on the Cross. I feel guilty for times I have complained on small things, and failed to remember Christ’s sacrifice for all of us. Sorry Lord for always being in my comfort zone, and for now being directed to move out of it, and be more audacious, but remembering to correct in a loving and kind gesture to others.

Lord I lift up my intentions to you. Help me discern this difficult decision in my career now, and let me chose you Lord instead of the superficial things.

Christ Of The Abyss moved me, a sculpture submerged to represent the “immersion” of the Chosen One so He can reach-out to our deepest and darkest depths of our being and love us without the benefit of understanding.

“Father, i have been through a lot lately and tempted to do less than what is expected of me– ALWAYS on-guard to protect my ego by staying in my “comfort zone.”

“I ask that you submerge me once in a while into the depths of your Love to remind me where I really belong.”

AMEN.

Dear Lord,

The world around me is so noisy that as much as I want to spend time in silence with you, I find myself failing in my attempt. I fail over and over again. I am sorry Jesus. And when the noise consumes me, I find myself drowned and lost, unable to find my way back. Forgive me for being stubborn, for being insolent and for assuming that I know better. May Your death on the cross do its work on me. I am a poor soul and I need You. I want to be free Lord from the pressures I have placed upon myself. Today and everyday, may I never forget who I am and to whom I belong. I belong to You and when I find myself lost and afraid, may this truth carry me through. Thank you for trusting a poor soul like me to carry out your divine work. I just want to make things right and to live out what it means to choose you. May I have faith in the construction process I am in at the moment. I love you Lord and thank You for loving me. Amen.

There are just too many takeaways from today’s retreat. However, for me, today’s session nudges me to be audacious in ways that truly serve the Lord. In whatever we do, in our respective careers and roles at home, we can always show that our actions emanate from no one except the Lord.

Lord, please give us the courage to live Your truth and act according to it every single day. Help us to stay bold and out of our comfort zones in service of others. Help us to always resist temptations that drive us far away from you, Lord.

Thank you Lord for showing me what true love means. For emptying y Yourself of all attachments to save us from sin and death. Down to the very last drop of Your body and blood You have poured it all out on your people because we are Yours and You are ours. Please help us to see the truth and to see Your face so that we may not go astray. Disturb us whenever we get lost and get too attached to the world and our sins. Infill us with Your Holy Spirit so we will decrease and You will increase. This we ask in Jesus’ Holy Name. Amen.

Thanks Fr. Johnny for this very disturbing online Retreat. Am just praying that I will continue follow Jesus and stand for the truth in this digital age which is full of lies and deception. Also, praying that I will be able to teach my students all the lessons and reflection that i got from this retreat. Hope you will continue to disturb us in your homilies and reflections.

I am dumbfounded by the depth of the love of Jesus for us. This self-emptying has been my project last 2 years in the sense I try to empty my mind of any biases, pre-judgements etc so that when I talk to people, I am no longer critically analyzing them and putting labels to their existence.
I need the help of Jesus in this regard and this retreat has given me more images and confidence to pursue this project.
Thank you Fr. Johnny Go for this wonderful retreat. It is such a deep experience.
God bless,
Pedro

My Maundy Thursday question was: Why on earth am I here for? Godd Friday reflections have redirected me to the one question: Whose am I?
Answering that everday and in every circumstance and confusion leads me the purpose path.

everything means nothing if i an’t got you Lord…

Lord,
let me not envy those people who have everything… let me find genuine happiness inside… let me find YOU so i can find myself…

It may sound so cliche but it is only today through this online retreat that I got an epiphany of total,complete, unconditional, agape kind of love. I imagined gazing at the cross and putting myself in the shoe of God The Father, The parent who allowed all these to happen to His one & only beloved Son. He had to watch, to witness, to let it happen- He had to abandon Him & not rescue Him even if He could. This is very, very painful for any parent especially knowing that your child is innocent but you allow it to unfold right before your very eyes knowing that it serves a bigger, greater purpose of expressing love for others whom you also love so much. This kind of love is hard to come by nowadays, it truly needs audacity. But it is the kind of love that is true, genuine, salvific and yet inexplainable- such a divine mystery that we should always hold in our hearts.
Thank you for disturbing, provoking and challenging me of stepping out of my usual comfort zone- I do like the liberating feeling.

Thank you, dear Lord Jesus, for being our greatest teacher who continuously guides us to be loving and self-emptying, to be truthful even if it may hurt, to learn with confidence that it is more important to belong than to fit in. It is in giving that we receive. It is in loving that we know God in the depths of our being.

Thank you, Fr. Johnny, for being a teacher as well. You are Christ’s previous vessel from which we are nourished every week, especially this Holy Week. God bless you always.

My prayer is for the Lord to help me manifest audacity powered by his love. I also pray that the Lord take away envy, brought about by the digital world, from my mind and heart so I can be kinder in words, thoughts and deeds. Thank you for disturbing me this Good Friday – it is much needed.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your love and mercy; thank you for leading me Your way. Thank you for all the challenges that come my way which make me stronger in my faith, and trust in You.

“Thank you Lord. Thank you for the gift of grit; to persevere and complete the Good Friday module even if I feel like not completing it like the recent years. Thank you Lord for the insight; to explore the zone that I’m not comfortable with yet I ought need to experience for the love of you and the truth.”

Lord, thank you for this online community of truth-seekers and light-bringers. Even Alicia Keys! I continue to pray for all of us, and for those who may have lost their voices to reach out to you. Thank you for shaking my dull contentment.

Lord, remind me daily that you have paid the highest price for me. That because of your sacrifice, I belong to you. Not to the world, but to you.

Jesus, I am yours.

Remind me daily that you find me worthy of your life. That I do not have to be richer, prettier, more popular. That I don’t have to be anything more to be worthy of your love.

Teach me to respond with my whole heart. To offer my life to you, to allow you to direct me toward the greatest for you envision for me and for mankind.

Speak to me daily, Lord. I am listening. May your holy and God will be done.

That there is a safe zone, to love with audacity, to act despite timidity and to do His will. To do all these courageously since His kingdom is not of this world

To be rooted in Him as branches are to the vine… Jesus had CLARITY – who He belonged to, who He was. On the contrary, Pilate lacked this leaving him confused and conflicted. My realization – clarity doesn’t mean understanding the reasons why things happen (to love completely without complete understanding). It is enough that we have clarity that we are rooted in Him and that we trust Him completely.

We think that we are nothing without money, fame and power. So we pursue them tirelessly thinking they will bring us happiness. However, happiness from these things are fleeting and so we go back in search for more then we get tired, feel empty and lost. Just like Jesus, we need to empty ourselves and belong to the Lord. Only when we realize this can we find the meaning of joy. Lord, help us remember this always.

Lord, grant me the wisdom to recognize where you want me to go and what you want me to do, and the courage to go there and do it.

An eye opener and very strong reflection, focusing on Jesus’ interview with Pilate.

Thank you for this one, Father! ?

For 9 years now, I have followed this online retreat – and what amazes me is that for every year that I take this retreat, there is always something new I discover. For this year, it was not much of anything new that I learned, but more of a renewal of committment that I belong to Jesus. He has called me to follow him at my young age – and now invites me to renew my commitment to Him.
I belong to you, My Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot boast of anything else in my life except that you are my friend and companion.
On a side note, I pray for those who suffer mental illnesses. I also pray for those who care for them and counsel them.
Amen.

Thank you Lord for the opportunity to exist in this world – but to remind myself that I don’t belong to this world, means to make to be renewed with a new vigor to serve and love, yo be your disciple till the end. Do hrlp me God.
To live snd love with audicity.

Thank you pins of light. First time beyond the traditional trappings of Holy Week. I decided to cocoon solo and go through the Online Retreat. Am refreshed&renewed. Thank you Lord for affirming who I belong to and no matter what..face your mistakes, failures, let kindness rule and..there is always HOPE..knowing who our Master is. Thank you and I pray for those who cannot pray and who do not have the same opportunity. Amen.

“Whose are you?”

Main takeaway from this intense contemplation. As long as you know Whom you belong to, everything else follows. You will live for God’s approval and not for men’s. You will choose right over wrong, be audacious about your faith, less condescending of others.

Thank you, Fr. Johnny. I miss your homilies. You have blessed me with this retreat.

These past two days are indeed “pins of light” that illuminate the darkness that envelops my days… Thank you very much, Fr . J may you continue to bring light and touch others’ lives. Praying for you.

To go out of my comfort zone
To love with audacity
To obediently carry my cross with humility
To belong to Jesus each day and for eternity

What is the point? What is the truth? Can you take this suffering away?

Sometimes the Lord’s response is silence.

It’s scary and painful. And sometimes can lead me to interpret it as rejection. But Jesus’ experience reminded me that silence sometimes is the most appropriate reponse. It calls me to be trusting.

Is everything worth it? All the suffering? What’s the point? Is anything really good if at any point it can turn bad?

Jesus on the cross tells me the worst sacrifice is worth tomorrow’s resurrection. Kenosis, Jesus of the Abyss—love is the point. As long as I am alive, there is more good in me than bad. I can choose to trust. I can choose to love. I can choose try again and again and again.

Thank You Jesus for reminding me of the audicity of discipleship.
I am thankful for You Jesus, everyday I am able to feel your love for me and my family.

I was greatly struck by the confidence and bravery that Jesus exuded as He answered Pilate’s questions. It springs from His knowledge of who He really is and to Whom He belongs. Nothing else matters.

I hope I can also be like Jesus in this manner. May I be brave to leave my comfort zones in doing the right thing to do, in speaking the truth and calling out whatever’s wrong.

Dearest Jesus, I choose to live only for You. May my very life tell the world who I truly am and whose I am. Work powerfully in me and through me. May I always be driven by an audacious love like Yours. Amen.

What struck me in this module the most was how I felt for Pilate (actually, I don’t know exactly how I feel yet but maybe it was a deep feeling of discomfort or unease?). I try to imagine myself in his situation and I feel his burden especially when the scripture said he “grew more afraid”. I feel the burden of being sandwiched or being torn between two things. Too often I can identify with this emotion of increasing fear, and I guess this may be the reason why I felt for Pilate. This usually leads me to a sense of chronic restlessness wherein I can’t even identify anymore what I am afraid of or where my fear is coming from. In times like these when I don’t understand what is happening to me, I realize that these are the moments when I need to trust in Him the most – to keep on asking, not just once as Pilate did – but many times, the question, “What is the Truth?” in chaotic, doubtful, unclear and confusing situations until this question turns be back from my fears and confusion and guides and brings me safely back to Him.

Lord, help me overcome my timidity.
Move me to leave my comfort zone, that I
may develop the audacity to be who and
whose I was meant to be.?

Another beautiful retreat module… Thank you Fr Johnny, thank you Lord for your servants who illumine our way!

Was very much moved while gazing up on Jesus, bleeding and shedding water from His side, an unrecognizable bloody mess of a Savior. He looked down on me and asked me to move closer to Him so that the blood and water can flow on me. He said the water will cleanse my eyes and give my vision clarity – of the Truth, of Whose I am.

He said the blood will help ignite my heart, like fuel to an engine. It will cover me and keep me going. He said I need both, and that I need to stay close to Him to keep receiving both. I cannot stop crying.

Praying that I will continue to carry His words in my heart & allow these to be tangible, to make me another living Christ. So help us all, Lord. Thank you so much for your Love!

Knowing where we came from and where we really belong…The answer is from God, unfortunately to have this audacity to speak the truth and to do the right thing are hard especially if we are putting ourselves out of our comfort zone worse to danger zone. May God bless us and guide us to have that audacity just like our Lord Jesus Christ on this Good Friday. Amen

Dear Lord, thank you for being audacious and speaking the truth. The truth is we all belong to you and you are our Father. I pray that I can go out of my comfort zone and have conviction to proclaim the truth and defend my faith. I pray that God will bless me with grace to have wisdom, to discern what is right to do God’s will, to be humble and have self control. Furthermore, I pray that God will bless me with patience and endurance in seeking help and guidance for all my trials. I wish all this through Jesus Christ, my Lord and King.

Thank you dear Jesus for loving us and for showing us the Way. Teach us so that we will live a live that shows that we belong to you, Lord. I pray for those who may feel alone, lost and unloved. Grant them the grace to realize that You are always there for them. Amen.

Thank You, Lord, for once more reminding me what authentic love truly means and what it entails.

I pray for the grace to be audacious and brave like you. Amen.

Lord grant us the grace to speak the truth and to live BOLDLY- to let faith be stronger than our fears.
AMEN.

I am Gods special creation and to Him I belong not of this world. Lord please grant me the wisdom and audacity to stand for the truth even if it means going out of my comfort zone, to the danger zone. Like you, let me faithfully hang on to the truth that You will accompany me and You will be with me every step of the way because you love me and I only need You to live a meaningful life such that at the end of my journey there You will be, waiting for me. Thus, there’s nothing in this world that could give me lasting happiness but only the thought that You will sustain me and I need not hold on to anything here.

Lord Jesus, I couldn’t thank You enough for what You had done. Sinful as I am, as we all are, You gave up your life that we may live! Who are WE that You would give up Your life? But You did. And because You did, those who finally see what You’ve done got transformed.

However, please grant the grace to step outside my comfort zone to do what is right and just… even if it brings me to the danger zone. Grant me the strength Lord. I can’t do it without You… but with You, there is nothing I can’t do.

Thank you Lord Jesus, for loving me, for dying the most painful death for my sins. Help me to focus on Heaven, and what is not of this world, like You did. I pray for humility, a deep love of God, and the fiery courage to obey the Father, just like You, and to have unwavering faith and resolve to withstand the temptation to run away from His Holy will. Help me make my life a fitting gift for You, no matter how unworthy, and despite all my recurring sins. I ask for forgiveness, and Mercy. Walk with me, Lord, together with the Blessed Mother, and please never leave my side, until I see You again, in paradise.

Lord, i pray that you bless me with the courage to stand up for you. To fill me with the audacity to live my faith and belief in you in these trying times and for every challenge i meet in my daily life. Please guide me always as i navigate daily temptations and may i never forget that i belong in your loving embrace. Amen.

I am so sorry Lord.
I feel so indifferent, at times, I no longer have compassion to anybody. I feel so tired, inadequate —-I think I love no one and no more…
why?
I don’t know…but as I learnt, I will carry on “ without understanding” and will try to be in the “safety zone” instead of my comfort zone.
Thanks be to God and thank you Lord for Fr. Johnny ?

Lord, we pray that we may always have the courage and audacity to do as You will, not only when convenient, but also and most importantly when not. May You guide us in discovering who we truly are, and may every act we do be always in pursuit of spreading Your love to the world. Thank you. Amen.

I’m left with disturbing questions: how can I be more audacious in following Christ? how can I be more Christ-centered rather than being driven by my needs for achievement, prestige, and life of comfort? how can I be more Christ-like in my loving?

Jesus, through Your sacrifice, we were saved, through Your passion, You gave us redemption. You placed Yourself as the last, the least and the lowest, going through scourging, carrying the heavy cross, being cruicified and dying. You are the Son of God, but You chose to be last so we can be first, so we can be saved. Jesus, our Savior, thank You. It is done, we are saved! Glory to You Jesus, our Savior, the Son of God! Amen.

Dear Lord, may I always see You in the last, least, and lost. And may You guide Filipinos in making right choices during the May elections. May those who keep Your word win.

Dear Lord,
Once again, you have found a way to speak to me, to tell me what I needed to hear. All that had happened needed to happen because I had to see for myself, I had to realize what really matters most. In the end, it’s not the popularity, it’s not about the success and fortune, it’s family, it’s love, it’s You. I know I have not been the good person you want me to be. I try. It’s just not easy. I’m sorry for being a headache, for the disappointments, Lord. I pray for your patience and for your mercy. Because I am nothing without you. Thank you, Lord for your love. Guide me towards living the rest of my life making you only proud of me. May your cross always remind me of what really matters most. Amen.

Thank you Lord for saving us in times of despair and in our darkest moments, I know that you will not abandon me / us as you are always there for us always. Help the most despair ones and give then your most infinite mercy / save our soul amen . In Jesus name ??

On the Cross,
Your Body hangs
Blood and water flowing
Beneath the Cross
I stand
Mind and heart receiving.

Love given. Love received.

I hope you will have offer more online retreats like this, even if it’s not Holy Week. Thank you

Every time I visited the Father in His home. Every time I attended masses. Every time I looked up at Him and offered my prayer. I realized that I was not really seeing Him. There He was, nailed to the cross, saving us all from our sins. Shamed. Bloodied. Scarred. In pain. Emptied out. For our salvation.

I never saw it this way… until now. Thank you.

Every time I’ll look up at You, Tatay, at the altar, I will remember this. I will join You in Your suffering, death and resurrection. I will join You in that moment when You showed us how much You really love us. I will remember Your love and how Your love is continuously saving us all.

I love You, Tatay.

Lord, I pray that you would fill your people with love, especially those who are alone, abandoned, afraid, sick, and suffering. Embrace them with your loving care and mercy as they journey with you. We thank you for your forgiveness and love, your self-emptying love. Continue to teach us to be audacious disciples, living our best lives in glory and honor of you. Amen.

There is a safety zone!!!
Thank you for introducing this space in today’s module.
I need to define that for myself, and at the same time, define who I am and Who I belong to.
And show it every minute, every day.

Who am I?
Whose am I?
I am nothing if I ain’t got you, Jesus.

Inspire me, strengthen me break out from from my sinfulness and timidity and make audacious in witnessing for your, my Jesus.

Self-emptying and having the audacity to go beyond my comfort zone – those are my two takeways from this Good Friday online lenten retreat.

“Whose we are?”

I pray that I faithfully live out my true identity. I want to belong to God. I want to be confident in proclaiming I am His beloved.

Father, through the blessings of today’s online retreat, thank You for reminding me of my true identity – a child of God. That alone is sufficient that I belong to you. I have the strength for everything through You who empowers me (Phil 4:13) as long as I continue to cooperate with You in carrying out my life’s mission.

It is challenging to live out discipleship but then again, everything is possible through your Son Jesus’ example. He said, “Follow me” and You promised to pour out grace and guidance in living my life patterned after Him and His Mother Mary.

Father, may I learn to put my daily anxieties and worries under your care as these do not help me live a full life. May I be reminded always that Your peace is always available to us who need it.

Who we are and whose we are…our being Catholic and Christian should be an indelible part of our identity. Our identity has to be more than just our name or family name, more than just our profession, or our achievements. The source of our identity should be Christ because we are His.

I am grateful and so appreciative of this experience. It’s so easy these days to be carried away by everyone else and their opinions that we find it difficult to be centered in our own truths first so we can lead more authentic lives, the one that our Lord has set out for us. It’s a good reminder to be more audacious, to be audacious in our own truth that can only come from above. We cannot find and seek these through external validation that is so available to us more than ever through our online lives and social media. Whose are we really? We belong to the Lord, and we find him first inside us, and in stillness.

Lord thank you for making me truly understand the depth of Your love. It’s a deep and pure love that made You empty Yourself of Your kingship and divinity and to experience humiliation and rejection, suffer tremendous pain and death. I know that I do not have the capacity to love as you love. Help me to love, even with just a fraction of Your love. Help me to live the truth and stand up for the truth because of love.

Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful reminder of how much you love us.

It’s not easy to walk in your path of humility and selflessness, guide us always, Oh Lord.

thank you Lord for naking me understand more of who you are.your selfless acts for us.for dying on the cross for save us.for being such a loving God to us who dont even deserve it…you are truly such an almighty God.

Someone asked me why I go through the celebrations of holy week. Is it because if I don’t follow it, I might not go to heaven? And my answer was that it has nothing to do with going to heaven or a duty that i am supposed to follow, but that yearly, it’s the one time of the year that I can reflect and appreciate what Jesus did for me. And today I am overwhelmed with his kenotic and pure love, his giving of his whole self to me who is guilty of making mistakes over and over again. Thank you for this online retreat. This one hour of reflection can improve my life by making me want to be worthy of His love.

Thank you so much Lord for everything specially your Love to me without limits how many times I mock you everytime I committed wrong doings but you continue to Love me unconditionally teach me to love others without conditions.Help me Lord to keep me away from all occasions of sin.

Jesus was able to endure unimaginable pain and shame because “…more than anything else, He belongs to His Father. Because he has done all this out of love for us, He is also telling us that He belongs to us.” Thank you Lord for your amazing love. May I always have confidence and hope in the truth that I belong to You.

Disturb us O Lord when we are too well-pleased with ourselves…when our dreams have come true because we have dreamt too little… when having fallen in love with time, we have failed to dream of eternity… stir us O Lord to dare more boldly… when losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. (Bishop Desmond Tutu)

I am with the Lord. In trials and in joy. I have my weaknesses.that make me waver but knowing that the Lord is always there for me I am strengthened. I am nothing without him. I become me because of Him. This is my prayer. This is what I pray for my.children. Thank you O Lord for all the graces you have given me and being merciful.towards me.

Jesus on the cross, shelter for the lost, reveal your light, befriend our nights, fill our broken lives. I have to be audacious in my actions to be a better person. I cannot continue to succumb to the temptation of inaction for fear of pain and rejection. You have emptied yourself and embraced us, I have to do the same for my family, community and friends.

“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Whose child am I?
Venture more into the Safety Zone.
My take-aways from today’s session.
Thank you 🙂

Jesus’ suffering this Good Friday shows how much God loves us. He sent His Son to redeem us. His Son suffered & died for us.

When we face troubles & sufferings & complain, we need to remember what Jesus went thru this day. Then, our sufferings & troubles become less difficult.

I pray that I will always remember that when faced with challenges in life which, at that moment, may seem so heavy. And, to also help my fellow man as Jesus so willingly suffered for us to help us.

Lord, thank you for giving me this chance to discover more of my hidden weaknesses during this retreat. Give me the grace to accept them and the resolve to work at them.

Thank you for your unconditional love. May I also radiate the same love to the people whom I may be consciously or unconsciously belittling and shaming due to my own righteous indignation. Help me to always be prudent and mindful of the manner I relate to them. Help me to always be kind.

At the same time, give me the wisdom, diligence, and resolve to be audacious. Teach me to go beyond myself and empty myself as I do your will. Help me remember that “everything means nothing… if I ain’t got You.”

I love you, Lord.

The answer to the question Whose are you? That I belong to God, through Jesus’ suffering and death. The greatest joy and consolation.

I struggled in this module because I am not really the type who expresses my personal views on social media. However, I connected with the idea of being true to one’s self despite society’s approval/disapproval.

In my last job, I became the target of someone in authority who seemed well-connected. That person tried to pin the blame on me for a project via group email. I was innocent, so I strongly defended myself, also via group email. I became the enemy in that person’s eyes, and I soon ended up being subjected to bullying and workplace mobbing. I learned that when you speak your truth, you could get punished and lose what you value. I lost my job. That person smeared my reputation, tried to make me feel old, slow and incompetent and not loved. The experience hurt me deeply, but in retrospect, I’m glad I’m not that person who hurt me. That person must have gone through so much to end up being that way.

I think that if you claim to love Jesus, then you must learn to live your life reflecting what is true and what is good, even if people might not like it, even if you risk being ostracized or punished by them, which happened to me. It can be a lonely journey, when people fail to support you. But I think you will sleep easier at night.

When you are a victim of bullying, you then ask yourself, do I bully others in return or does the bullying stop with me? If you are in Christ, you ask yourself, how do I live in truth without being evil like the others? Is that even possible? I don’t know how that could be achieved. But definitely, what is popular and accepted is not always right.

I can only pray that I will be brave enough to live the truth in my life, the way Jesus would approve of.

2 things: to not fall into the trap of unforgiving call-out culture and to remember whose I really am.

Lord, grant me the grace to remember the many times I have received your undeserved mercy and forgiveness, so that I would lovingly deal with others and not allow my self righteousness kick in that could lead to shaming others.

Thank you for reminding me who I am, of whose I am. That I am a child of God, that there’s nothing I can do to make you love me more and that nothing can ever make you love me less. Allow me to remember this so that I do not get easily get lured by the things of this world, because I am not a child of this world.

Amen.

God is telling me to be audacious about my faith in Him, and not to be timid just as I have become lately. And, being audacious is also packed with having actions in line with His will. (Walk the talk)

Jesus’ experience also reminds me that it is so not right to shame people, even when those people have done something wrong.

All praises goes to Jesus forever and ever!

If our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we have a guide to defining who we are and whose we are, we know we belong to Jesus and we have the audacity to speak the truth without shaming or hurting anyone and we will be able resist the temptation of pleasure or pain. We sustain our love for him despite odds we face because we know that he has completely emptied himself for us. Even in his death his heart was pierced, he gave everything away for all of us until he can no longer give anything away.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your great love for me and for all of us.

Lord, grant me the grace to be courageous and audacious to immerse myself in the world (in the arena) where I will speak your truth without fear of persecution and humiliation; to choose to love always to the point of fully emptying myself, so that together with the others you have chosen to bring to me, we may all realize that we belong only to YOU and not in this world where we try so hard to fit in.

AMEN.

Main lesson I learned today is that one must have some audacity to venture out of one’s comfort zone in order to do the right things similar to our Lord’s self-emptying.

Lord, I am struck with your selflessness and the call to speak only the truth. How selfish I am in comparison and how oftentimes I lie to cover my own mistakes.
I have the audacity to call the mistakes of others and call this righteous indignation. I have only looked at my victorious feeling of correcting another person but never thought about how I might have hurt them with my sharp tongue.
Lord, grant me the grace to hold my tongue to bash another person but instead use my tongue to proclaim your kingdom, spread the faith and become an audacious disciple of yours.

The comfort zone, safe zone, and danger zone discussed with audacious discipleship was striking. I realized I had been sitting on my comfort zone at the expense of true discipleship.

Guide me O Lord to venture out of my comfort zone, knowing that you will take care of me.

One of the things I’ll take away from today is the concept of the safety zone – – it’s a reminder for me that not everything that I’m uncomfortable doing is unsafe. May I learn to speak with audacity for what is true and what is good, knowing that it is God who is keeping me safe as I do this.

The thought that haunted me after the Good Friday retreat: What defined Jesus? Is it also what defines me?

After many years of trials and triumphs in my career as nurse educator, I keep coming to grips with what it is really that defines me. And this is it! To be nameless on the cross and join Jesus in speaking the truth to the point of crucifixion.

I am grateful for my disturbing experiences after reading about the different perspective of how this stretch me to growth.

I pray for an audacious discipleship.

I pray most to always remember, believe, and know whose I am.

Thank you Fr. Johnny . I like the healthy Guilt vs. harmful Shame. Some one said to attack or dwell on .the mistake not the person for to shame the person affects his dignity and embarrasses him .How often we do this to our maids, assistants. Lord make us humble as we relate to the least, lowly and lost.

Aside from the many insights i came to ponder on while in the short retreat, i am strucked by pilate s question… what is the truth? We all ask that in ourselves. I have began to ask that and it is really beneficial if we let Christ answer that for us… through Him and with Him. It is a question which i find asking Him all too often. I wonder if Pilate got the answer in his lifetime.

This retreat has certainly disturbed me especially calling me out to be audacious for the truth. Jesus has shown the way that it is not always right to keep silent just to keep the peace which is false peace. In this difficult time, I pray hard for the grace and the strength to speak the truth.

Despite the fact that I cannot fully understand why our Lord Jesus Christ has to undergo kenosis – emptying His divinity – to redeem us, I fully understand though that what is important is how we live our lives so that His great and loving sacrifice for us will not be futile.

The ultimate sacrifice had to be Jesus to express God’s utmost love for us.
All our sufferings pale in comparison,making us understand that He knows our pain as we go through it.

Another quote that disturbs me

“The digital culture has bred an aversion to risk, to transparency, to committing mistakes. But all that has also resulted in an aversion to growth, which is possible only with risk, transparency, and mistakes.”

If we are to grow then it means to go out of our comfort zones.

For a long time because of a painful past, I have remained inside my comfort zone. Lord, please Help me overcome my pain. Thank you for being patient with me and understanding my life.

Thank you also for this session. It was a different kind of passion. It’s truly been a Good Friday.

To be a true disciple of Our Lord Jesus is not easy. I pray I can be, in my own little way, in my little corner.

Praying for humility to accept that we fall into temptation. Praying for strenght and courage to move past temptation . Praying for grace to endure trials and always resolve to do good.

“The audacity of discipleship” this I think is our challenge everyday. To do what is right, to speak the truth, to speak about the self emptying love of Jesus even if it isn’t the popular voice.

Lord, give me the strength to follow you more nearly. To make myself and other more loving persons

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