SHARING

You have reached the end of today’s module.

We now invite you to share
the fruits of your prayers and reflections
with your fellow retreatants.

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but you’ll also never know
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160 replies on “SHARING”

I the gratitude for this retreat. Indeed it is a blessing to be guided esp re the reduction of morality to psychology. I am seeking the help I need to heal from abuse. And I believe God will provide the means for me to heal.
The longer I delay addressing this, the longer I keep hurting my loved ones. I am blessed to be loved unconditionally and it’s time I help myself, with God’s grace. In Jesus name, I claim my healing.

Sorry, I can’t get the message of the song “Stealing Fire”. Can you please share your thoughts so I can be enlightened. Thank you.
God Bless.

I was so touched that Christ, no less than the Son of God, also felt Abba’s silence. This was from His agony in the garden to His death. How He chose to embrace our humanity , loved us so much that He lost his special intimate sense of the Father.
Christ manifested His human nature when He showed fear over His impending passion and death and sought companionshp during His agony.
Christ is so merciful that He reached out to Judas before his betrayal.
On man’s 1st sin, we need to cling to God to be strong and fight temptations.
It was good to ponder on what commitments I could give God in gratitude to His commitments to me,
The retreat made me meditate on how God meets me where I am.
Many thanks for your generosity in giving this online retreat. Made me get in touch with myself and commune with our loving Father and Savior. I was moved to tears several times,

This module made me reflect and made me realized that God is “silent” and “hiding” in my life but never absent. HE wants me to learn by letting me live my life. I was so lost … always asking “why am I here?”..Why is my life like this?.. Where are YOU?.. and yet I never noticed that I am ALIVE.. and living still.

My trust in “myself alone” made me lost the feeling to trust GOD. I always THINK of trusting in God but seldom the FEELING to trust God.

Lord, let us have the chance, even in the slightest moment, the experience of absolute faith and trust in you.

It’s a blessing to be guided into my realities and face my sinfulness. I ask for the grace to move forward with a renewed Spirit, in order to stand as Jesús did, during the many times that He had fallen in the stations of the Cross. Thank you so much Fr Johnny.

This online retreat was my only Holy Week activity this year while I have been sick the last few days. I was feeling so guilty that I have not done anything until I received the link from my sister. I took that as God’s way of giving me an easy way to spend some time with Him. How can I resist that? So here I am and I thank God for the little and grand blessings that come my way everyday.

This online retreat is yet another blessing from the Lord who has always blessed me. And yet… I am the one who has been hiding from Him, still stuck, still lost, and weak to ACT on what He has been showing me, teaching me, blessing me with. I think in my head I know what I need to do and still, I feel lost, without energy to take up my cross. Thank you all for your sharing and for this online retreat. Hopefully, I finally build the strength to ACT and DO the things I need to address in my life. This retreat is another step towards that. I continue praying…

This year’s theme is very timely for me.

The question, “Where is your Square One” struck me the most and the line saying, “wherever you are, whatever kid of space you find yourself in, not that it’s exactly where God will meet you”, was very powerful to me.

Last year’s online retreat helped me make a decision which I have been struggling with for almost five years. Though I have made a choice, I sometimes second guess myself as to whether I made the right one or was I just too emotional when I chose it. I defined my Square One as just a little bit after the cross roads but still not yet sure of the right path to take. This struggle has in so many ways brought me closer to the Lord and I pray that this retreat would help me reflect and be contemplative on what God is trying to tell me.

I’ve realized that I’ve been controlling God in my life. I closed my heart to Him once again, assuming that He hasn’t done anything to my life despite the service I’ve been giving Him this past few years.

Thank you Lord Jesus for still choosing me when I am a worthless, wicked sinner.

I ask the grace to be always mindful of You. Because You have been with me all my life. Thank you for not hiding from me and TERRIBLY SORRY for always making You chase me. With the help of Your grace, I will chase you more than ever.

I realized that I too am guilty of not trusting God. Please help me pray for the grace to totally trust in our Lord and completely surrender my life to Him. Thy will be done (I hope I would mean it with all my heart), Amen.

This is my first time. and I am forever grateful that my friend sent this to me. In my reflection time, God has been very clear speaking to me.

What struct me most is that “Do we have to blame that person to what happen to us” Well we are all given a chance to choose as long as it is pleasing to God.

I was struggling to spend time for reflection this holy week because of household concerns. Though I started late in this beautiful on-line retreat, I still have a great time with God and seeing through my inner self. I clearly found myself again and reconnected nearer to God. My tough choices was affirmed and clarified. God has come out of hiding and revealed Himself to me. I cant run away from Him.

This online retreat has so much to offer. The in-between meditation songs helped a lot. I never had a chance to go deeper into my inner self and discover how sinful I was.

Thank you for this online retreat. Thank you for this opportunity to reflect and realize how much God loves us.

To live a life of sinfulness is definitely a choice. Although sometimes (or most of the time), we choose the easy decisions so we don’t have to be feel pain (because we’re so afraid of pain), we fail to realize that perhaps the best decisions are meant to be hard because it reveals to us our dependence on God. Choosing the easy life may tempt us to think that we are capable of handling life on our own and we couldn’t care less if God is there or not; but choosing the difficult road leads us to realize that we are not meant to handle life on our own. Obedience to God is not easy and we will always fall short of God’s expectations (because we are imperfect people serving a perfect God), but He does not get mad or disappointed. Instead, He continually seeks for us, inviting us to run to Him and let Him take the wheel. What matters to Him is that we have used our freedom to choose Him and from there, He will be the one to take care of us.

In my sinfulness and shame, O Lord, you never cease to seek me out and to bring me your light, your love, your wisdom, and your peace. I am beloved. Beloved, beloved, beloved. Please grant me the grace to never let go of you in my life, no matter what. I love you, Lord.

I didn’t know what to expect when starting this retreat. I knew very well where I was coming from, and the first few slides made that awareness even more pronounced. I am a sinner and I have sinned…. just recently I succumb to sin and the feeling inside is eating me up. It was an “EASY” decision to succumb to it, a “MAJOR” one at that and in the end the impact was very big…..the funny thing is that I keep falling into that sinful way, the same sin over and over again…it is in this retreat where I realized that it has to stop, that I want it to stop…that I cannot keep hiding, rationalizing and feeling entitled….this has to come to an end….

I realized one of my greatest limitations and weaknesses is my forgetfulness. Ang dali kong makalimot. Nalilimutan ko kung paano ako minamahal ng Diyos at kung gaano ako ka mahal ng Diyos. It is my own blindedness and sinfulness that keeps me from seeing and experiencing God’s love. Kaya ang dali kong makalimot at maligaw sa daan. This retreat is a reminder of my need of a Savior. Humbling and grounding to my reality. This reality full and rich in itself if only I choose to surrender to Him every moment of my life. My constant prayer is that I remain always in His love even when I forget.

I still don’t know where You want me to go. I have heard people say, “Go where you are most needed and most happy.”; they say that’s where You want me to go.

Free will is funny. I’ve made plenty of decisions that didn’t work out (not Your will?). I’ve made very few decisions that worked out (Your will?).

Please grant me the grace of patience and understanding to discern where You want me. Or, do I just go with the flow? Ikaw na ang bahala.

Thank you for this moment to listen to You in silence, to open my heart up and receive Your Grace.

Thank you to fellow retreatants with whom I share this gift.

Thank you for this retreat, Fr!

Thank you, Lord for always saving me from my self and my choices. Please grant me the grace to do as you please…all the time.

“What you want for your life , is what I WANT FOR YOU.”
“YOU are as I AM.”
“YOU are most important to ME.”
“Visit ME often.”
“I love YOU.”

It’s already Good Friday. I’m new on this online retreat so trying to catch up. Thank you to a friend who shared this online retreat. I know God has always been with me all my life..blessed n protected me n my family thru thick n thin..but despite this, i continue to be a sinner. Just 2 weeks ago, i’ve decided to go to confession as holy week/Easter was coming. It’s been perhaps 2-3 years since my last one. It was a good decision..to cleanse my soul n start anew my journey as a christian follower of Jesus Christ. I pray that God will strenghen my faith n keep me away from temptation n to continuously shield me n my family from harm n all forms of illness.

Many are called but few are chosen. I, too, gave up on God. Naaksidente. Nagtanong. Nagtampo. I did not get an answer. Only silence. A million times i asked: why? Only silence. Heaven’s answer hidden from my sight. I decided to leave; to escape the pain of silence. I hid myself. I felt broken. I turned to my family and friends for support and for healing. But i experienced more hurt. I was wounded. I was hurting. And i was in pain. Nasaktan muli. Nagtanong muli. Nagtampo muli. Only silence. I decided to leave again. Here and now, i am still playing the game of hide and seek. My choices. God’s choices. A part of me wants to surrender and start all over again. Trust again? Take the risk of being hurt again? A part of me is ashamed of my choices. Nagtatago ba ang diyos o ako ang nagtatago? Hanggang kailan? Kailan magwawakas ang iyong pagtatago, ako’y naghihintay sa iyo? Ako ay laging naghihintay sa tanging tawag mo. Pag ibig kong ito, isang pananabik sa puso ko, sa iyong pagbabalik sa piling kong puspos ng pagsuyo. Manahimik at makinig ka, maging akin muli. I pray for the grace to discern and make the right choices.

There have been many situations in my life that I couldn’t understand. And I tried so hard to explain them. But I realized that even my life is something I can not comprehend fully because my life is a gift from a perfect God and it is only He Who can perfectly understand and comprehend what’s going on in my life. This made me see the beauty and power of being dependent on God. I hope your pain leads you to depend on God more. 🙂

Lord I have constantly hurt You by stealing from You and not giving what You deserve. Create in me a clean heart, give me courage to start anew and maintain an honest loving relationship with You and others.

Thank you for this online retreat. May we continue to seek God and may God continue to grant us the grace to seek Him.

Thank you Lord Trinity One God for all the blessings in any form. Challenges: sometimes we just have to look at it in a different perspective, and its saying God isn’t hiding, He’s in front of us, we just have to open our hearts to Him.

I’m stealing fire but I know God has given the grace to choose what is good for me and what is in keeping with His will. Today, I realized I have to deal and manage my temper and be patient with the people I deal with everyday especially my daughter who whines every now and then. I have to be patient with the people; that I need to be patient with other people’s shortcomings the way God is patient with me during my own shortcomings. I cannot continue to blame Adam and Eve for their original sin since The Lord Jesus has already showed me the light on how to deal with temptation. I just need to be humble, seek HIs will and ask for the grace to do it. I love the Lord and my neighbor the way I love myself. Thank you Lord!

Until God showed His hand to me in the form of support that helped me place my sick relative in the hospital, I was beginning to think that God existed for others, but not for me. That He wanted me to suffer and did not care if I suffered. And I was and still am suffering. The difference is, the silence of God is not as heart-breaking. Day 1 of this retreat made me think hard of what I have been holding back from God. I realized I have been holding my life back from Him, especially my trust. I feel betrayed whenever He is silent. I hope He will not be silent during this retreat.

Thank You Father for this opportunity of reminding me that it is a constant effort to dwell in Your holy presence.

May the Holy Spirit help and guide us always to stay away and never commit any mistake that will take us away from Your love.

In Jesus’ holy and mighty name. Amen.

Animo 4D brothers and relatives! I hope you made it this far. Keep the faith! Let’s take this journey again tomorrow. God bless!

Thank you very much. Every year, I am looking forward for this online retreat. Thank you Lord for speaking to me. It’s very comforting to know that God won’t give up on us no matter how sinful we are. I pray for the grace of discernment to make the the right choices in accordance to God’s plan. Thy Will be done, Lord.

Through this retreat, I have realised that while it may be easier to be asleep in my faith and stay hidden as God sometimes has, this only prevents me from receiving God’s grace and from becoming the best version of myself. I’ve found myself frustrated for what seems to be the never-ending stage of discernment, trying to ascertain His will. Upon reflection, He has always been there for me and steered my life, even if I have stopped listening. I will make an extra effort from now on to pray and stay in touch with Him.

Through this online retreat, I’ve realised how empty I have been as a person mainly due to pursuing the path that God does not want me to. I keep on seeking validation from other people, thinking that being with them completes who I am and who I could be. Now, albeit there are more questions out in the open, it makes sense why I keep on falling on that particular pit of sin.

Lord, I feel sorry not because Your presence hasn’t been felt; in fact I do. It’s just that I harbour these thoughts and feelings away from You, thinking that I could do it on my own. Apparently such pride is filled with fear at the bottom – fear of what You’d think about me, fear of confronting what I have become, fear of being unable to handle myself.

I dunno what the next few days would bring me. For today, however, I just feel grateful to reconnect with You on a deeper level and truly reflect on my life.

Thank you Jesus for this online retreat and for the team who organized it. This online retreat has help me to choose with wide eyes and conscious decision to follow Jesus by loving my family even if it is hard to love them. Love, after all, is a decision and not a mere feeling.

My heart’s desire has always been for God. But I admit now that in the past 8 years and away from the warmth, I became weary in listening to God. I made excuses for not doing what I knew I should.

While I thought I am choosing good of all, I wasn’t completely honest to myself to admit that those choices were also self-serving. There was busyness in my usual business & service but I had been hiding to cleanup my heart & soul diligently. Just like physical exercise that requires effort, I need to put more effort for my inner life as well.

Thank you Lord Jesus for Your light is showing my darkness and I sincerely ask for your forgiveness. Please reclaim me with your sacrifice so I can be healed and be made whole. Lord Jesus, I chose to accept the redemption You gave for me. I wish to be right by your side, loving Lord, from here to eternity. Amen.

Like Jesus, I felt like giving up His will for my will.

Unlike Jesus, I gave up.

Then thinking that praying or just relying for His will will be enough, not thinking of DOING His will as His will.

I am foolish and a failure praying for my will and not doing His will then thinking that I’m pitiful to burden the absence of His will.

I need to choose better…like Jesus, to choose God’s will, regardless. To light no matter how dark. To pray for a stronger light within and not to lighten the dark (which is senseless).

Help me Lord.

Thank you for this timely retreat.I am in a place where Holy Week activities are low-keyed unlike back in my former Parish. And the Lord gifted us with this opportunity, a link sent by a friend,for that I am most grateful.
I am not worthy of His immense love for me,yet He chose me. I can only try to live each day being consciously aware to be the better version of myself through the choices I make.
Few years ago,while going through some rough times,I thought the Lord was hiding from me but in retrospect, it was my impatience, anxiety and wavering faith that curtained Him off my sight. My impatience and anxiety are still but of lesser intensity and I can only pray daily to the Lord for my supply of graces and the gift of faith.

It’s consoling to know that Jesus understands my loneliness and how He “embraced this empty sound in order to save us.” I just hope that like Jesus I remain faithful to God, to continue to desire for Him, and to be drawn into a more intimate relationship with Him.

I’m not the only one “bottled up” and alone. I feel better that I have company in experiencing this empty sound. One day, I hope I could dance with God “cheek to cheek.”

Thank you for having this online retreat…I look forward to it every year ? It helps me reflect on my life and reminds me that we are not alone…The Lord also experienced what we experienced…It’s ok to be afraid but it’s better to face our fears and continue to trust in the Lord at all times….He will make a way …He is beside us always

Thank you for this online retreat. It is so good to reflect upon what we have done, pleasing and not so pleasing to God…it has helped lift up the weight that all these burdens have been putting on our shoulders. May the next two days lead us all to a path of realization not only for what we should do about our lives but more of we may have a meaningful relationship with God and that we have Him reign in our lives forever.

That pride, both the excess and the absence of which, is a sin to others and to self. One cannot demand recognition from others. This is given, whether earned or not. We cannot control other people’s behaviour. One should be proud of one’s achievements. There is no one other than you who knows what it took to have them. Celebrate and honour your hard work, even if you are the only one who knows about it. ESPECIALLY if you are the only one who knows about it. Everybody deserves a pat on the back even for small victories, not because it is needed but because it is deserved.

Thank you for this opportunity to slow down and connect with the Lord. I feel the grace and the mercy that is available to all of us when we seek the God who’s always there looking for us.

Dear Lord,
I long to gaze upon Your Face.
I look to you to take me out of these dark days.
Everyday you show your mercy and love
With the people you send, the blessings you provide.
I pray that I will continually bask in Your presence, to know Your Will.
I ask for the strength to follow you no matter how difficult the days ahead may seem.
Come into my heart, O Lord!
Heal my brokenness.
Fill me with Your presence.
I lift up everything to You.
Help me to find peace knowing
That Your presence is more than enough.
You are all I need.
All I have to do is be still, pick up my cross and
Follow you.
Amen.

I am thankful for this online retreat. It was made/written very well, fully considering the reatretant–his/her situation, tendency to be distracted, difficulty doing the retreat without seeing the retreat master and participants, etc.

I appreciate most the part on God’s hiddeness because it made me realize how I should never give up praying, seeking the Lord. The empty sound makes my relationship with the Lord profound, intimate, vibrant. It gives me the desire to wait for the Lord in joyful hope.

i made the choice today of staring at suffering
and impending death in the face…
to wash someone’s else’s feet instead of just mine…
to go beyond the ritual at the church
and enter the world of woundedness, of illness, of uncertainty,
of worry, of pain, of dependency, and of loneliness..
and when before the altar of repose i knelt,
i saw water gushing forth from the makeshift fountain,
candle lights burning.
solace for this dark night…
the one who thirsts silently beckons..
urging me to keep awake in gethsemane..

Thank you for this online retreat. I was able to realize Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins. How afraid He felt and how He still obeyed God’s commands despite Him feeling alone.

My reflections also made me recognize the importance of my choices. We could not simply blame our current situation from external factors, we have to put in as well our part (like what we are doing to address our problems). In addition, it is important to acknowledge our sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. It is a repetitive process because we are not perfect and we constantly fall into sin. Lastly, we should put in a great amount of effort to feel God’s presence in our lives. When He is silent, we should not stop believing but continue to pray and hope that we are able to abide by His commandments.

Thank you for this. I had a hard time resolving the logic in my head with the questions in the retreat. On some level, I was trying to justify my actions and felt defensive. This helped me pause from the busyness of the world and reflect on the things that have been bothering me in the last months moreover it helped me reflect with God. I have been waiting for him to find me never trying hard to seek him out and have a conversation with him. Hopefully, this changes with this retreat and I don’t find it hard to reconnect.

Earlier this day a friend sent me a link of this website, It’s how God’s work, he will send someone to you to make you feel he’s just around he is everywhere though we weren’t able to see but he let us feel. I feel so Blessed that he wanted us to be this close to him. This retreat makes me realized that God is the only way, no matter what you want your life to be. It still him who has better plans for us. Let us walk with him in this journey of life. ?

This time for reflection and examine of conscience is so much needed in this current times, when we are so exposed to so much and this eventually leads us to “stealing fire” that brings us to emptiness and loneliness. Thank you so much for this chance to go back to the real FIRE and that is ONLY GOD.

This retreat is very apt and timely for me. I am at another starting point in my life and it is a great reminder to seek God to make the right choices ao that I won’t make the same mistakes again. There is so much hope and love to look forward to and it is never too late to start over and make the right choices that will please the Lord and make us happy.

My greatest enemy/critic is myself. I have learn to forgive myself and accept my own shortcomings and limitations. Accepting things that don’t change,having the courage to change those things that must change and learning to see the difference.

I was born into a wonderful life – a loving and faithful family, achievements in school and oplortunities at work. I was loved by friends and family and did not have to worry about anything… Yet I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Amidst all the blessings in my life, my OWN voice – telling me that there were others who I had to please, that I wasnt enough – prevailed. I considered suicide until finally, I asked for help. I am on medication and therapy but most importantly, I hold on to the fact that God loves me. Be kind to yourself. Change will take time. Know that you’re not alone and you were made perfect as you are. God bless!

Thank you for this Lenten retreat. I have experienced God’s silence in the past, and it was one of the darkest moments in my life. I was sick, I was fearful and anxious and I could hear God’s consoling presence. I persisted, and got any morsel of grace that I could get. Up until now, I still question God on why He has to place me in such circumstances.

This retreat also allowed me to come face to face with a difficult relationship in my life where my response is silence, and not love. I am at a loss as to how to move this relationship forward with my family member, and this is what the grace that I seek right now.

You have loved me far more than I can ever imagine.
You are beyond my imagination
and so I take comfort
because you are the More
that cannot be exhausted.
You are the Presence that stays.
Thank you.

God has reminded me today that I am hiding from Him. I am confused and hurt. I doubt His love for me and for others. I doubt His choices. And so I hide. I try to come home but in my deepest heart I reserve a place for my doubts and pain that I do not disclose to Him. He knows and He wants me to bring it up. And here I am Lord. Broken but willing to offer myself up because I want you to be my God. I may not understand all your choices but I choose to trust you, my Creator.

Lord God, thank you for the opportunity to take time to reflect on this Maundy Thursday. May we be like you son, Jesus, who became like us, human, and was able to do Your will, despite feeling the weaknesses of the human flesh. Take every doubt, despair, loss of hope and abandonment in us. You may be silent in these times, but we are hopeful that Jesus, will be triumphant in the end. Be with us Lord, and let Your will, not ours, be done. Amen.

Thank you Father God for reminding us on where we are and the making the right choices in our lives is to choose you. May your grace and mercy fill us with love and compassion to our family. We pray that as we continue this retreat may I be reminded also that your mercy and grace is sufficient always to us. Thank you for loving us Lord.

To everyone who are behind this online retreat, I am always very thankful that I can still join the Triduum despite not being in the Philippines to celebrate the life and death of Jesus.
Through this Holy Thursday retreat, I come to realize that God is there with me in everything I do and in every decision I make. Please help me pray for the desires of my heart and for God’s desires for me.

Thank You Lord for reminding me of Your endless and unconditional love for us today and always, though we may sin and go astray. Thank You for never giving up on us. I ask for the grace to be able to seek You more each day and involve You in everything I do.

Thank you for empowering me again! I feel God amswered my prayer of desire through this retreat. It’s empowering and soul-satisfying.

Father God thank you for this retreat. This is an answered prayer. I prayed that me and my family will be able to have a retreat this lenten season no matter how far we are from each other and you have granted it in the most unexpected way from an unexpected person.

This retreat teaches me to be humble enough and accept that there are still so many things to learn in life. There are still so many sins we committed in thoughts words and deeds that we try to hide and justify.

God our father forgive me of all my sins.

Lord Jesus Christ thank you for dying on the cross to save me and humanity.

God our Father thank you so much for all the blessings you have accorded me and my family.

Thank you pins of light for this wonderful deed.

Thanks for the dance, Lord. By making this online retreat, I got my chance to dance cheek to cheek with you. Even if you didn’t say a word, I felt your cheek upon mine and your arms around me, leading me, loving me. Looking forward to tomorrow’s session!

Thank you Lord for this online retreat and the friend who shared it. It gave me a clearer understanding of what God wants me to do, starting off with the question “where are you? “. Just trust in Him in this very major decision I have to make to live for Him, my life’s goal. I will take this prayed for 2nd chance. Amen.

Thank you for this online retreat. It’s been a while since I’ve attended one and this helped my mind and heart rest in the Lord after months of hectic and stressful work.

This retreat helped me identify my current life state and where I need God’s help in the most.

For the first time, I also felt how personal Jesus’ journey to the cross was. He remained obedient to His Father’s Will despite the pain caused by His closest friends.

I will seek you Lord God with all my mind, with all my heart and with all my soul. I am ashamed of the sins I have committed, but through your mercy and through the sacrifice of your son Jesus Christ I am made whole again.

This first retreat day has definitely put me in the right state of mind. It’s difficult to get away from distractions, but the compelling text and especially the music truly made the messages sink in and affect me in a profound way.

Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, yet God still sought them out. Peter, James, and John “abandoned” Jesus in prayer; He was angered but understood that “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him, yet He still offered him bread, likely as an effort to change his mind. We make the wrong choice often, but God never tires of forgiving us, of leading us toward the fulfillment of His will, of loving us unconditionally.

Lord God, thank You for your unfailing love, for Your deep understanding, for Your presence in our lives. May we seek Your will and resolve to glorify You in all that we do.

Lord Jesus, you became human and underwent all human emotions and all that suffering just to save us. Sorry for my sins and my stubbornness, and thank You for the example that you have set for us. May we seek you out as our companion everyday, and resolve to follow your footsteps in all that we do.

Fellow retreatants, God bless you in this journey toward being the best we can be for the Lord and for our brothers and sisters.

It comes down to choices: will we choose good or evil? God over wordly desires? God has already chosen us. He’s just there waiting and inviting us to choose Him. The problem is: our human frailty which the world exploits is distracting and kerping us from choosing Him. To help us make the right choice (God), we have to pray hard to resist the temptation. We also have to look up to Jesus and simply follow what he did. But this could be the hardest simple course of action one could take. But it always pays off. We just have believe in His promise–that if we choose Him, there awaits a reward that the world can not give—real peace, happiness and contentment…

I could see myself in the shoes of Adam and Eve. I know my actions would lead me to sin yet I chose to disobey God. Sin separates us from God and I deeply felt that separation from Him. I know God forgives but when you keep sinning over and over again, it gets harder to ask for forgiveness and you tend to hide. But still, God sought us. He knew where to find us. We can’t just hide from Him.
Today, I am affirmed that, I am where God meant me to be. He allow things to happen for us to know where we are. God is always there. He may be silent, but He is always there, always ready to embrace us. We just need to face Him and humble ourselves to ask for forgiveness.

The sad thing about Judas is not that he betrayed Jesus. The sad thing about him is that although he was filled with remorse for what he did, he chose not to ask for forgiveness.

Lord, I am very frightened, to fall and fail. I am afraid to not know the answers. I am tortured that I have not yet understood some of the challenges thrown my way. Or that I do discern but refuse to learn, to accept, to obey. Please be patient with me and stay close. I may not know how to find You and I don’t want to lose my way. I will not always be making the right choices, but please stay near. I need you. I remain grateful for all my blessings. I love you, Lord. Please forgive me.

What do you mean by “stealing fire?” – as in Kotler/Wheal’s notion of living life to the max – whatever it takes? Or something else?

The way I took it was that we often think that we benefit from the act of stealing — a sin. Yet, at the end of the day, we realize that all we get is fire that will harm us more than anything.

I arrived at this thought after this retreat: perhaps I feel stuck in my life now because failed to see how much God has really blessed and guided me throughout my life. I think that I am still waiting for an answer when in fact God has already given me what I asked for and its now my turn to make a choice, the choice, that i need to make to get me unstuck…
I could relate to the gethsemane scene, but unlike Jesus, i have remained in gethsemane. Still afraid to take my cup and proceed…

“Silence is the cloud that covers the mystery of our relationship with God, our holiness and our sins” -Pope Francis
Just because God is silent doesn’t mean He is not with us…He is always with us, fighting for us, fighting with us 🙂

It really struck that its really hard to get the sense of God’s presence, making it hard to pray, making it hard to know and discern God’s will. Yes, He may stay silent (as how we thought). Maybe He’s silent because of love – because He respects our freedom. But also because of His immense love for us that He chooses not to be insensitive to us, that is why He gave us Jesus, His words, and spiritual gifts for us to be equipped, for us to make the right choices, and also to makes us draw back to Him when we fail or make wrong decisions.

I realized that I just need to keep on praying, keep on communicating with Him, to continue to ask for those spiritual gifts, most especially of wisdom and discernment, to make the proper choices in life. Also, the courage to do the right things as well. I also realized that necessity to always be in a state of grace, to strive to live a life of holiness in order to be more attuned to Him.

Indeed, our God is a merciful and compassionate God. Praise Him!

Sinner as we are, the Lord is reminding us that we are not meant to stay in the state of sin forever. He continuously seek us when we chose to hide. But sometimes the Lord in our trials and sufferings choses to be silent, testing our patience and trust.
But we all know that despite the silence He is always there.

Life is full of choices. We may have made the wrong decisions in the past, but it does not mean we can’t change and make the right choices in the present. The Lord choses us, may we also chose Him.

I am grateful for this online retreat. It really did help me a lot in knowing where I am right now with my relationship with the Lord and what I need to do. It also did remind me, to always choose what is right; to choose love and choose God always. Praise God for this!

I am in a place of extreme anxiety these days. After having made a major decision following a long discernment process, I’d sometimes feel abandoned by God simply because things weren’t turning out as I had expected. Many times I’d doubt whether I was personally chosen by God for this mission or simply randomly landed where I am now. Today’s retreat materials and prayer points helped me to go back to that place of certainty when I decided to take this leap. And somehow that eases a bit of my anxiety.

Thank you for this online retreat. I miss going to retreats —- and this is just what I needed. Thank you, for giving me that opportunity again.

Decisions. I hate making them but yet I have no choice but to choose. Thank you for making me realise the power of my decision-making. There are many decisions I have regretted, but yes… I guess that’s what made me who I am and where I am today. I am shameful of my bad decisions, and they have made me more prayerful. Thank you for making me realise that. God always knows the best for us. I am here where I am today because God directed me here.

I am sorry, my Lord, for failing to choose you at times. I will try to remember not to give up.

this retreat is a blessing to me, exactly what I need, my longingness for the Lord, as I am so busy living the life that he has given me, i forget about him, i am the one hiding, and now he is calling “where are you?” I hope i will be able to renew my relationship with our Lord.

this is a great way of reflection and nice to share with everybody.

thank you, this retreat is God’s way of finding me and bringing me back to him.

i am so glad i CHOSE to take this retreat.

Retreat is a way to bring us back to the path which the Lord intended us to take in our earthly journey.
Reflecting on words, situations, thoughts, and things we have done, things we otherwise take for granted, can make us better persons specifically in our inner selves.

afraid. that’s what i am. but Jesus too was afraid. may We dance Cheek to cheek with God and let Him lead the way. Fear is darkness. When we bring it to light, when we turn the broken pieces to God, He can fix it. Fear vanishes. Return joy to my life, dear Lord. May I not live in fear but in Your Joy.

I am happy for this online retreat. I needed one Where I can be alone with myself and search for God in this empty silence. ThAnk you.

At times, when I feel so helpless, it feels like God is hiding his face from me, anxiety and fear cripples me… however persisting in prayer somehow gave me the strength to survive, to keep going on, to hope for a better tomorrow, to wait until the will finally show his face, until I can feel His embrace and hear his voice telling me everything will fine…that everything will work out good for those who love Him

It’s true. God is always forgiving. I confess every month but sometimes I feel ashamed that I confess the same sins. Thank you, Lord, for always forgiving me in spite of my sinfulness.

Thank you also for this online retreat.It is a great way to speak again to the Lord and pray even if I am only by myself.

Thank you.
I needed alone time with the Lord. I missed today’s recollection. So I’m very grateful for this on line retreat .
Thank you also to all who shared .

Lord, we know that we are your Chosen ones. Yet, we try so many times to distant from you by sinning. The way to follow you is not easy Lord. But You are always there for us. Please give me the strength & grace to never forget that.
Amen

Thank you Lord for the people who have creatively designed this online retreat. Indeed, God is in all things, including the Internet. May God bless us all! Let us pray for one another as we continue our reflections.

One of God’s lines which I cherish. “You are mine.” It was His decision. And because of that, I am safe.

This is my first time to join an online retreat. There are still a lot to discern in trying to have a better communication with God but this retreat is good way to start and spend a meaningful Triduum.

God’s love is truly unfathomable. Despite of all my sins, He is always present maybe not in the way I define presence. I know he will never leave me. Walking this earth with a grateful and hopeful heart.

I’m very grateful for this online retreat… Even during the Holy Week, the work never ends, but I found my inner peace here when I finished today’s retreat although disturbed…
Thank God for CHOSEN ME, for always LOOKING FOR ME, for HIS EVEN PATIENCE to me.

In asking for forgiveness for my sin, I find myself repeating the same sin. In repeating the same sin, God stays hidden from me. His silence makes me realise that it is I who keeps him hidden. I pray especially for the grace of shame and remorse, and the grace of wisdom and prayer.

I want to give up the use of my cellphone for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but the temptation was too strong and I felt really bad. And then I saw this! God really works in mysterious ways! He never gave up on me, never! You never fails to make me feel that I am your special daughter! Thank you Lord for this intimate moment with You! I am forever grateful

I am grateful for this ME time, my alone time with God. In this silent moment I suddenly thought of my own father. I miss him so much now that he is gone. Specially this holy week because we usually spend time together. But now I am more grateful to God because he continues to ease my sadness,

God’s silence allows us to have an absolute freedom in making decisions and we should rejoice because He trusts us that we will come out with good choices.

There were moments in my life that I felt that I was alone and God was nowhere that I even questioned His existence but I’ve realized that He never abandons me even in His silence and all I need is to have faith on Him no matter how complicated and hopeless the situation that I’m into.

Thank you so much for this retreat. God bless us all.

Thank you for this online retreat. I was deeply blessed by all the reflections, songs and sharing.

I felt that God is asking me the same question, “Where are you?”, by which He means where am I with Him, what is my status with God? Am I near or am I hiding from Him?

I also felt that I am being invited to reflect on my choice and my commitment. I realized that choosing God doesn’t mean I leave behind everything. Choosing God is always to choose the path that will lead me closer to Him, the path that will bring more love and unity.

Thanks again for this retreat!

I truly felt God’s gift and grace throughout this one hour of reflection and prayer. I can truly say that this is one of my favorite times of the year. Godbless 🙂

Gid took me back to this Retreat >>> We should STOP HIDING FROM HIM ~ Bec HE WILL ALAWAYS ASK “WHERE ARE YOU?” & HE WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON US ~ until we are FOUND IN OUR HIDING PLACES!
Thank you Pinsof Light for always being Present esp during this time of Lent

I honestly felt bad when my husband and kid decided to go to this hotel to spend holy Wednesday until Good Friday. The self-righteous CLE teacher in me would want to stay so we can activelt participate in the Paschal Triduum at our parish. But I needed to understand my husband’s job and my daughter’s need (she was waiting for this ever since grade 6 graduation for a week now) I just prayed for guidance so I will not miss out on our spiritual need as a family. This module is very helpful and besides there is a Church nearby the hotel that we can go to for the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper. Thank you very much, I’ve entered the Triduum retreat while watching my daughter swim, embracing the distraction as part and parcel of who I am as a mother.

I have been looking forward to this Lenten retreat since I started a couple of years back. Thank you Pins of Light and Fr. J. for this wonderful opportunity, specially for us OFW’s who live in non-Christian countries. This gives us a chance to have a meaningful Lent.

One week before Lent, our small venture suffered challenges that caused us to close and find alternative ways to continue. These changes brought me confusion and made my spirit down. I got consumed with financial worries, but couldn’t voice it out because I didn’t want the situation affect our relationship in the team. I know I must value my relationship more than money. Right now, I just consider our situation as something we have to go through for greater purpose, and that our suffering is inevitable in order for us to appreciate victory in the aftermath. “Though sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning”…..I’m looking forward to our “Easter”!

First of all, thank you for the gift of silence and contemplation that this online retreat offers.

I end my prayer time with an intent to contemplate further on my sinfulness and my inability to allow God in to my life, with all my shortcomings and imperfections. But i do it with a grateful heart and a certain peace, knowing that He continues to be there for me despite all of this.

There was a time in my life when I felt that God was silent. I experienced hurt after hurt, disappointments and deep sorrow. Now in my senior years, the Lord is seldom silent, always making me feel His love and presence.

Do not give up on God, not matter how hidden and silent He is. Because despite, He is still and always will be there. And He has never given up on us.

God is always around but its up to us to reach out to Him
its not enough to just go ghrough our daily prayer routine or hear mass.Whats more important is to spend some quiet moments in direct communication with Him.Talk to Him like hes there beside you like a live person.Be honest and tell Him whats on your mind…and listen to Him respond.

.

My greatest takeaway from today’s retreat would be the realization that I’ve been living my life so self-servingly, and ultimately hiding from God as well as allowing him to hide from me. Many times I think I am doing the right thing, but in doing so I fail to seek God’s grace. I also realized that God is love, and God is mercy. Why am I so scared to acknowledge my sins and ask for his forgiveness?

Amazing how God searches for us continuously and finds & meets us where we are at – Square One wherever that is.
Thank you dearest Lord.

Thanks Fr. J and team for the retreat and the songs. Relatable, insightful – such gifts.

So much hidden pride masked by righteousness. Thank you Lord for opening my eyes. Thank you to the one who shared reminder to choose to be kind rather than right, when faced with the option.

I acknowledge God has been calling me for a very long time. He never stopped, but I keep avoiding making the commitment to respond — because I didn’t want to make the time to be with Him, or to give up what I might have to. Even now I make excuses that many things I did don’t qualify as sins because I hadn’t meant to hurt others. It’s hard to come out into the light. I pray for strength.

I have “stolen ? ” and ask for forgiveness. May I also forgive those who have done me and my family harm in words and deeds.

God Bless you All ??

Dear God,
I praise and thank You, through the power of the Holy Spirit, for leading me to take this spiritual journey this Holy Week. As Jesus said, “Many are called, but a few are chosen.” I am humbled that despite my sinfulness, You have chosen to save me and give me eternal life. You have loved us since day 1. We are your square 1. In my heart, You were, You are, and You will be, my square 1. Guide me O Lord, and I pray that I make the choices are are pleasing in Youe eyes. I pray this in Jesus’ mighty name, who came and saved us from damnation to eternal life. Amen!

During trying times, we easily cry out “Bakit ako Lord?” “Why me?”

At hindsight, we begin to ask: “Bakit nga ba ako?”

But with God’s grace, we no longer ask – we begin to acknowledge, “God, you know what’s good for us and you’re in control of what happens to each of one of us. You love us even when we cease to be loving. Life maybe difficult and uncertain at times, but we entrust our lives to you the way Jesus did at Gethsemane.”

From “Bakit ako na naman Lord?” to “Bakit nga ba hindi ako Lord?”

No more “stealing fire” – I have been burned enough. Amen.

Thank you for this online retreat. This makes me put my excuses of not participating in a back seat. Grateful to be reminded of a God that loves us perfectly in our imperfectness. I pray that all of us will constantly be reminded of that love and choose to seek it more, especially in the most difficult days, in our wilderness. God bless to the team who put this together and to everyone here participating. God is good.

I am happy that my mom shared to me this module. Ive been struggling with my life in the past few days. I’ve stumbled across failures and disappointments in life, failing to make my parents happythesproud. One of the most important thing I have learned from this retreat is that we also need to search for God. If the time comes, first, I want to say sorry for doubting Him. After, I want to ask him and know why would he allow these things happen to me, why can’t I make something significant in my life? why can’t I give my parents a son that they could be proud of? Why do we need to suffer? Aren’t those sufferings not enough for me to learn? I am really down this month, but this reflection helped me become stronger in some ways. I am thankful that even in a short period of time, I felt God was listening to me.

Lord, thank you for loving me — us, this much! Help to remember that your love for me is bigger than my sins. That your silence does not mean not loving me. Grant me the grace to know, understand and obey your will, everyday of my life. And thank you for giving me the freedom to make choices, make mistakes and learn from them and for not getting tired of me, for not giving up on me even if I often falter. Amen.

God calls us always–“Where are you?” And while we may think that He is silent when we most need Him, the times when we feel totally “abandoned”……He is there.

God has given us the choice to come to Him…we should heed His call. The choice is ours to make.
____________________________________

P.S. Thank you Fr. Johnny for making this virtual retreat possible. It has certainly helped to make our choice on how to spend Holy Thursday easier and blessed.

Deus absconditus
> a God who hides
The Empty Sound
> Father’s silence
> God’s hiddenness
> His apparent distance to us sinners

Holy Week is about the choices we make and the choices God makes. Isn’t this what life is all about?

No matter the circumstance in our lives, we still have a choice!

Grace of shame/remorse. Grace of wisdom to understand ourselves better.

THANK YOU FATHER JOHNNY AND TEAM FOR THIS ONLINE RETREAT!

It was in God’s silent moments in my life that my faith in Him have deepened. It was those times when He was silent that I seek Him the most! It was during those times when I thought God was not there that I chose to surrender to His will, to believe that He will not forsake me, to give it all up to Him and to let His will in my life be done. And as I look back to those times I realize that indeed God never left me even if I can’t hear Him or feel Him in my life at that time. I realize that in His silence He was allowing me to strengthen my faith in His will. Putting my choice of “giving it all up to Him” to the test! Yes indeed it was not an easy choice to just “let go and Let God” because it is our human nature to be controlling of oir lives. But i realized now that the day I said “thy will be done in my life Lord” was tje day everything in my lofe was put in its proper place. Thank you Lord! Thy will be done.

Thank you Jesus for making me Your choice. For loving me despite my sinfulness. Please give me the grace to always choose You. May I always hear You in silent moments and see You in my daily life.

Your will, not mine…

Make me, Lord, patient and enduring in times of silence and temper my need to CONTROL everything. Teach me to trust You and Your will in my life.

I am filled with love knowing that You chose me, Lord. Please help me to choose You always. Thank you for the graces I have received through this experience.

God is hidden because we “choose” Him to be in our lives. Today, I choose to take off the blinders on my eyes and in my heart so that I can truly find Him and see Him, and my true self as well.

Thank you for this online retreat…looking forward to the next few days! God bless!

I needed this to break my routine in everyday life — I needed to be disturbed once more that perhaps the things I’ve been doing in life aren’t the best things that bring me and other people closer to Christ. Praying that this online retreat enlightens more people about God’s love for us!

The most powerful insight I got from retreat today is –

“Such has been the cost of our redemption.
Our Lord embraced this empty sound
 in order to save us.”

Making choices… Choosing a lifestyle… One has to accept, embrace all the consequences of that choice.
Jesus did!
Father

Thank you Fr J and all your colleagues who made this retreat❣

Lord, thank you for your grace of shame. Oh! How wicked have I been. And, how much hurt I have caused a loved one! Forgive me, Lord! And, thank you for dying on the cross for my sins!
Now, I am beginning to experience a new “springtime” in my life!
Praise be to God!

My God was never much good in hiding. That’s because I’ve always been able to see traces of him everywhere I look. And I am grateful for this every single day. Finding God’s love sustains me.

Lord thank for this grace of letting me go back to that bitter moment and make me recall your most bitter just to save me. So much grace on this first day of retreat . I praise and thank God for giving me a chance to be guided by disciples like the members of Pins of Light to help us go through our own journey with the Lord. Thank you.

Lord, in the times when You are “hidden” from me, when I ask but only receive Your “silence”, help me to NOT give up on You, as You have never given up on me. Let me cling to what I know in my deepest core, that all comes to pass only by Your grace. Grow and strengthen my faith when it is weak because even that is a grace that can only come from You. Allow me to take inspiration and action from the life of Your son, Jesus. Even when felt most abandoned by You and his closest of friends, He clung to the belief that all He was experiencing was part of Your grace. Remind me that Your silence and hiddeness do not mean You are not present but here with me, no matter what I chose to do and be. If my choices are right and good, help me to recognize Your love. When my choices are negative, be my safety net who will catch me as I fall.

Thank you for providing these opportunities to see, feel and know You. The messages of the 3-day recollections and masses I have attended since Holy Monday, plus this online retreat have been the same—to seek and know You, to take inspiration and light from the people who encountered Your son, and to move from conversion (to see another perspective in order to get to know You and myself more) to mission (I’m still reflecting on what my call to action is). Be here for me as always, Lord.

Choices and the Chosen. I never thought of Holy Week to revolve around these words and so intimately intertwined with me. Thank you Pins of Life! Looking forward to the next days.

Grace of desire and the grace of shame. In awe of the countless insights the same scripture read and reread still gives.

I pray for Your grace O LORD, you know what is in my heart. You know what I am going through and help me please. While I live in this borrowed time, help me that I will have a clean heart and live according to Your will. COntinue to prune me if I do wrong.

Thank you Lord for your great love, your endless mercy, and for always reaching out to us no matter how far we have grown from you. Continue to remind us that You will never give up on us. For all these may we be your worthy sons and daughters.

Thank you for this online retreat. Praying that more people get access to this. I know that there are many out there who longs for retreats but just don’t know how or so afraid to do so. But as I realized here, no fear. He is in control.

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