Healing and Hope Session 5, talk 2

Archdio of St. Paul Minneapolis, Talks/Discuss
Session 5, Talk 2: Moving Forward with Truth,
Encouragement and Gratitude
Fr. Joseph Jerome Bambenek,
Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Talk Outline

I. Spiritual Life is like a Football Game

A.. The ultimate goal is to make it to the end zone. When you are playing offense there is an opponent that is not
only trying to keep you from getting into that ultimate end zone but will also take cheap shots whenever they can, to hurt you.
B. God made us to have teammates, to help us get to the end zone.
C. Success in the spiritual life includes having both a good offense and a good defense.

II. Being Intentional Going Forward from the Retreat: Defending against the threats

A. The Devil will try to take back what he lost on this retreat.
B. We have new strength to fight against temptation. We have a new set of brakes, but we need to use them.
C. It can be very easy to fall back into the same patterns of life. We need to be proactive to fight against falling back into old patterns.
D. If we are looking to make lasting positive changes in our lives it is important to be careful of what
we are allowing into our lives.

III. Whatever healing or freedom we might have experienced, this retreat should open up some space and energy in our mental and emotional lives. What to do with it?

A. Prayer

    1. We can use any extra mental space and energy to deepen our relationship with God.
    2. Just like anyone who loves us, God wants us to spend time with Him every day.
      1. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the
        Devout Life: Pray an hour a day.
      2. If we recognize that we should be praying more than we currently are… the decision will most likely be put into action if we have a plan, if we make an appointment with God like we would make an appointment with anyone else of importance.
      3. Praying with the Bible
        1. Synod virtual Praying with Scripture Series (www.archspm.org/synod)
        2. St. Paul instructs us how we should invest our mental energy: “Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
    1. We can engage in spontaneous prayers as we go around throughout the day.

B. Gratitude

    1. A second way that we can develop a new narrative in Jesus is by approaching life with a mindset of gratitude or deepened gratitude.  That can start with a spontaneous prayer of thanks but then go deeper.
    2. “Prayer joined to sacrifice constitutes the most powerful force in human history.” Pope Saint John Paul II (12 January 1994 General Audience)
    3. Gratitude plays an important role in our experience of love.  When we are grateful it helps to stimulate an   increase in the theological virtue of charity, of love.
    4. Charity is a gift that comes ultimately from the God who is love, the first seeds of which were placed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit at baptism.  Depending on how we respond to the love given us, it can expand or shrink.
    5. “Only through an encounter with love can we truly heal.” – Dr. Bob Schuchts
    6. One way to cultivate gratitude in our hearts is to make a list each day of the things which we were  grateful for that day.

C. Encouragement and Truth

    1. A third way to develop a new narrative in Jesus is to go forth with eyes of encouragement and truth.
    2. Christian encouragement is communicating the truth to someone in their circumstances, including their relationship with God, through intentional words or actions directed toward another, or through our life witness, which stimulates an increase in the virtues of hope and of courage or fortitude.
    3. A shorthand definition of hope is faith, lived out over time and through adversity. … Hope is what helps us persevere when we have to wait.

IV. If we live out of a mindset of Jesus, rather than a mindset  shaped by lies and wounds and constricted by tourniquets, then we can emerge from this retreat as instruments of God’s healing love in the world.