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A Lenten Retreat Getting to Know You: Biblical Insights for Developing a Deeper Relationship with God Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish, Elmira, NY March 7, 8 and 9, 2021.As we Catholics continue to practice our Christian faith, many of us long to find ways that will allow us to develop an even deeper and more intimate relationship with our Triune God. This 4-week Lenten series will explore many of the biblical insights from both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures that might be of assistance to us in this search. We will give special emphasis to the idea of "knowing" God and the value of silence in this journey. We will also consider the example of some of the men and women who have found success in this undertakingIntroduction: The importance of undertaking this search in our time Looking at basic terms Mysticism: an immediate consciousness of the transcendent or ultimate reality of God. (or more simply: an intimate awareness of the presence of God.)Balance: The Mystical Element of Religion, (Baron von Hugel) Institutional/Historical, Intellectual/Speculative, Mystical/ContemplativeImportant ideas: Right Brain/Left Brain. Anima/Animus Thin placesContemplation is "taking a long loving look at the Real." (Walter Burghardt, S.J.)Earth’s crammed with heaven And every common bush afire with God. But only those who see take off their shoes. The rest sit ‘round and pluck blackberries. -Elizabeth Barrett BrowningPart I. What is necessary for awareness: Yada’ = to know, in the sense ofexperience, to be intimate with A) Texts from the Hebrew ScripturesIn HoseaSo I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart…. She will respond there as in the days of her youth… She shall call me “My husband,” and never again “My baal.” … I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and justice, in love and mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the Lord (Hosea 2:16-18,22-23) Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel, for the Lord has a grievance against the inhabitants of the land: There is no fidelity, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land. (Hosea 4:1)My people perish for want of knowledge! Since you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from my priesthood. (Hosea 4:6) For it is love that I desire and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts. (Hosea 6:6)In the Song of SongsA Tryst in the Springtime (Chapter 2:8-14)My beloved is mine and I am his; (dodi li va ani lo) he browses among the lilies. until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen, Roam, my lover, like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether. (2:16-17) Loss and Discovery (Chapter 3:1-4) On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves (sh’ ahavah naphshi) I sought him but did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in the street and crossings I will seek him whom my heart loves. I sought him but I did not find him. The watchmen came upon me, as they made their rounds of the city: Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I had hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves. I took hold of him and would not let him go.In JobThen Job answered the Lord and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, But now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said and I (melt) in dust and ashes. (Job 42:1-6)In Jeremiah:The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsfolk how to know the Lord. All, from the least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31, 34)B) Texts from the Christian ScripturesIn JohnI am the good (kalos good or beautiful) shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father (John 10:14-15)I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him (John 14:6-7)Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him (John 14:23)In the LettersMay the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy one, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe. (To the Ephesians 1:18-19)(May) Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, that , rooted and grounded in love, you may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breath and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of God. (To the Ephesians 3:17-19)More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God depending on faith, to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings… (Paul to the Philippians 3:8-10)For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (To the Colossians 3:3)Part II. A key element for Yada’: silenceElijah I Kings: 19:1-13 …”a tiny whispering sound” Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.”Psalm 131: “I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child on his mother’s lap.”-Ignatius of Antioch on Jesus’ silence Letter to the Ephesians 15:1-2-Augustine’s mystical experience at Ostia Confessions, Book 9, section 10-John of the Cross Spiritual Canticle, 15“The quiet night before the rising dawn, Silent music, Sounding silence, The supper that refreshes and deepens love” -Catherine de Hueck Doherty (Madonna House) "Listen to God's speech in his wondrous, terrible, gentle, loving, all-embracing silence" -St. Thomas More "God makes me a wanton and sits me on his lap and dandles me"Part III. Application: Biblical Models of ContemplationThe Supper at Emmaus - Luke 24: 13-35Mary of BethanyAs they continued their journey, he entered a village (of Bethany) where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me! The Lord said to her in reply, Martha. Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need for only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her. (Luke 10:38-42)Mary of MagdalaAnd (the angels) said to (Mary of Magdala), “Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him. When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, Mary”… Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”(John 20: 14-16, 18)Some ideas for our consideration:Is there a pressing need in our society and in our Church for wisdom?Can Wisdom be found apart from silence? The need for balance? head and heart, Mars and Venus, animus and anima?Can we minimize the role of doing and maximize the role of being? Can we begin to accept the role of wise elders in the community of the Church?We are not human beings on a spiritual journey; we are spiritual beings on a human journey! -Teilhard de Chardin15. It is better to keep quiet and be real, than to chatter and be unreal. It is a good thing to teach if, that is, the teacher practices what he preaches. There was one such Teacher, who “spoke and it was done”;and what he did in silence is worthy of the Father. He who has really grasped what Jesus said can appreciate his silence. Thus he will be perfect: his words will mean action, and his very silence will reveal his character. The Lord overlooks nothing. Even secrets are open to him. Let us, then, do everything as if he were dwelling in us. Thus we shall be his temples and he will be within us as our God — as he actually is. This will be clear to us just to the extent that we love him rightly. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians, 15:1-2If for any one the tumult of the flesh fell silent, silent the images of the earth, of the waters, and of the air; silent the heavens; silent the very soul itself... and God alone speaks, not though things but through Himself, so that we hear His Word, not uttered by a tongue of flesh, nor by an angel's voice, nor by the sound of thunder, not by the riddle of a similitude, but by Himself whom we love in these things, Himself we hear without their aid - even as we then reached out and in swift thought attained to that Eternal Wisdom which abides over all things - if this could be prolonged, and other visions of a far inferior kind could be withdrawn, and this one alone ravish, and absorb, and hide away its beholder within its deepest joys, so that eternal life might be such as was that moment of understanding for which we sighed - would this not be: "Enter into the joy of your Lord?" Augustine. Confessions 9 ................
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