AS we surrender ourselves more and more to the truths of God, let us pray that they will transform us. Let us begin: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
O come Holy Spirit, Consoler and Counselor: lead me on the paths of truth and light. Penetrate my being with the fire of your love and teach me the Way I should go. I give you permission to enter into the depths of my soul. With the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, sever all lies, cleanse my memory, and renew my mind.
Come Holy Spirit, as flame of love, and burn away all fear as you draw me into living waters to refresh my soul and restore my joy.
Come Holy Spirit and help me this day and always to accept, praise, and live in the unconditional love of the Father for me, revealed in the life and death of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Come Holy Spirit and let me never fall back into the abyss of self-loathing and despair. This I ask, in the Most Precious Name of Jesus. Amen.
As part of our opening prayer, join your heart and voice to this song of praise of the unconditional love of God…
Unconditional
How wide and how long is the love of Jesus Christ?
And how high and how deep is the love of Jesus Christ?
Unconditional, infinite
It is unending, unrelenting
Forever, eternal
How wide and how long is the love of Jesus Christ?
And how high and how deep is the love of Jesus Christ?
It’s unconditional, infinite
It is unending, unrelenting
Forever, eternal
And may the roots of my heart
Go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love
Unconditional, infinite
It is unending, unrelenting
Unconditional, infinite
It is unending, unrelenting
Forever, eternal
Forever, eternal
—Mark Mallett from Let the Lord Know, 2005©
Wherever you are right now is where God, the Father, has led you to be. Don’t worry or panic if you are still in a place of pain and hurt, feeling numb or nothing at all. The fact that you are even aware of your spiritual need is a sure sign that grace is active in your life. It’s the blind who refuse to see and harden their hearts who are in trouble.
What is essential is that you continue in a place of faith. As the Scriptures say,
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
You can count on it.
A Change of Mind
Yesterday was a powerful day for many of you as you forgave yourself, perhaps for the first time. However, if you have spent years putting yourself down, you may have developed patterns that produce even subconscious responses to berate, accuse, and put yourself down. In a word, to be negative.
The step you have taken to forgive yourself is enormous and I’m sure many of you already feel lighter and a newfound peace and joy. But don’t forget what you heard in Day 2 — that our brains can actually change by negative thinking. And so we need to create new pathways in our brains, new patterns of thinking, new ways of responding to the trials that will surely come and test us.
So St. Paul says:
Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. (Rom 12:2
We have to repent and make deliberate choices to go against the grain of worldly thinking. In our present context, it means repenting of being negative, a complainer, of rejecting our crosses, of letting pessimism, anxiety, fear and defeatism overcome us — like the Apostles who were seized with terror in the storm (even with Jesus in the boat!). Negative thinking is toxic, not only to others but to yourself. It affects your health. It affects others in the room. Exorcists say it even draws demons toward you. Think about that.
So how do we change our minds? How can we prevent falling back into becoming our own worst enemy?
I. Remind Yourself Who You Are
I am made good. I am human. It’s okay to mistakes; I learn from my mistakes. There is no one like me, I am unique. I have my own purpose and place in creation. I don’t have to be good at everything, only good to others and myself. I have limitations that teach me what I can and cannot do. I love myself because God loves me. I am made in His image, so I am loveable and capable of loving. I can be merciful and patient with myself because I am called to be patient and merciful with others.
II. Change Your Thoughts
What is the first thing you think in the morning as you get up? What a drag it is to go back to work… how bad is the weather… what’s wrong with the world…? Or do you think like St. Paul:
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. (Phil 4:8)
Remember, you cannot control the events and circumstances of life, but you can control your reactions; you can take control of your thoughts. While you cannot always control temptations — those random thoughts the enemy throws at your mind — you can reject them. We are in a spiritual battle, and will be until our last breath, but it’s a battle we are in a constant position to win because Christ has already won the victory.
For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ… (2 Cor 10:3-5)
Cultivate positive thoughts, joyful thoughts, thanksgiving thoughts, praise thoughts, trust thoughts, surrender thoughts, holy thoughts. This is what it means to…
…be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth. (Eph 4:23-24)
Even in these times when the world is becoming increasingly dark and evil, it is even more necessary that we be a light in the darkness. This is part of the reason I am compelled to give this retreat, because you and I need to become an army of light — not gloomy mercenaries.
III. Raise the Power of Praise
I call the following “St. Paul’s Little Way“. If you live this day by day, hour by hour, it will transform you:
Rejoice always, pray constantly and give thanks in all situations, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. (1Thessalonians 5:16)
At the onset of this retreat, I spoke of the necessity to invoke the Holy Spirit each day. Here is a little secret: the prayer of praise and blessing of God causes the grace of the Holy Spirit to descend upon you.
Blessing expresses the basic movement of Christian prayer: it is an encounter between God and man…our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit through Christ to the Father — we bless him for having blessed us; it implores the grace of the Holy Spirit that descends through Christ from the Father — he blesses us. —Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 2626; 2627
Begin your day with blessing the Holy Trinity,[1]cf. Prevenient Prayer at the bottom here even if you are sitting in a prison or hospital bed. It is the first attitude of the morning that we should take up as a child of God.
Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. —Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 2626; 2628
There is so much more that could be said about the power of praising God. In the Old Testament, praise unleashed angels, defeated armies,[2]cf. 2 Chron 20:15-16, 21-23 and toppled city walls.[3]cf. Joshua 6:20 In the New Testament, praise caused earthquakes and the chains of prisoners to fall[4]cf. Acts 16:22-34 and ministering angels to appear, especially in the sacrifice of praise.[5]cf. Luke 22:43, Acts 10:3-4 I have personally seen people physically healed when they simply began to praise God aloud. The Lord liberated me years ago from an oppressive spirit of impurity when I began to sing His praises.[6]cf. Praise to Freedom So if you really want to see your mind transformed and your being liberated from the chains of negativity and darkness, begin to praise God, who will begin to move among you. For…
God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3)
Finally, “you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart,” says St. paul.[7]Eph 4:17-18
Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world… (Phil 2:14-15)
My dear brother, my dear sister: give no more breath to the “old man.” Exchange the thoughts of darkness with words of light.
Closing Prayer
Pray with the closing song below. (When I was recording it, I was softly crying at the end as I sensed the Lord would move years later to heal people who would begin to praise Him.)
Then take out your journal and write to the Lord regarding any fears you still have, obstacles you face, sorrows you carry… and then write down any words or images that come to your heart as you listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Chains
Take your shoes off, you’re on holy ground
Take your blues off, and sing a holy sound
There’s a fire burnin’ in this bush
God is present when His people praise
Chains they fall like rain when You
When You move among us
Chains that hold my pain they fall
When you move among us
So release my chains
Shake my prison until I’m walking free
Shake my sin Lord, my complacency
Set me on fire with your Holy Spirit
Angels are rushing when Your people praise
Chains they fall like rain when You
When You move among us
Chains that hold my pain they fall
When you move among us
So release my chains (repeat x 3)
Release my chains… save me, Lord, save me
…break these chains, break these chains,
break these chains…
—Mark Mallett from Let the Lord Know, 2005©
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