Thursday, November 30, 2017

Parable and Conscience Meditation November 30


Liturgy  November 30

To sustain our religious life, a monthly recollection day should be organized in each community. . . . Each confrere will make an annual retreat (Congolese Regional Statutes, 1.6; 1.7).

The monthly recollection and the annual retreat, done personally or in community, are very important moments for the confreres.  The Order, confronted by the activist spirit of our times, as well as by today’s great pastoral needs, is tempted to plunge itself into work to the prejudice of the balance of our life as Canons Regular.  The prescriptions of the Congolese Regional Statutes want to protect the idea of a “time apart,” something that Jesus practiced with regularity in his urgent mission.  The days of recollection and retreat allow us to renew ourselves by solitude, silence, prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, theological study and fraternal sharing of the faith.  In effect, they are “sabbatical days,” necessary for a balanced religious life.  To listen to God during an extended period of time sharpens the capacity to hear God in the comings and goings of our daily lives.  The days of recollection and retreat give us the opportunity to deepen intimacy with God and self-knowledge.  They promote occasions of rest and the healing of the disheartening effects of our commitments.  “Jesus said to them: ‘Come away . . . a while” (Mk 6:31).

Instead of being where you eat, it's better to be where you plant.  (Congo)

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