Sacred Space

Welcome to the Lent Retreat

The theme of this Lenten retreat is ‘Loving Service’. The focus is on Jesus Christ, with whom we journey during the weeks of Lent, through the darkness of Holy Week and into the sunlight of Easter. If we can keep in mind that each great moment of Jesus’ final days reveals some aspect of his commitment to loving service, we will have the key that opens up the mystery of God to us. Jesus is presented by the evangelists as the ‘loving servant’ who serves his Father and us ‘to the very end’. It is this loving service that brings about the salvation of the world.

Jesus therefore gives a new and divine meaning to all the loving service that goes on across the world. All of it, your service and mine included, plays its part now in the transfiguring of our world. That gives comfort when you are burdened with much to do and when you have little time for yourself.

At the same time, Jesus is portraying what his Father is like. ‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father’. So he is presenting us with the image of God as ‘loving servant’. This challenges many of our images of God: we usually think of God as the all-powerful monarch, solitary and remote, who loves us but also dispenses unflinching justice on sinners.

We who make this retreat are the Sacred Space Community. As we journey along together, let us pray for one another that each of us may receive the particular graces that God wishes to give to each. By becoming more like our Lord, our service of others into the future will be done lovingly. This will help to change the world around us and also bring joy to Jesus who goes before us and sets us an example. There is joy in heaven when we catch on (Luke 15:7, 10).

Planning

Time

This retreat can be done in whatever way suits you best. You may be able to set aside a day when all else can be put aside. Or you may find it more feasible to spread your retreat over a number of days. This would mean setting a special time aside on those days, apart from the time your ordinarily give to your Sacred Space prayer. Pray as you can, not as you can’t! Let the time you set aside be a source of gladness for you, not a burden that you just want to get done with. The main thing is for you to meet the Lord and to grow more like him. Since the theme of this retreat is very simple you can also reflect on it outside your formal prayer times.

So, to practical matters! I step back from my usual routine of everyday living. I choose a suitable time in the day when I can go apart into real quiet. Jesus invited his disciples to do that after a hard day’s work and the horror of the news that John the Baptist has been beheaded at Herod’s feast (Mark 6:14-29). Jesus says to his little band: ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while’ (Mark 6:31). He invites me to do likewise.

We set out here three times of prayer, each focusing on one of the Gospel passages chosen by the Christian churches for our attention during Lent. If an hour of prayer seems too much, then let me decide on what I can cope with. Perhaps 30 minutes or less may suit me best. It may be that as I move along I will feel the desire to give more time. Prayer is not an endurance test! The main thing is to meet the Lord personally, to notice what is happening for him, to speak with him and listen to him.

Planning

Place

I find a space where I can be alone and become more aware of God’s loving presence - maybe outside in the garden; maybe sitting, standing or kneeling in my prayer corner; maybe in a church or chapel. I switch off my mobile phone, radio and TV, anything that might interfere with the silence and solitude where I meet God. “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10). I slow down. This time is not for doing but for being: I make no effort to achieve, to ‘catch up’ or get things done. I just become aware, listening to hear what message God has for me personally.

Holy images and music

You may be helped to pray by lighting a candle, or by having a crucifix before you, or a picture of Christ. These can help you to enter into God’s space and time. The images that accompany the stages of the retreat may be helpful, or some other picture may recommend itself to you, prompted, perhaps, by a phrase in the texts you find here. Personally I like to draw up a chair beside my own: I wait with anticipation for the knock on the door. Jesus comes in; he smiles and I return his smile. Then we begin to chat. Prayer is all about two friends chatting about what is going on in their lives. Putting it another way, praying is all about growing in relationship with Jesus who loves me completely.

You may like to choose a piece of music to listen to quietly or meditatively, letting it be a background for your prayer. It may be that a favourite piece comes to mind – one that would help you to pray. If so, you can prepare it before you begin.

Lent

Lent originally meant ‘spring-time’ – the time when the snows melt and flowers begin to bloom. So while it is a time for fasting and doing good works such as almsgiving, it is also a time of new growth in us. It is a time when God comes into sharper focus for us. We look at Jesus, and also look at ourselves as disciples. For many of us, Lent is a time when we turn more energetically toward God. We pray more, confess our sins, participate in the Eucharist. We can imagine a sunflower drooping in times of darkness; then the sun emerges and it turns its face toward the warmth and light. Perhaps we are like that? Pause for a few moments, sit with Jesus and ask him to give you an image of what your inner life is like right now. Let your imagination play on this: imagination is a great help in our relationship with God. God has an unbelievable imagination: God dreams up our extraordinary world of stars and crocodiles, smiles and tears, music and sunshine. What image does God have of you? You are, after all, ‘God’s work of art’ – have you any idea what this special work of art is like. If it is a painting, is it black and white or coloured? Is it large or small? Or perhaps it is a sculpture, and if so, what is it like?

About Loving Service

It is important to note that loving service does not mean self-abasement. It does not mean that I should be at everyone’s beck and call, a slave in all but name. I am God’s beloved, and God wishes me to have a right to care for myself. I am meant to love myself rightly.

Loving service means instead a service freely and willingly done. It may require that I practise the art of discernment when faced with life’s demands. St Ignatius would say that we should make no decision without chatting about it with God. So I ask God: ‘What do YOU want me to do?’ I cannot do everything. God may wish me to leave one demand aside and to take up another instead, or to leave both aside and relax!

When I am more myself, my service flows better than if I am worn out and distracted. In one of the L’Arche communities established by Jean Vanier there was a rule: ‘If you are not in good form, don’t do the cooking!’ Saying ‘No’ can be done graciously if it is born out of a sense that I am only a small person with limited energies, but that God can provide where I cannot. I need to be humble about my capacities. Jesus ‘went about doing good’ (Acts 10: 38), but he also took time out to pray and be alone. For him these too were ways of being at the loving service of the people around him. So let it be with me.

Some forms of service can be very demanding, and yet can be done lovingly. If a couple find themselves with a severely handicapped child, a new depth of love is needed to strengthen ordinary parental love. A daughter or son may start out caring for their ageing parents who are in fair health, but when one of them develops Alzheimer’s they feel called to ‘go the extra mile’. Jesus came into the world with a simple agenda – ‘to do good’ - but as hostility grew his love was stretched to the uttermost. God is provident, and if I am called to engage in service in demanding ways, God will give me the love I need for this.

When I become more aware of how well I am loved by God, loving service comes more easily. The Ignatian phrase ‘In all things to love and serve’ takes on more meaning as I see how well Jesus has served me. This retreat will help me grow in generosity by opening out to me new horizons of his love. And so a new love will be born in the world!