How does our retreat work?
Go through all the content in this newsletter from top to bottom:
- Start by viewing the 5-minute opening video.
- Offer the prayer and listen to the music.
- Read the two scriptural reflections.
- Respond to journaling prompts.
- Consider sharing some thoughts with us from your journaling.
Estimated Time: 45-minutes
(can be done in multiple sittings)
In Case You Missed It…
Here’s a link to Week 1, Week 2 & Week 3 retreats
OPEN VIDEO
Opening Prayer & Music
Come Beautiful Spirit, come…
Still my thoughts.
Caress anything racing through my heart.
Draw me into celestial realms of sacred imagination.
Please bring me into direct contact with Jesus, my Lord and Savior. Grant me quiet refreshing time to relish Jesus’ promises of everlasting Peace and Joy.
Fill my mind with the Light and Wisdom of Jesus. Instruct me and guide me along new paths that will deepen my participation in God’s Great Love for me and for all of humanity. Ask the Father to create in me a clean heart.
Wrap me in warm blankets that soothe every part of me in need of healing. And Beautiful Spirit open the eyes of my heart to revel in every surprising Grace you have for me. Thank you for receiving me.
I surrender this time to You and seek the guidance of my guardian angel. I make this prayer with confidence in the Power, Glory, and Majesty of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN
Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming,
As men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.
Isaiah ’twas foretold it,
The rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright,
She bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.
The shepherds heard the story
Proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory
Was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped
And in the manger found Him,
As angel heralds said.
This flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God,
From sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.
O Savior, child of Mary,
Who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory,
Who dost our weakness know;
Bring us at length we pray,
To the bright courts of Heaven,
And to the endless day!
The Legend of the Christmas Rose
On a cold December night, everybody was coming to see their new Savior and brought Him all kinds of gifts and presents. The three Wise Men came in with their valuable gifts of myrrh, frankincense and gold and offered them to Baby Jesus. At that point, a shepherdess, Madelon, who had seen the wise men passing through, reached the door of the stable, to see the Child. However, being very poor and having brought nothing to offer to the child, she felt helpless and started weeping quietly at the sight of all the wonderful gifts that the Three Wise Men had got for the child. Earlier, she had searched, in vain, for flowers all over the countryside but there was not even a single bloom to be found in the bitter winter.
An angel outside the door was watching over her and knew about her fruitless search. He took pity on her and, when he saw her head drooped down in sorrow, decided to help her with a little miracle. He gently brushed aside the snow at her feet and where her tears had fallen, sprang a beautiful cluster of waxen white winter roses with pink tipped petals. Then he softly whispered into the shepherdess’s ear that these Christmas roses are far more valuable than any myrrh, frankincense or gold, for they are pure and made of love. The maiden was pleasantly surprised when she heard those words and joyfully gathered the flowers and offered them to the Holy Infant, who, seeing that the gift was reared with tears of love, smiled at her with gratitude and satisfaction. Thus, the Christmas rose came to symbolize hope, love and all that is wonderful in this season.
Source: http://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-stories/legend-of-christmas-rose.html
CHRISTMAS ROSE (POEM)
by Terrence Gargiulo
Ravages of tearing nights memorialized
Sorrow and pain hold Joy hostage
Cantinas spilling with effusions of tales and dreamed of wonders
A lonely, broken heart muses another time to any ear willing to listen
Gushes of ripped promises and broken hopes.
inking sheets of new music devoid of celestial harmonies
An artist takes the stage
A new voice joins ranks of generations
belting hymns of muted choruses
Voices cacophonied by piercing pasts and dark futures
Possibilities imagined seek to brighten flattened notes
The music ensues as it always does with lyrics professing debts of…
broken doings
failed intentions
forgotten blessings
complicit perpetuations of weighty proportions and disjointed patterns
A Garden in a forgotten place
Beheld as a sacred oasis without blemish
Home of evening strolls with
endearing conversations fill a timeless Paradise
Buds of fresh fruits Christen virgin orchards
Profusive rows of colored petals daintily curtsy
Delights seen cannot match the ones unseen
a seed begotten but not made waits for its moment
A humble mighty maiden step’s into Time’s Story
She seeks a rose from The Garden that she’s always longed for
its perfumed countenance fills her bright, warm, heart with Peace
Consumed by its Beauty
a trail of blood from her pricked finger goes unnoticed
A Pure White Pedal yields to Heavenly Gravity
and begins a downward journey
Shrouded Glorious Radiance find its Way, Truth, and Life
a fleshy cavern temple foreshadows its withering
But a darkened world sits up to inhale streams of Glorias
SHORT STORY
The Christmas Rose
by Terrence Gargiulo
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
T.S. Elliot, Final lines from Four Quartets
Amelia[1] insisted on walking home alone. She needed time to think. Amelia kicked the dense tufts of icy snow. Her stomach was doing flips. She didn’t know whether to be overwhelmed by the fears and anxieties vexing her or to give into the strange feelings of happiness and excitement competing for her attention. Amelia knew she would have to compartmentalize all of this. So Amelia did what she did best, she engaged her sharp, quick mind to organize and analyze the day’s events. She ran the scenes over and over again in her head.
Amelia almost missed the announcement this morning. Getting to school on time was never a given. Amelia and her brother Beau needed to fight the relentless chaos of the war zone of what was otherwise known as their home. Truth be told, Amelia did an excellent job of shielding Beau from the worst of it. This was becoming harder and harder to do. Beau was getting older. He was noticing things and asking her lots of questions – questions that she did not know how to answer. The hurt in his bright, wide blue eyes crushed her heart. How could she ever help him understand?
The heavy dump of snow last night had made everything take more time this morning. Amelia was sure it was going to be a horrible day. Her room teacher Mr. Burrows shot her one of his infamous, impertinent glares when she burst into the room just as the bell rang. She plopped down in her seat and did her best job to disappear. Amelia was still bundled in her winter parker while the morning announcements droned on. She slipped into a residual fog of the morning’s drama. She would have missed the announcement if it hadn’t been for her best friend Jacelyn elbowing her in the ribs.
[1] What does Amelia mean? A blend of the medieval names Emilia and Amalia. In Latin, it means “industrious” and “striving.” Its Teutonic meaning is “defender.” source: https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names-amelia-252.htm
REFLECTION
This week Michael Doherty and
I offer you a short video reflection.
SOME CLOSING MUSICAL GIFTS
I remember my father (mio padre) Taddeo Luigi Gargiulo who died in December and also celebrated his birthday. I miss him dearly. God richly blessed us our special bond. I feel his protective prayers fall upon me from heaven.
He has been instrumental in teaching me about sacred creative imagination, living my life with intense intention, and how to love.
In honor of him I’m sharing some of his music from the Christmas opera we wrote.
Some Suggestions for Getting Started…
There is no “right way to journal.” Do what is comfortable and natural for you. It could be notes, phrases that either struck you or that are coming to mind, it might be a narrative of a memory, or it could be a drawing.Journaling in whatever form it takes for you, is an exercise in discovering insights and recording them. The goal is to allow the content you’ve been consuming and the things you’ve been thinking about find an expression.
Invite our Lord to sit you with as your teacher. Say a simple prayer. You can count on Jesus to bring something new to your attention. The prompts below are meant to get your juices going but trust the process.
PROMPTS
Share with us your Advent experience. What have been some take aways? What has been new for you this year?
CONSIDER SHARING SOMETHING
FROM YOUR JOURNAL
