Christmas

Christmas! God Incarnate! Unbounded Love Manifest!

Centering Thought: Everything was created through him; nothing–not one thing!–came into being without him. (JN1:3) NASA estimates there are 1 billion trillion stars in the universe. Look up to the sky, the Christmas Star appears this year, Jupiter and Saturn will be the closest they have been since the Middle Ages.

Welcome to Christmas of our Advent Retreat.

This online retreat is offered with the hope that it will provide you with an opportunity to enter into a time of prayer, reflection and action during this season of Advent.

The retreat has three parts:

  1. Presence: You are invited to enter into the retreat through silence or by song. This is a time of preparation to receive God’s word into your heart.
  2. Prayer: Following Saint John Baptist De La Salle’s Method of Interior Prayer reflect upon this week’s Sunday Gospel.
  3. Participation: How is the Holy Spirit calling me to enliven the reign of God in my life, my family, my community, and the world? God’s reign—one that is reflective of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and justice.

Presence

Light the Advent Candle as you pray “Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.” or “Let me remember that I am in the holy presence of God.”

Centering Song Night of Silence…Silent Night

Prayer

Saint John Baptist de La Salle Method of Interior Prayer. The Sunday Gospel as reflected in the process of De La Salle’s Method of Interior Prayer.

(DLS Method of Interior Prayer: Br. William Mann FSC)

First Movement

Remember God’s Presence

Pause for a few minutes to quite yourself and to remember that God is, even in this very moment, present to you.

    • In all of creation, everything around you.
    • In your very self, keeping you alive.
    • In the midst of those with whom you are praying
    • In the Eucharist and in the Word of God
    • In you by God’s grace at work in your life.
    • In the young and the poor.

Second Movement

Contemplate the Mystery of God’s love at work in the world.

Read today’s Gospel a few times slowly. What word or words especially catch your attention? Listen to what is being said; watch what happens; try to become part of the Mystery; lovingly contemplate Jesus.

    • Reflect on the Mystery of God’s love at work in your own life.
    • Does today’s Gospel have any relevance to your life?
    • How do you try to share the message of this Gospel with those with whom you live and work? With those who have been entrusted to your care?

If you choose to allow this Scripture passage to come alive in you now, what would you have to change in your life? What are the obstacles to this change?

Founder’s Voice

“We must not contradict the truths, the precepts, or the counsels of the
Gospel.”

— MED 5: Sunday in the Octave of Christmas

A Reading

from the Gospel of JN 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.[b]

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,[c] and his own people did not accept him.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[d] full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,[e] who is close to the Father’s heart,[f] who has made him known.

Third Movement

Resolve to be open to the Spirit working in and through you.

Brother Ernest Miller, FSC
Vice President of Mission, Diversity and Inclusion La Salle University

Reflective Question

What does it mean to me when I pray, “live Jesus in my heart?” How am I called to bring my prayer to life?

Contemporary Reflection

The Pastoral Letter of Superior General Brother Robert Schieler, FSC

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life…

January 1 – World Day of Peace

Pope Francis will mark the annual World Day of Peace with the message that Good Politics is at the Service of Peace. Pope Francis compels everyone to be engaged in the work of advocating for and with those whose voices are marginalized, to ensure the protection and fulfillment of the youngest and smallest.