Fr. Raphael Gallagher C.Ss.R. shares with us his retreat conferences that he was preaching last week. His reflections address the reality of life of many of us, as we have entered the Holy Week, facing the situation of coronavirus crisis and longing for the easter joy and peace from our Risen Lord.
- Being a disciple – staying with Jesus
…Following Jesus as his disciple is the compelling question for a Christian. It was always thus. What could it mean to be a disciple of Jesus during this eerie virus-laden phase?
… To avoid any temptation of reducing our relationship with Jesus to a life of banal piety or – even worse – a crusade of fundamentalist preaching, we are surely meant to make a connection between the seeing and doing of Jesus in relation, not just to the disciples, but in relationship with his Father. The first disciples were being prepared to see this in the stunning clarity of the glory of the Cross…
Read more >> Retreat Day 1
2. Faith, Hope and Love in a time of crisis
…This pandemic clattered me into a state of unconsciousness about my religious beliefs. I first heard of coronavirus in late January or early February. Something I did not know about two months ago has knocked me out, in the sense of temporarily reducing my religious convictions to a vague and fuzzy consciousness…
…Prompted, rather surprisingly, by Saint John of the Cross I will try, in a fuzzy way, to recollect what coming out of that unconsciousness triggered in me…
…We are in the maelstrom of staggering anxiety. We are right to use our human ingenuity of understanding, memory and desire to help us through this crisis. During this enforced time of isolation, we should be nourishing links to the prime virtues of faith, hope and love…
Read more >> Retreat Day 2
