Welcoming the Holy

Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God. 

Opening Prayer

May the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, stand guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 

Reading

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10

In those days, the princes said to the king: "Jeremiah ought to be put to death; he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such things to them; he is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin." King Zedekiah answered: "He is in your power"; for the king could do nothing with them. And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, which was in the quarters of the guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

Ebed-melech, a court official, went there from the palace and said to him: "My lord king, these men have been at fault in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, casting him into the cistern. He will die of famine on the spot, for there is no more food in the city." Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Cushite to take three men along with him, and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he should die. 

Reflection

Have you ever been stuck in the mud? I mean really stuck? As a young girl, I was stuck in the mud while walking through the woods one time and didn’t think I was going to get out.

I finally did but my shoe remained stuck and I hobbled back to the campsite hoping my mom wouldn’t punish me for losing a shoe.

Sometimes, we get stuck in the mud of life, either by our own doing or by someone else’s. I love retreat time for this reason. I am actually writing this while on retreat, mindful that this reflection is due the day I get home so I decided to take a few hours out of my retreat time to write this. What a perfect theme for retreat. Retreat is a great time to get out of being stuck in the ordinary of my prayer life, my ministry life, my family life, and allow God to pull me out of the self-imposed cistern of mud I find myself in. Yes, Jeremiah was put in the mud by those who didn’t like what he was saying or doing but God through Ebed-melech’s intervention got him out. 

My course of action while on retreat can be to look at the places where I am stuck in the mud and allow God to show me how to get out. Could this be true for you? Are you stuck? Go away for an overnight, a weekend, or even just an hour. Ask God to help show you the way out of the stuck places you are in. Retreat times are not just for Women Religious and Priests. They are for anyone seeking a deeper relationship with the God who loves them!

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me as I sometimes get stuck in the mud. Give me the strength and the wisdom to know I need time with you to get myself unstuck. Allow your graces to be what pulls me out of the stuck places in my life as I long to deepen my relationship with you. Help others, God, who can’t yet see the need to have your guidance pulling them from the mud. In Jesus’ Love and Spirit, Amen.