Please note that in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Father Nakonechny's retreat on 20 –21 March has been cancelled.
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Father Jim has prepared a short series of reflections on the theme Becoming a Healing Presence that we will publish on Fridays in the weeks leading up to the retreat. This is the third.
Becoming a Healing Presence. To become a healing presence to everyone around us we must prepare to live a life of SURRENDER. The word surrender is often interpreted in the world as weakness, giving up or losing, but the spiritual meaning is actually quite opposite. To surrender in the Christian sense is actually a sign of strength and victory. How can that be? Well, consider this: ‘If I put all things in God's hands, I will see God's hands in all things.’ It takes a great deal of spiritual maturity to able to let go and let God. We are comfortable when we are in control, when we know what is going to happen. The Gospel tells us: ‘For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.’ How many of us are actually willing to live this message fully? It is a tough one, but little by little we must trust in the Lord as the Master of our lives. He created us. He loves us and He wants us to be in love with Him. When we begin to surrender everything to God on a daily basis He will not abandon us, but will continually guide us, but we everything in His hands. May our Lord give us the grace to surrender so that we see Him more and more in our daily lives.