Day 1: DISPOSING ME TO THE LIFELINE

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Grace: To open my heart to the Lifeline amidst insecurity

We begin this journey as co-pilgrims who have a common origin and destiny, even as we are amidst the grim reality of the pandemic, of social distancing and isolation. Let us connect to the Lifeline by opening our hearts to the Lord.
There are two systems working within us. One is the ‘Ego-Mind’ system and the other is the ‘Spirit-being’ system. The ‘Ego-Mind’system is divisive. It creates ‘mine and thine,’ and puts God in the periphery and ‘ME” / ‘I” in the centre. Wayne Dyer calls this as ‘Ego’ – ‘Edging God out’. The ‘Spirit-being’ system is unitive. It perceives God within and sees the other as part of oneself. It gives us a sense that we are interconnected.
On the first day of the retreat, let us experience this interconnectedness with the Lord who is on his way to the Calvary, with the humanity and the entire creation that is severely affected by the global crisis. St. Paul says, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it, if one member is honoured, all rejoice with it” (1 Cor 12: 12-26). May this retreat enable us to enter into a renewed relationship with God, others and the entire creation.
Pause and Reflect

• In your silence, discover God dwelling deep within you. Make God the true ‘Life-Line’ of your life.
  
• Understand that this God is the God of all. We are all born of the same origin. ´Love one another as yourself´ (Mk 12:31). Experience this interconnectedness today in an intense way.
  
• “Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill” (Tagore, Gitanjali, 1).

Passages for Prayer and Reflection
1 Sam 3:1-10: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
Ps 63:1-8: My soul thirsts for you.
Isa 55:1-3: Everyone who thirsts come to the waters.
Jn 1:38-39: Come and see.
Prayer: Merciful God, help me to open my heart to you in order to rediscover you and others in you. Be close to all the victims, the medical personnel and the sick and the needy.
Mantra: My heart is longing for you, my God.

Fr Rajakumar Joseph S.J.,
Vidya Jyoti, College of Theology,
Delhi