Lenten Retreat, Day 21: Communion with the Saints
We begin with the sign of the cross, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Examine your conscience. (Take a few minutes. In silence, remember and feel sorry for your sins, and think of ways you will amend your life.)
Pray the Act of Contrition.
Catholics believe in the communion of the saints; we profess it in the Apostles’ Creed. We are called not just to believe and profess this, but to have actual communion with the saints. What does communion with the saints mean? It means we are in unity, in a relationship, in fellowship with the saints. Learning about the lives of saints, we find that the saints, while on earth, had mentors, who were saints, either living on earth or those in heaven.
“It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself” (CCC 957)
Our spiritual growth is propelled when we have a saint as a mentor. You can either choose your patron saint, or a saint whose life most appeals to you, and pray that the saint intercedes for you and guides you. God also gives special graces to us, at times, when the saints, themselves, chooses us and comes to our help. You, too, can ask God to give you a saint, to be your mentor.
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus (Revelation 14:12)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
To receive abundance of graces during this retreat, you can choose to do any of the following daily:
Attend the Holy Mass daily.
Pray the Rosary.
Pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.
Pray and meditate on the Way of the Cross.
Pray at least 15 minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Read the bible and mediate on scripture for at least 15 minutes.
Pray the Litany of Humility.
Invite others to join this retreat, as a family or as a group.