WHITE HOUSE JESUIT RETREAT

St. Louis, MO 63129

1-800-643-1003

Jesuit retreat center high on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO.  Since 1922, thousands of people from around the world make annual three-day silent, guided retreats here to relax, reconnect with God and strengthen their spirituality.  A true gem in the Midwest!  Call 314-416-6400 or 1-800-643-1003.  Email reservations@whretreat.org  7400 Christopher Rd.  St. Louis, MO 63129

Both men's and women's retreats are offered as well as recovery retreats.

Take Spirituality to the Next Level!

Weekend Reflections for 3/1/19

February 28, 2019  /  Joe Parisi

There is no truly excellent teacher who is not first and foremost a student, a learner. There is no true leader in the Church who is not first and foremost a disciple, a follower of Christ.


Jesus emphasizes this paradox and the value of humility in this Sunday's Gospel. Only in humility are we well-rooted. Only to the degree in which our roots are sunk deep into the earth, as a student, as a disciple, can our tree spread its limbs to the sky and offer a haven to others.


Before taking the splinter from another's eye, removing that person's ignorance, we must experience various log jams being regularly removed from our own eyes. That experience of liberation, by God's grace, is key to leading others into freedom (which is indeed our task). God painstakingly removes foreign particles, various weeds, from our own lives. We are called to help others, as their true teachers in the Lord, to experience the same.


St. Ignatius makes no bones about how spiritually bumbling he was before his conversion and even after his conversion, God having to treat him as one would a schoolboy. We ought to consider ourselves similarly; then we can be of true help to others and, with clear eyesight, remove their splinter as we are called to do.

-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ