Weekend Reflections for 5/16/14

Walking the way of Jesus

Jesus said: “Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:4-6)

The early disciples sometimes referred to their religion, their lifestyle as the “Way.” One meaning is that they were on a journey, walking in the path of the one whom they loved, Jesus Christ, who is the Way!

It may sound obvious, but the only way to follow Jesus where he goes is to follow Jesus where he goes! What way did Jesus walk? What are some of the signposts along the way of Jesus?

Jesus was a person of prayer; he regularly took time to be alone with his Father and our Father. Jesus took the time to be with the one who loved him.

Jesus was a person of compassion, not judging others, but trying to always encourage and lift up those who were weak or falling down.

Jesus was a person of service, giving of himself for others, caring for others, washing their feet and giving himself to them.

Jesus was a person of trust, relying on God and putting his life totally in God’s hands — even in times of affliction and suffering and disappointment.

Jesus was a person of love, loving without counting the cost, loving with no strings attached, loving even when the other was not particularly loving in return.

These are some of the signposts of Jesus’ way: prayer, compassion, service, trust, love.

As we walk our walk, as we walk our life, are those the signposts we see? Are those the signposts we follow? If so, I believe we are walking the way of Jesus and we do “know the way.”

Beautiful Testimonials!

Every week we are sent beautiful testimonials from folks who just completed their annual White House retreat.  Here are a few from this past week-

“A White House Retreat is taking the time out to "smell the roses". I always come back refreshed and feel so much closer to all the beautiful things that God has created for us to enjoy.”

“I feel more at peace with myself and God. I really relish the quiet time. I've learned how to listen for God speaking to me. Making the time to listen.”

“My experiences at the White House have deepened my relationship with God, as Father, Jesus as my strength and the Holy Spirit as my guide. “

“Throughout my retreat experiences I have become aware of God's deep love for me through the conferences, nature , and the immense feeling of peace The entire staff truly walks hand in hand with God's direction in mind. There has been no greater spiritual gift I have given myself than the gift of my retreats at the White House.”

“I was excited about the White House retreat before attending as a chance to get away, relax, and reflect on my faith. Little did I know how badly my faith and my life needed the resuscitation. I came away with a faith-colored lense to help me through my work, home, and spiritual parts of my life.”

Weekend Reflections for 5/9/14

Hearing the voice that calls us

Jesus said: "The shepherd walks ahead of his sheep, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." (John 10:4-5)

I wish that I were as smart as a sheep! I know that sounds strange, but I mean it.

I say this because there are many so-called shepherds in our world today, all calling us to follow them, all trying to lead us where they want us to go. Think of all who say in one way or another: "Come, follow me!"...politicians, advertisers, various pleasures, "religious"leaders, appetites, disordered desires...

But in my heart of hearts, I know the voice of the Good Shepherd standing out from the din of so many strange shepherds. I know the voice of the one who says, not for his sake, but for mine: "Come, follow me!"

But unlike the smart sheep who follow their good shepherd, I may hear him but I do not always follow. I turn away from the one who cares most for me and follow those who care mostly for themselves. Don't ask me why I do this? I guess it is because I am dumb (or just human?)

St. Paul struggled with knowing the good, but not always doing it. I know that struggle.

I pray that I can be as smart as the sheep, who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and FOLLOW HIM.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THOSE ON RETREAT THIS WEEK AS WELL AS OUR DECEASED RETREATANTS.

 UPCOMING RETREATS WITH SPACE:

MEN: 5/15, 5/29, 6/19, 6/23, 6/26, 7/10

WOMEN: 5/22, 9/8, 10/6 

CO-ED: 8/29

 Call us to register: 314-416-6400

You are invited to join us for the Annual Memorial Service to remember those retreatants who passed away during 2013.

WHEN: 4:00 PM Sunday June 1, 2014

WHERE: Mudd Chapel at White House.
Light refreshments to follow.  
Please RSVP by calling 314-416-6400.

Weekend Reflections for 5/2/14

We did not recognize him

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. (Luke 24:13ff.)

I have sometimes (often?) felt that the disciples on the road to Emmaus must have been real dolts! After all, the very one they were seeking is right beside them and they never seem to have noticed. How dumb could they be?

We are told that their eyes were prevented from recognizing Jesus, but this was not due to some external or physical restraint, but from internal ones.

They had their expectations, but I do not think they expected to see Jesus, since things had not gone as they expected the previous few days.

They were downcast; their eyes were looking down because they were disappointed and let down. How could they expect to see Jesus?

They were turned in on themselves — focusing perhaps on their hurt, their fears, their disillusionment.

Unwittingly they kept themselves from seeing the very one they were looking for.

Before I become too harsh on them, I need to realize that these disciples are also us. Where and how do I expect to meet Jesus? Do I expect to meet him in others? Do I expect to meet him  in bread and wine? Am I someone who lacks hope and is ruled by disappointments or frustration when things do not go my way? Am I often so turned in on myself that I am walled off from the people and the world around me?

Where is Jesus? He is here now; he is with us! Can we look beyond ourselves? Can we let Jesus surprise us? Can we meet him in one another, in family and friends, in the poor and neglected?

I pray that we may be open enough and free enough to recognize Jesus today.

Weekend Reflections for Easter Weekend 2014

The sum of all our hopes

One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:18-21)

What do people want? Oh, so many things! The eastern religions say that all human beings have four wants. The first thing we want is pleasure — even the smallest child wants to feel good. We go after pleasure (which is not a bad thing) but eventually we say that pleasure is not enough to satisfy us — and so we move on. For pleasure do not last.

Next we seek success — wealth, fame, power. Again, these are good things and necessary to some extent for family and civic life. But at some point we realize “you can’t take it with you” and so come to see that these are not enough to satisfy us. For these things do not last.

Third, we seek to make a difference, to move beyond our own pleasure and gain and work for the good of others, for a better world. This is what we want. But even here, we realize that the world will never be perfect and that even my service of others is not enough to satisfy me.

Finally we realize that what we want is nothing less than: to live forever, to know everything and to be infinitely happy! That’s all. To put it simply, what we really want is to be with God forever.

Easter is the promise that we do not hope in vain. Easter is the promise that we can have what we want. Easter is the promise that what awaits us is complete life, knowledge and joy in the presence of God!

We have hopes…Easter is the promise of their fulfillment. Alleluia!

Weekend Reflections for 4/11/14

 Triumph and Tragedy

The people cried out: "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest."(Matthew 21:9)

How fickle I feel the crowds around Jesus are! (How fickle I feel that I am!) On Palm Sunday the crowds are in the streets proclaiming Jesus as King! But where are the crowds on Friday? Mute, hiding, acting like they have never know this man.

In all of our lives there are Palm Sundays and Good Fridays. In all of our lives there are moments of triumph and moments of tragedy. In all of our lives there are moments when I proudly proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior and moments when I speak and act as if I do not know him (I say this with sorrow and shame, Peter - like you).

I pray that I can see God in both Palm Sunday and Good Friday. I pray that I can see the Father in my successes but also in my failures. I pray that I can realize God is with me in my triumphs and my tragedies. I pray that I can remain committed and faithful to God, even when things do not go my way, when "popular opinion" turns against me, when I feel abandoned or alone.

From triumph to tragedy and beyond, God is with us. Let us put ourselves in his hands.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THOSE ON RETREAT THIS WEEK AS WELL AS OUR DECEASED RETREATANTS.

UPCOMING MEN'S RETREATS WITH SPACE:

4/21(weekday), 5/1, 5/15, 5/29

UPCOMING WOMEN'S RETREATS WITH SPACE:

5/22, 7/17

CO-ED RETREAT- 8/29 

UPCOMING RECOVERY RETREATS:

6/12 Co-ed, 8/14 Men's (newly added for 2014!) 

 CALL US TO REGISTER:
(314) 416-6400

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IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY LECTURE SERIES:

Featuring Fr. Chris Collins, S.J.  

"Living from the Heart of Christ:

The Morning Offering, Examen & the Mass"

Wednesday April 23rd.  7:30pm @ SLUH's "Si Commons" Building

4970 Oakland Avenue

To register for this FREE event click here

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @whretreat  

Weekend Reflection for 4/3/14

Let him go!

And when Jesus had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” (John 11: 43-44)

I often wonder what it would have been like to have been Lazarus! He was dead and brought back to life. What did he experience in those days in the tomb? I am sure if Lazarus were around today there would be newspaper articles, television interviews, guest appearances… Everyone would be fascinated by Lazarus — and all he did was die.

I wonder what he would say; I wonder how he would live his life in the time before he died again. I can’t help but think that he would embrace the value of life, the joy of love, the spirit of gratitude, the holiness of the present moment. Lazarus would realize that death is not supreme, but God’s love is — for God’s love overcomes even death.

We are also called to die — in more than a physical way. We are called to die to ourselves, to sin, to selfishness, to fear, to hate. We are called to die to all that is deadly and death-dealing in us. This is the dying which also leads to the resurrection from the dead.

What garments of death do I wear now — sin, possessions and possessiveness, power, pride, guilt. These are the bonds which bind me and hem me in. These are the garments about which I pray that I hear Jesus say: Untie him and let him go!

Weekend Reflection for 3/28/14

The Blindness to Enslave Us

The neighbors of the blind man and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” (John 9: 8-11)

Something bad happens when I take off my glasses. Everything disappears or gets blurry. At best I can see people “like trees walking.” My world becomes smaller, for beyond five feet all is fog. Without my glasses my world and my life shrinks. Without my glasses I am functionally blind. Thank God for my glasses!

But there is a greater blindness, I feel. That is to see only with my eyes! Can I see also with my heart? Can I see with the light of faith?

Too often I see only with my eyes. I see labels; I see stereotypes. I see through the lenses of prejudice and fear and preconception. And I miss so much around me.

Do I see others as the images and likenesses of God? Do I see them as temples of the Holy Spirit? Do I see them as precious children of God? (Yes, even my enemies, even that politician, even that pain…)

Without faith I am also functionally blind — for I do not see Christ playing…

…in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces.

Weekend Reflections 3/21/14

For what do we thirst?

In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” (Exodus 17:3ff.)

The people of Egypt rebelled against God and against Moses. They said, “We are thirsty and without water we will die!” If our thirst is not slaked we can become desperate, we can rebel, we can die!

But what is it that quenches out thirst? What is it that can be a spring rising to everlasting life? What is the “miracle” that we need?

All sorts of people seek all sorts of miracles — from God, from Jesus. But it is as if Jesus says, “There is only one miracle, really! There is only one miracle that can quench your thirst forever.”

Here is the miracle, the thing you cannot explain, you could not expect, you could not reason to, that is beyond all imagining.  Here is the miracle, Jesus says: God loves you!

Only when I experience this miracle, do the other signs make sense. Only when I accept this miracle can I experience life to the full. Only when I see that God’s love and care is beyond all I could ever expect or imagine, will I rest content and satisfied — for then I will have all I need.

For Immediate Release - March 14, 2014

FR. JAMES BURSHEK, S.J. 
LEAVING WHITE HOUSE JESUIT RETREAT

Rev. Douglas Marcouiller, S.J., Provincial of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province, has announced that Fr. James Burshek, S.J., will be leaving his position as Director of White House Jesuit Retreat in the summer of 2014 so that he can be reassigned to other duties within the Province.  Fr. Burshek has served as Director for the past six years.

Fr. Marcouiller noted the strong and growing attendance of men and women and increased engagement and growth of the ministry along with the financial health of White House as legacies of Fr. Burshek.

The Board of Trustees of White House has been asked by the Provincial to form a Search Committee to consider new candidates for the position of Director which will focus on spirituality, new programs and development.  The Provincial will then make a final decision.

White House Jesuit Retreat has a legacy of nearly 100 years built on the Ignatian tradition of the past 500 years and serves over 4,000 men and women each year on Ignatian Spirituality retreats.

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Weekend Reflections by Fr. Jim Burshek, S.J. - 3/14/14

Weekend Reflections by Fr. Jim Burskek, S.J.

Being Transfigured
 
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. (Matthew 17:1ff)
 
How are we transfigured? How do we become a new creation?
 
Recently, when talking with a White House retreatant, the retreatant said to me: "I do not fear death; I know who loves me; I know who has the power to sustain me; I know Jesus and I know I will always be with him."
 
I was moved by the deep faith of this retreatant. And then I realized that it was precisely this faith that made him so much more than he would ordinarily have been. His faith really made him a new and different person.
 
Looking at Scripture we see Abraham, the disciples, so many transfigured by this faith, this faith which is simply trust in the one who loves me. All of them became new people because of their faith; all of them had a new and deeper life because of this faith.
 
Married people, too, are transfigured by the faith they have in one another and in God, a faith in the one with whom they wish to "travel" on the path of their lives.
 
What transfigures us? Faith. Our faith makes us more human, more alive, more loving. It is this faith in God which transfigures even Jesus!
 
It is this faith which leads God to say of Jesus and of us: "This is my beloved child, my own dear one, in whom I am very well pleased."

 
PLEASE PRAY FOR THOSE ON RETREAT THIS WEEK AS WELL AS OUR DECEASED RETREATANTS.
 
 
UPCOMING MEN'S RETREATS WITH SPACE:
3/20, 4/10
 
UPCOMING WOMEN'S RETREATS WITH SPACE:
4/7, 5/5, 5/22

CALL US TO REGISTER:
(314) 416-6400
--------------------------------------------------------
 
IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY LECTURE SERIES:
Featuring Fr. Chris Collins, S.J.
"Living from the Heart of Christ:
The Morning Offering, Examen & the Mass"
Wednesday April 23rd.  7:30pm @ SLUH's "Si Commons" Building
4970 Oakland Avenue
To register for this FREE event, CLICK HERE.
 
 
www.whretreat.org

REFLECTION for March 7, 2014

What do I give up for Lent?          

Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan!" (Matthew 4:8-10)

The temptations that Jesus faced were, at least in part, temptations to having control and power. It is as if Satan saves to Jesus, "If you want to control people, if you want power, do this!" After all, Satan thinks, everyone wants power, everyone wants control, everyone wants things "their way."

Jesus says, "Get out, Satan! You do not have a clue about who I am and what I want. I really am about service, not power; I am about compassion, not judgment; I am about giving of myself, not about getting for myself."

As we begin this Lenten season, can I give up "my agenda," "my way," "my needing to be in control?" This is far harder than anything else I might give up for Lent!

Can I follow the example of the one who emptied himself, so that I might be filled with the power and love of God? Can I say, like Jesus, "Father, into your hands I commend my life."