We held a retreat at the St. Julie Billiart Formation House, owned by the SPM sisters in Lawang, East Java. There were 27 participants. Our retreat leader was Fr. Johny Astanto. The theme of the retreat was \u2018Human love and divine love of the Sacred Heart\u2019 (inspired by the encyclical Dilexit Nos).<\/p>\n
Day I<\/strong>. Began with a short session to explore the context of our retreat, which was based on Pope Francis\u2019 encyclical Dilexit Nos. Starting from today\u2019s troubled world, Pope Francis reflected on this situation and what we need to do\u2014namely, to understand the world and return to the heart as the core of life that has been lost.<\/p>\n Day II<\/strong>. Return to the Heart. We are encouraged to recognise the importance of the \u201cheart\u201d as the core of authentic life, decisions, and community. By understanding what touches the heart and where we stand.<\/p>\n First, by examining and understanding the current world situation, which is described as a period of anxiety and superficiality. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman refers to this as the \u201cLiquid Society,\u201d marked by ongoing uncertainty, fluid identities, fragile social bonds, rapid changes, and unstable institutions.<\/p>\n All of this has given rise to the phenomenon of \u201cstrangers,\u201d the erosion of commitment and loyalty, relational consumerism, individualism and fragmentation within communities, and fear of change and irrelevance. Ultimately, this has led to a crisis of \u201cheartlessness\u201d\/insensitivity, a lack of sensitivity of the heart.<\/p>\n This also impacts the lives of religious people, leading to a shallower sense of life and relationships, where living according to routine and working for targets become common. As a result: activism replaces genuine encounters, self-image takes the place of authenticity, and noise or busyness displaces silence. This kind of life divides our hearts and causes us to lose the inner unity that allows us to discern, love, and serve with sincerity.<\/p>\n Pope Francis emphasises the importance of returning to and embracing the Heart as the source of life, where we can find God and our true selves. We can learn from Scripture how to understand the meaning of the heart and rekindle our warmth. We are also invited to see the Heart of Christ as a unifying element: the human heart and the divine heart. The event of the Incarnation becomes the centre of reflection on the divine heart and the human heart.<\/p>\n We are invited to renew ourselves by returning to the heart and rediscovering all that has been lost in the flow of time.<\/p>\n Day III<\/strong>. School of the Heart. On the third day, we observe the actions and words of divine Love as an expression of Jesus\u2019 Love. We are invited to learn from Jesus\u2019 human and divine gestures and actions, so that we may become more open and generous like the Heart of Jesus, embodying a spirit of kenosis. We unite our attitudes, joys, and sorrows from our lives of devotion and mission with the Heart of Jesus.<\/p>\n Gestures of love are God\u2019s active love, God\u2019s love that Love manifests in concrete actions that are both human and divine, with Love incarnate in the man Jesus\u2014so close, touchable, tangible, and palpable. Through words and touch, Jesus expresses God\u2019s love that is so near. God is full of mercy and tenderness. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the synthesis of the entire Gospel, revealed through how He acts and what He says. This is evident in the power of touch, the gaze of recognition, and the inclusive embrace. Every time Jesus uses touch in tangible actions towards people seeking healing and freedom, He also offers an unconditional and affirming gaze\u2014dignifying, inviting change, and calling people. The Heart of Jesus welcomes everyone and embraces all with unconditional love.<\/p>\n The challenge is how we translate the gestures of God\u2019s Heart into our daily lives with We are also invited to use the language of the heart by: Living from a pierced heart with: Day IV<\/strong>. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: a profound expression of the Church\u2019s identity and mission. We are invited to draw from the missionary spirit of the Heart of Jesus by being ready to be sent as the Heart of Jesus in the world, expressed through personal commitment.<\/p>\n Devotion to the Sacred Heart is very relevant because it reveals the core of Christian identity, which is to live and love from the Heart of Christ.<\/p>\n Additionally, we are called to make reparation with a renewed purpose: to build a civilization of love alongside Christ that confronts the structures of sin, heals relationships, and restores bonds of brotherhood. We offer ourselves to His merciful Love and become a mission by proclaiming God\u2019s Love to the world.<\/p>\n We are also encouraged to renew our lives and ministry by deepening our prayer intimacy with Him, entering the sacred space within ourselves to unite with the heartbeat of God\u2019s Heart, and to discover our calling and the fire of our mission.<\/p>\n Day V<\/strong>. Compassio Mission. Beginning with a profound experience of God\u2019s love found in the Heart of Jesus, we come to believe that God is Love. This belief motivates us to proclaim God\u2019s love to the world so that others may come to know it. Our lives serve as a continuous witness to God\u2019s love as we share that love among our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n We are called to carry out the Compassio Mission for the world, to pray and to motivate ourselves to face the challenges confronting humanity and the Church\u2019s mission, allowing ourselves to be drawn into a culture of encounter, because we are always united with the Heart of Jesus and strive to make our hearts like His Heart as Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.<\/p>\n We are invited to see with new eyes, namely the eyes of Jesus, with a heart full of love and tenderness, without being swept away by the atmosphere, which comes from the joyful event of the Resurrection.<\/p>\n The Compassio Mission embodies God\u2019s essence and His complete surrender, demonstrated through giving up His only Son in unity with the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n During this retreat, we are encouraged to engage in personal reflection and communal discernment, as well as to share in groups. We also have the chance for personal renewal and reconciliation or repentance, restoring our personal commitment.<\/p>\n Dwi Rahadi (Indonesian Province)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We held a retreat at the St. Julie Billiart Formation House, owned by the SPM sisters in Lawang, East Java. There were 27 participants. Our retreat leader was Fr. Johny Astanto. The theme of the retreat was \u2018Human love and divine love of the Sacred Heart\u2019 (inspired by the encyclical Dilexit Nos). Day I. Began with a short session to explore the context of our retreat, which was based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":3789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-us","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3791,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788\/revisions\/3791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n1. Liturgical touch: when we bless, lay hands, give absolution, we are the hands of God.
\n2. Pastoral gaze: learning to encounter those entrusted to us, going beyond administrative tasks and routine greetings, caring for them.
\n3. Ministry of closeness: go to the margins and touch those who are poor, weak, and powerless.<\/p>\n
\n\u00b7 Preaching with empathy: how we preach, give advice, and speak in our daily lives
\n\u00b7 Becoming trusted friends, by building inner silence and intimacy with Jesus
\n\u00b7 Encouraging and strengthening: recognizing the goodness and potential of others.<\/p>\n
\n\u00b7 A spirit of sacrifice and self-emptying
\n\u00b7 Practising active love
\n\u00b7 Being a source of life<\/p>\n