Echoing
Posted By Fr. Kevin M - Joined December 14, 2008
Grace and Peace to all the brothers and sisters after a superabundantly grace-filled retreat.
At the end of the retreat we had a brief time for "echoing" and we would like to continue the echoing of the Lord's words here.
What is Echoing? Just as when a person cries out into a deep canyon his voice is heard echoing back to him as if the earth is vibrating with the sound of his voice, so on the Jesus Retreat, the Lord has spoken his word to His Body and His Bride in many different ways: in the scriptures, in the silence, in the talks, in the songs, in the prayer...
It is time for us to echo back these words so that like Mary we can “ponder them in our hearts”.
The question to answer here is , “What words has the Lord spoken?” For the sake of the building up of the Body, please recount here any words which are echoing in your hearts. (I would ask that those who “echoed” on sunday would share those words here, as well as anyone who did not have a chance to do so.)
5 comment(s) on this discussion
Amen Beth!
Previous to the retreat this year I had also been feeling the Lord "moving more boldly than usual to get my attention." It has not been so much in the physical but in my spiritual life. For many months I have been intensly feeling my absolute depravity apart from the Lord. My prayer life was little to nothing most weeks, and worship (especially leading) was for the most part a burden and left me bitter and completely discouraged with myself. It seems that the only line I have been repeating in my head for a long time now has been, "Lord I have nothing to give you...I am nothing...why are you even bothing with someone so weak and unable to love you".
This eventually led me into a desert where all I had been hearing was the voice of the accuser telling me that my inability to persue the Lord (even though my desire to do so was great) was severing my relationship with the Lord. I could feel my focus turning more and more to myself. I tried to resist it but felt helpless to stop it. It became so great that I would read verses in the bible like, "I am the vine, you are the branches...any branch that does not bare fruit is cut off and thrown into the fire"...I would read this and be convinced that I was that branch and was good for nothing but to be cast out. My own inabilities and weakness had become who I was.
Kristen Daub had a word for me Saturday morning..."The Lord wants to re-order your conscience". I didn't know just what the Lord meant by it but felt that it was His voice so i just gave the Fathe complete freedom to do whatever He meant by it. Something happened at the retreat that has taken my mind and reverted its attention. I can't really pin it down but my ability to set my eyes on the Lord and not myself is different then it ever has been. The moment my eyes move toward myslef my conscience perks up and says, "Woh Woh Woh, remember how awful that feels? Remember where that leads?" I turn and am imeadiatly captured by the Lords beauty. Something has been supernaturally shifted in my "conscious" mind...what I am conscious about has changed. Praise God!
What the Lord was allowing me to go through in the previous months was intrumental. When He wasn't the absolute center of my existance He was allowing the presure of that to be so much more intense then before. Any little step in a direction away from the Lord felt like steping on hot coals...it did not feel good...and I had been walking on them for a while before the retreat.
I was given another word from Mr. Joe that comfirmed completely what the Lord is doing. He saw me as a body builder. The Lord was "putting on the weight" to strengthen me for what is to come. There will be tearing, but only to build muscle. If you are feeling "torn" be encouraged and lean into Jesus' passion. Cling to Jesus' wounds while you are going through it.
I believe, like Beth's word, that the Lord is turning up the heat in order to build up a bride that is strong enough to stand up to the storms that are coming in the near future. It is getting less and less safe to be a christian in america (and world) and I believe that this is only going to become more true. The time for christianity as we knew it is long gone. Where are the martyrs?
Erik
You must forgive the a-tro-shus(hehe) spelling in the previous post.
Erik and Beth, you have hit the nail on the head, but not just in your words...
The hugely recurring word that the Lord spoke "between the lines" all weekend (and mostly through our beloved Father Kevin) was that--listen up, folks, here it is again--THE BODY NEEDS TO HEAR SPOKEN THE THINGS THE LORD IS DOING!!!!!!!
On several occasions, words were spoken or brothers and sisters simply told the rest of the body what the Lord was up to in their own hearts. This may seem trivial--and our enemy wants us to believe just that.
On Friday night, while praying over Father Kevin, the two of us realized that the enemy had been working on both of our hearts in the same way. He had been weighing us both down with great sadness and had been chattering distractions and negativity in out ears. But on top of all of this, he had been whispering, "don't be stupid and tell anyone what you're feeling, because it's just you...it has nothing to do with your spirit--so don't bother everyone who's trying to pray by talking about it...by the way, nobody even cares."
The INSTANT Father Kevin expressed that this was going on in his own heart, our eyes were opened, and we saw that far from being trivial or our own personal problems, these harmful thoughts and feelings were attacks from the enemy that needed to be dealt with by the Lord.
And here's the key: at that moment, before we had even begun to pray in earnest, Satan's power had already begun to greatly diminish--because the truth had been revealed IN THE FORM OF SPOKEN WORDS FOR THE BODY TO HEAR.
Brothers and sisters, these forum pages are still very empty. I encourage you with all my heart to speak to us what the Lord has done for you! Once things are spoken, other hearts will be stirred to realize that they are not alone and that the Lord is very present and working in them too!!!
If the enemy can keep us isolated, he has us beaten. If we simply BREAK OUT into the body, he is ALREADY DEFEATED!
If the Lord has put an echo or a testimony on your heart, speak it! And if you hear a voice inside of your heart telling you that it or you are stupid, IGNORE IT and speak all the more boldly! And if you feel afraid, DO NOT BE! Your Holy Bridegroom is with you to strengthen and empower you.
How tragic would it be if our enemy, by simply relying on our discouragement, withered the graces still being poured out on the body from this year's retreat???
Hope everyone is well! Pray hard. It's not a task, but a joy!
We spoke about the bloody sacrifice of the Mass over the retreat more than I have ever heard before! I read this by St Catherine of Siena which I felt should be shared:
"The more we contemplate the precious blood, the more will our soul be inspired to wage a fiercer war...I want you to keep before yourself the memory of the blood of God's Son, shed with such fiery love. This will be for us a continual baptism of fire that will cleanse and warm our soul, relieving us of all the filth and chill of sin."
May we fall more in love with the sacrifice of the Mass and offer our bodies to our Lord. The bride must look like the bridegroom!
Friday night at 3 a.m. during Adoration, I heard Jesus say that he desires to "empower" and could feel his zealous heart for his bride. He said he "will not relent" in pursuing his bride.... even to the point of death!
Personally, I was able to receive much from these words.
Lately, there have been many extremes the Lord has needed to take in my life and others' around me in order to get his mission accomplished. He seems to be moving more boldly than usual to get my attention.
1. Twins arriving (Praise the Lord!) - unplanned!!
2. John's (my hubby) intercessory life attacking his physical life - Christmas Day in Emergency room
3. Sarah and Kevin's need to move in with us due to their house burning down
4. Broke down with the most heartfelt and deepest sobbing of intercessory prayer I've ever experienced on Saturday night and still going through it... I'm sure it's a Holy Spirit process of handing stuff over... thank you Kim and Regina! You my girlz!!!
5. IHOP (International House of Prayer) - their university's "great awakening" began the night the twins went into the hospital to be born.
These events are NOT coincidences... the Lord is moving and shaking and trying to awake his bride... that she might be dressed with her true radiant splendor. He's repositioning and realigning his army in order to better advance against the coming tribulations. Each of us is being raised up into glory! Praise Him! There is nothing to "do" in this time but sing and praise constantly... let our bodies be the tabernacles of the living God and receive the glory that is to come. For what bride would not allow her bridegroom to lead the dance that captivates even the most hardened heart?
We've received Jesus' vision from our father (Father Scott) throughout the past few years of Jesus Retreat - an army, a bride, children of the Father who loves us, etc. And we've been this excited little army that's screaming with praise and running around yelling, "YEA!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!! Where do we go? Where do we go? Do you know? Do you know?"
This year, through the direction of Father Kevin... he shouts, "This way, this way!" His gift of teaching utilized Tradition and Scripture to support all of the vision poured out to us throughout the years in the midst of a freedom filled and organized retreat.
And finally, our dear sisters... who I see in the back of us little lambs gently pushing and prodding to guide us through the gate into the safe teachings of the Church of Jesus.
I don't know what this year has in store until the next Jesus retreat. But I'm certain it will be a year of breakthrough as we all decrease so he may increase!