 So for our newcomers and maybe even our old-timers who haven't heard about this retreat track for Bosco really was that intention to carve out of the conference, which was traditionally a very heavy practical formation, yes we offered confession, yes we offered great music, Bob and his ministry team has just done such a beautiful job and we were trying to minister to the heart and the soul, but I believe that what we are offering now is a deeper intensive interior formation which we have thought both personally and even listening to you all essential, essential and actually the more you begin to really look at what Pope Francis, John Paul II started, Pope Benedict, for years they have been saying that the work of catechesis is the work of the Holy Spirit. That was the gift of the whole catechetical, I mean the whole charismatic renewal and this is what we're finding more and more and more. Dare I say that before anything else in our church what we need is revival in the interior life. We need a revival in the interior life and I believe that's what Archbishop Cousins is trying to do in the revival of the Eucharist and if you listen to him it isn't just about worship of the Eucharist but it's a communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and of course that starts with an education of Jesus really is present in the Eucharist but he does not want it to stop there. He wants us to continue to bring people into a relationship with God, with Christ who is here present so that we can bring people to that fullness of their faith. So this retreat track has really been carved out to help you be formed into becoming contemplative catechists, contemplative catechists and I think what Trisa and I have been working on together is to maybe help you to not be afraid of that word contemplative. Trisa's presentation this morning was so eloquent and helping you to see that contemplation is the ordinary goal and aim of your baptismal graces and John talks about that we go from grace to grace so I was really grateful. In the retreat track there are formal presentations in a three-year cycle aimed at helping to form you as a contemplative catechist they're very intentional and so this is our second year to run that formal formation okay so it's three talks on contemplative life, contemplative prayer, contemplative study, contemplative preaching and then three talks on the spiritual life and so last year we did the different schools of spirituality. Sister Mary Madeline who has joined the team will do a presentation on Thursday on discernment of spirits and then next year she'll go into the particular examine. Now I just gave a plug for her talk which took away a plug for my talk on Thursday but you let the spirit lead you she's an exceptional speaker and and you don't have to come to my talk on Thursday you could just buy the book. How's that for shameless plug so if you had to choose between her talk and my talk I would say go to her talk and buy my book it's very easy but she's an exceptional speaker and I think you'll be very enriched by what she'll do with the discernment of spirits. So this talk is on contemplative study, contemplative study how to do it and why you need to do it why you need to do it and and I do want to be clear you need you need to do contemplative study if you hope to achieve the faith in their life if you want to be part of this amazing revival that is going on in the church right now you have a key component in in learning how to do contemplative study okay otherwise we do become that dreadful noisy gong that Saint Paul warned us of and contemplative study has a twofold objective contemplative study has a twofold objective it's preparing yourself to announce the good news and preparing them to receive it okay it's preparing yourself to receive the good news and preparing others to receive the good news now that I have everybody who's come in let's pray those were just preliminaries how about that so let's begin in Saint Paul's letter to the Romans chapter 10 verse 13 we are blessed to be present in the presence of Lord who is here and the whole time I'm speaking to you he is wanting to speak to you and so as I'm presenting don't forget that he is here and let your conversation be with him because he wants to form you as a contemplative catechist and he wants to release in you his holy spirit that you can change hearts to become disciples in the name of the father and of the son of the Holy Spirit amen for all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved how then are they to call on him if they have not come to believe in him and how can they believe in him if they have never heard of him and how will they hear of him unless there is a preacher for them and how will there be preachers if they are not sent as scripture says how beautiful are the feet of the messenger of good news Lord you have called us to be this messenger you have called us into this work of catechesis in some facet and in that call you make a promise to sustain us in our work and we have come to this Bosco to offer our work to you to be formed more deeply in this work to be more formed in your way your pedagogy of making disciples and let us be attentive to you Jesus let us be carefully attentive to how you preached how you prayed how you lived that we may become another Christ to our people mother Mary we entrust ourselves and our work of families the whole world to you we place us all into your immaculate heart and I place these dear people in your heart dear mother together we pray all 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 the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen so the telos or the goal or the aim of contemplative study is really to create a space to create a space in the mind in the body and the heart to encounter Christ the beloved first truth it's what st. Catherine called Jesus her beloved first truth okay so that's the that's the game that's the aim that's the goal that's the telos of contemplative study is to create a space in our body our mind in our soul to encounter Christ the beloved first truth in the directory the new directory 2020 and we'll be saying new for another hundred years because that's how we are in the church right there is a paragraph I want to draw your attention to and and it's an important paragraph because it has been misinterpreted already and that concerns me so the paragraph is number 29 if you're taking notes and you should have gotten a handout and the paragraph reads like this evangelization is not in the first place the delivery of a doctrine but rather making present and announcing Jesus Christ let me repeat that evangelization or evangelizing is not in the first place the delivery of a doctrine but rather making present and announcing Jesus Christ now I am not one to say that the directory has made a mistake but I have spent the past 20 years of my life professionally personally as a Dominican trying to help people reconcile religious experience and religious knowledge it was my doctorate question is what Petrach and I had been working on all the time though he's always more eloquent it's it's what I have found to be a perennial um problem in catechesis is this bifurcation between the head and the heart and if we're not careful those kind of statements will perpetuate this it's not about the doctrine we want them to love God it's not about the doctrine we want them to experience God now I'm not taking a poll of which camp you fall in my work is to try to form you as a contemplative catechist because it's in contemplation it's in contemplating doctrine that the head and the heart become one amen amen and if you don't become a contemplative catechist dear friends you risk perpetuating and widening this gap of the either or and it must be a both hand now now I I have a sense of what they were trying to say in that but I've already heard it misunderstood as a matter of fact as my book was going to print and I got the cover which I was I wasn't given beforehand and I read the cover the back cover that that wrote about the book I I almost passed out because I I called my editor and I said mackayla 20 years of my life is about to get unraveled we had to stop the presses and what was that one phrase that somebody in their office thought was a synopsis of my book my research my life project if I dare say that was catechesis is not so much about handing on doctrine but about an encounter with God now that might be too subtle for you and that's okay because I passed it passed through my sisters and only those who went through my catechetical class caught it because I drilled it over and over and over catechesis can never be an either or it is always a both hand always a both hand my mind needs intelligible realities with which to contemplate God he's not a warm fuzzy feeling and he's not nirvana he has come to reveal to us who the father is and he came in flesh that we would see him yes and he spoke many beautiful doctrines that we would have insight something with which to grasp who the father is yes it's all about the doctrine it's all about the doctrine doctrine is truth and truth dear friends is who he said he was yes I am the way the truth and the life and this is what st. Catherine of Sienna I think revealed for us it's what seized her when she spoke to him when she was embraced by him in her mystical unions you are my beloved first truth and there's nothing sterile about that but what's happened in our catechesis we have reduced the Lord to just words rather than using the words to encounter him we have reduced the Lord to just words to just doctrinal proclamations without providing for people an opportunity to use those doctrines as an access to his heart his mind his presence we have lost the contemplative dimension to the karygma to handing on the gospel that's what I think is gone wrong so dominicans have this great motto very toss truth we have another one contemplary at contemplata alistrata to contemplate and to give to others that which is contemplated and I think that's a critical element for us and for understanding the dominican approach now I'm not here to try to make you dominicans okay I mean I got to thank you some of you were born franciscans you live franciscans you're going to die franciscans again do anything about that and I got my carmer lights too I got my Jesuits I'm trying to make you Dominican but I am trying to give you a dogmatic spirituality because a dogmatic spirituality is a catechist spirituality whether you're a dominican franciscan carmer light ignition opus day those are all ways of praying as a catechist spirituality those are all ways of praying as a catechist you need to adopt to embody to imbibe a dogmatic spirituality which means that your prayer is always engaged in the meditation of divine truth fair can I hear an amen I checked that out with petrach many years ago so that's why I'm standing firm on that okay he was the first one that I was like oh yeah that's yes absolutely and I think he embodies that his spirituality is the catechism if you will now he says he's a franciscan I know he wears that towel is that what it's called yes but but dogmatic spirituality okay because because the end of contemplative prayer as the end of contemplative study is the person it's God whom we are contemplating it's God but but where is he and I can come to the chapel yes and and I can look at Jesus the Blessed Sacrament tomorrow I have adoration but but what do I know about that yes God is dwelling in my soul but what do I know about that except what Trisa taught us this morning that's contemplative study reaching God reaching God in all the words in our catechism paragraph 25 says all the words of the catechism the whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends paragraph 25 the love that never ends that's the goal of doctrine and the teaching of doctrine the love that never ends so so if you're present this morning for contemplative prayer you you did hear and uh and let's repeat it just a little bit um first and foremost contemplative prayer is is God's work it's his work it is the spirit who dwells within so so we receive the Holy Spirit and baptism he gave us the theological virtues infuse them in us so that we could be in this conversation with him that our soul could touch him could be alive to him contemplative prayer is is God's work we but we are we are called to dispose ourselves to that and we talked a little bit about that this morning as well being still my body my soul and so the same is true um about contemplative study so if i want to if i want to be able to encounter the beloved first truth that all of these doctrinal proclamations serve as a portal these doctrinal proclamations are a portal to God then i have to also prepare my body and my mind for that encounter is that fair is this making sense okay so so this physical attentiveness having a silence of body and mind is paired with an intellectual attentiveness my physical attentiveness is paired with an intellectual attentiveness an intelligent reading cogitation of doctrine whether it's in the form of scripture or the catechism this feeds contemplative prayer and it feeds my contemplative preaching because what i'm doing now is a contemplative meditation cogitation reflection working these doctrines not just a proof text improved to somebody god is true but i want to encounter the living god beloved first truth so that i may hand him on all righty so we talked a little bit about silence this morning but i want to i want to present a little bit more to you about silence i i believe that i gave you some on the hand and i want to make sure i've got the hand out because i didn't do a power point because i just don't want to do that in the chapel but this first number two this quote from anton sertalange's he wrote a excellent book on the intellectual life and and what he said is that the word the word and you could do a capital w think doctrine word think jesus word the word has resonance when you hear the silence in it hides and leaves you to guess its treasure releases it bit by bit without haste and frivolous agitation silence is the secret ingredient in the words that count the value of a soul is found in its silence so you have been entrusted with the task of making disciples which is the aim of catechesis you have been entrusted with the task of proclaiming the karygma which is the good news god is and you're not him okay so he loves you he has come to save you and bring you to himself the karygma has a variety of of of expressions to it but it's it's the basic proclamation of god is good and he has created you to know him to love him be in relationship with him i mean for me the karygma is ccc 221 i mean i think that's the the heart of everything in the catechism god is the eternal exchange of love father son and spirit and he's destined you to participate in that exchange of love he is love and he's destined you he's created you to share in that love so how are we going to do that what keeps us away what becomes the obstacles what's the way into that divine trinity i think that's that's everything in catechesis but i'm kind of simplistic sometimes so the word has resonance in us when it's in silence and so so if if i'm preparing my lesson my catechetical lesson my catechetical proclamation i have a i have a word to hand on to you but that word is a capital w word and i want that word capital w to come and resonate in your heart in your soul how is that going to happen unless he's in my heart and my soul and how will that be inside out proclamation if i myself don't take time in silence to cogitate to ruminate to sit with and seek his face through the doctrine he has revealed himself to me the bridegroom has spoken to me and the bride the church has meditated on that message and has offered to us a beautiful text by which we can have access to his face his heart his mind amen okay so father donal hagerty who i already quoted once and i'm not going to read this whole quote because it is in your handout um but i but i love what he writes about in the contemplative hunger and it's very it's very challenging to us as catechists because again we we can fall into or maybe it's just me if i just get the right argument if i can just explain this well enough as a dominican right it's like st. thomas slamming his hand on that'll settle the mannequins thank you so so what father hagerty is is challenging us and and i'm offering it to you is this beautiful quote the rebuttal to every antagonism to religious truth and we know there's lots of it right this antagonizing to to truth cannot be mainly by way of intellectual argument the people that we are serving have been drinking from the kool-aid of ill illogic for so long so many years this is this is this is a philosophy that has gone bad there is no truth and if there is you can't know it i mean you've all heard this right this is this is as old and and we're just we're just seeing the fruits of it if there's no truth then there's no gender so father hagerty is pointing out that the rebuttal it can't it can't just be on an intellectual level and yet truth will set them free so we need truth but it's a truth that has an anointing in both its preparation in your soul and in your proclamation those of you who were there this morning raise your hand again okay okay so there's a number of you all right so at the end of that presentation i asked you for a quick feedback survey was your heart stirred was there a movement in your will to want to pray more to seek this contemplative prayer out in anybody you don't want to raise your hand but what you got what you received was someone who prayed the catechism contemptively trice's study of the theological virtues wasn't just to give a presentation it was to bring you into a truth that would set you free and set you on fire here could you not see that i sure could that's what a contemplative does when they pick up the catechism when they study it when they deliver it it changes it inspires it's a truth that sets you free and wants you to have more so father hagerty's point about this religious truth is not just an intellectual argument it is this intensity of certitude of god and that intensity and certitude of god while not bypassing the intellect you'll never hear a dominican say that no no no no no it all is going to come through the intellect in some way whether it stays there or or just fluidly keeps going we are body so mind will so this certitude of god is an encounter of god in prayer that is anointed in the spirit that is the fruit of someone who has contemplated his face and is handing on who they've contemplated someone who has contemplated his face through the doctrine either in the catechism or the scripture sought his face reveal your heart to me lord help me to know you more i'm seeking your face hide not your face from me this is this is contemplative study i want to know you and when that moment of i know you i don't just know about you but i know how the theological virtues help me access you and the conversation goes into a personal dialogue based on the doctrine it will change the way you proclaim that to someone else is this making sense at all okay so so father hagedy speaks about nothing tangible supports the act of faith and gazing at a monstrance nothing tangible supports that act of faith during adoration it's it's truth and an encounter with the beloved first truth what i have studied what i've come to know as revealed is what helps me to stay there the awareness of christ in silence the awareness of christ in silence so sacred doctrine is not superficial data i think that's that's kind of what i keep trying to say is it's it's just not information though we can reduce it to that and i believe we have reduced it to that in catechesis we have been very much concerned about what do they know do they know what the church teaches we've been very concerned about the um the power points the textbooks the quizzes the tests the notes and and some of that is well well what's the accountability that they actually got it and i had a sister uh who was our director of education come at a formal visitation with mother to a school i was teaching at chicago watching me teach my lesson she said sister how do you know that they got it i said i don't know unless i see them changing their behavior satan can quote scripture better than any one of you yes yes it isn't always what's known up here and just because children are getting A's on test does not mean they have been converted but if we continue to make that our aim this checklist then we miss the point of the contemplative dimension of catechesis i want them to know the lord that's my goal well how are they going to know the lord well he has revealed himself in scripture and tradition i want to know him and so i'm going to go to the sources of scripture and tradition to meditate on him to seek his face in silence that he can change me and touch me and bring me to a relationship to him but then i have to do that for my people so that's a little into the contemplative preaching so we want our catechesis to be authentically charismatic okay and for it to be charismatic to set people on fire we have to keep this wholeness of body soul mind and heart i am myself myself sitting with the lord either at my desk or in the chapel with the doctrine that i that i am preparing to proclaim and i'm talking to jesus about that i'm allowing the spirit to amaze me about that's that particular passage i'm asking the lord why is that necessary for us to know that why did you reveal that what's at the heart of this doctrine what's riding on it why do they need to know it what will it unlock in their relationship with you why do i need to know this doctrine what is the face that you're trying to reveal to me lord i'm sitting with the lord in my study and i'm asking him these questions about baptism about the virtues about the Eucharist about confirmation whatever the doctrine you're proclaiming today tomorrow the next day next week it all has a face to it it is all a portal to the divine trinity to the love that never ends and you're asking show me show me so that i can then hand you on so the the directory speaks about catechesis the 20th directory speaks about the goal of catechesis needing to be reinterpreted i don't know if how many of you have read the the directory yet it's quite beautiful actually and i was told that um they actually just scrapped it all and started over what is catechesis what is our work what are we trying to do the goal needs to be reinterpreted so the goal according to ct five which bob rice of maligned last night in a hilarious way it is intimacy with christ that is the goal but but what the directory speaks about is it's brought through a process of accompaniment accompaniment each individual must develop his own unique response of faith so the goal is intimacy through accompaniment we are bringing our children we are bringing our adults our youth along a journey to this amen you are the son of god and i give my life to you that's a journey that's a process each individual must develop his own unique response of faith now that's not saying they come up with their own truth okay this is not hokey pokey stuff we're not saying that that they're coming with their own truth but their response to that truth jesus the son of god became flesh in the womb of the virgin mary that's a doctrinal proclamation yes and you're proclaiming that to your people jesus the son of god became flesh in the womb of the virgin mary what is that person what are you how are you responding to that what is it evoking in your mind your childhood is there opportunity in a presentation on the incarnation for your people to have their own response to that to ask them now of course the three-year-olds will be all over the place right in the five-year-olds oh well i just think you know my mom i got a christmas gift once you know i mean yeah we get that we get that but allowing people so so the proclamation of the of the mystery of the miracle this tremendous gift of god becoming flesh there's a truth i've proclaimed but what would be your response and can i do i dare trust the holy spirit if i give him room to work in silence do i dare trust that the holy spirit will spark something in the other person depending on their familiarity with the story your experience of christmas whether or not you have visual aids that have a picture of christmas those are levels of responses but dare i let them first have their response to that and does it have to always be oh i've got the answer or just let them sit with that maybe there's something maybe there's nothing but but the response has to be their own so while we're proclaiming doctrine and i'm meditating on doctrine i am being amazed that the lord became flesh and i'm allowing that to amaze me first in my study i've read that doctrine a million times i've taught it two million times but how often has it reduced me to tears how often has it reduced me to silence of its profundity of its truth god became flesh and has that seized my soul as a catechist to study it to really sit with it to let it pierce my heart that god so loved the world that he became as a baby vulnerable weak innocent accessible and allowing them to have that moment of being overwhelmed so i'm slipping a little bit into contemplative preaching as i'm doing contemplative study because it's going to be two years before actually give that lesson but it's okay so i want to just add a few more things about charigmatic catechesis charigmatic catechesis so the directory paragraph two which is also quoted from evangelical godium 164 165 a catechesis which manifests the action of the holy spirit who communicates god saving love in jesus christ and gives himself so that every human may have fullness of life charigmatic catechesis is a catechesis which manifests the action of the holy spirit the action of the holy spirit if i have studied the proclamation of the incarnation if i have truly sat with that in contemplative prayer it is your face oh lord that i seek overwhelm me with this truth let me be amazed by it let it grab my soul my mind and everything in me let it set free set loose set a fire the holy spirit within me in that truth and so now when i'm proclaiming the incarnation well those aren't just words in a textbook are they i have been seized by that reality by that truth i've been overwhelmed by it and my work to proclaim it to you is to allow the holy spirit from within me to come to you so charigmatic engagement with doctrine looks like prayer charigmatic catechesis which everybody's saying evangelizing catechesis which everyone it's the buzzword now right and evangelizing catechesis a charigmatic catechesis is prayer kiss keep it simple sister it's prayer it's prayer it is your face oh lord that i seek hide not your face and he hasn't he hasn't every beautiful doctrine that's in here every one of them will show you a face of god that should amaze you overwhelm you leave you with a wonder of who am i that you would do all of this i mean the story is so radical really it's almost unbelievable that god would go through so much trouble to make us to redeem us to speak to us i mean really don't you think there are parts that i read in here i think like why would you bother with me on all of this because i love you the concern of doctrine is to lead people to the love that never ends and if you become a contemplative catechist if your study becomes contemplative that you're sitting with the lord you're seeking his face you're letting your intellect be enlivened with his truth if your study becomes contemplative your preaching will become contemplative it will have an anointing to it i am convinced of that so i did give you your little handout just a little exercise uh you don't have to but um and i suggested one doctrine but but you but if you have another one you want to do go ahead but i just gave you a little exercise in contemplative study so what i'm doing is i'm taking you since the year of the Eucharist and you want to be eucharistic evangelizers let's do some contemplative study of the Eucharist and so go to your primary sources john six the catechism the related sources so so i want to enter more deeply into this truth this presence of christ in the Eucharist and and what is my access to that john six the catechism the footnotes are beautiful my personal posture right so so posture purpose and prayer i think those are are it's kind of a nice alliteration um where am i going to study i've got my catechism i've got my notebook uh where will i sit a lot of times i sit in the chapel my catechism with my little notebook um my desk is a beautiful place i've got a crucifix there nobody else gets to come into my room it's a great thing about being a nun my room is my room and so no one comes in and so there's a beautiful place there that i can can can enter into prayer i gave you saint thomas's prayer before study it's kind of long i think it's beautiful but come holy spirit open my mind to receive the fullness of your truth right there's a simple prayer keep it simple but but here's something and i'm just testing it out with you all because this is kind of what i do a few questions to ask yourself as you're studying so as you're reading those passages of the catechism ask yourself what what does this doctrine reveal about god's love for me so i'm reading about the eucharist what in there is god trying to say i love you i think that's a beautiful question to ask and a very practical question because when all else fails in your lesson you're trying to get them to know that god loves them and if you have first encountered that in your study if it makes sense to you that this doctrine is communicating god's love for you then you will be more it'll be more easier for you to communicate that to them what amazes me about this doctrine amazes me about this doctrine there is nothing dry and sterile about these words they are as life-giving as the scriptures if you are reading them and studying them and praying them in the holy spirit what amazes you about this doctrine the eucharist because if you're amazed by it that joy will come into your proclamation yes if you're amazed by it come hook or crook they'll be amazed by it and at least if nothing else you'll leave them to wonder what is she seeing in that doctrine that i am not saying how does it challenge me now this is just you as you're reading the catechism how does it challenge me to be more grateful more faithful to god how is this doctrine moving me to be more grateful more faithful just a little something now as you do this more and more it it's just going to become natural to you as a catechist every time you pick up the catechism this is what you're going to be doing come holy spirit help me to to see this help me to fall in love with this it's going to be natural show me your love through this doctrine what amazes me it will become second nature as you're studying pause and ask the question and i'm using the eucharist as example you're asking god now you're in dialogue with him now you're talking to him as you're studying the doctrine now you're talking to him if you're in the chapel well there he is if you're in your room where do you think he's going to be yeah he's with you because he's got his catechist seeking his face so wherever you are ask god why does it matter that the eucharist is your real presence why does that matter that your real presence and this one i think is very important what is one thing one thing that you want me to be sure to say to my students as i proclaim this doctrine it's his work it's not your work it's his work how often do we ask him what do you want me to say to these people i have learned i have learned don't open your mouth sister mary michael until you sit in the back of the chapel and ask the lord lord what do you want me to say otherwise it's just me and at the conclusion of your time just thank him for speaking to you speaking to your heart write write a prayer if you want just keep some notes okay all righty let's end with prayer and i have a little bit of time for questions