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Our lives are easily
filled with busyness and
circumstances beyond our
control. Often God seems
distant and we wonder how to
live our lives with a felt
sense of God. A Personal Day
of Prayer allows us to focus
on our spiritual life and to
explore various ways to
discern God’s presence.
Different types of prayer
become windows for the soul to
connect with God and allow the
inner strength and peace of
our Lord Jesus Christ to
permeate our lives.
Day
of Prayer 2024
Parables
of Jesus: He Seeks
Those Who are Lost
Facilitated by Paula
Mitchell Director of
Doorways
Ministries
February
24, 2024 St.
Mary’s by the
Lake 9:30 am –
3:00 pm
This
day‐long retreat is an
opportunity to spend
time learn about and
experience together a
sampling of spiritual
practices, to live more
attentively toward God,
to rest in God’s
presence and let go of
“doing.”
Our theme for this day
focuses on God: how He
seeks the lost, His
continual love even when
we reject Him and His
gifts, and how He
rejoices when the lost
are found. The
graces we pray for are:
to see where and how I
have gone astray; to
recognize how much God
longs for me to turn to
Him and repent; and to
recognize how I’ve
broken His heart.
Our scriptures for this
day are all from Luke
Chapter 15. We’ll
look at the lost sheep,
the lost coin and the
story of the Prodigal
Son.
“The
journey of faith
begins at the Lord’s
invitation. He
finds us in our places
of marginal existence,
where we hunger for
liberation." –
Diarmuid McGann
“It
is the unexpected,
fresh, surprising good
news that God is not
angry or indifferent
or impersonal, but
that God loves us and
has provided the means
of our
salvation. That
love and that
salvation are at the
center of absolutely
everything, and from
that center all life
is lived. This
word has nothing to do
with the hopeful,
brave, encouraging
words we use to
bolster each other
through hard times and
cheer one another on;
it is good news about
God.”
– Eugene Peterson
Register
Here >>>
2023-2024
Day of Prayer
Registration
Parables
of Jesus: The
Seed and the
Sower
Facilitated by
Paula Mitchell
Director of
Doorways
Ministries
April
20, 2024 St.
Mary’s by the
Lake 9:30 am –
3:00 pm
This
day‐long retreat is
an opportunity to
spend time learn
about and experience
together a sampling
of spiritual
practices, to live
more attentively
toward God, to rest
in God’s presence
and let go of
“doing.”
A parable carries
the seed of a
spiritual truth
enclosed in a
story. In the
gospel parables
Jesus gives the
truths of God’s
kingdom hidden
within earthy
stories. After
the crowd leaves,
the disciples alone
with Jesus, ask him
the meaning of the
parable. Jesus
tells them the
meaning is hidden
from those who
aren’t sincerely
seeking. He
challenges them and
us, to truly hear
and understand his
words, and produce
fruit.
As we look at the
Parable of the Seed
and the Sower in
Matthew 13 and Luke
Chapter 8, we’ll
explore what it
means for the seed
of God’s Word to be
sowed in our hearts
and
lives.
And we’ll look at
the obstacles to
these seeds taking
root, growing, and
producing
fruit.
“For though all
that really
matters is done by
God, He works
through the
stimulus of our
wills. We
must do our
bit.
Contrition is not
merely saying,
“So, sorry!” but
the pluck which
renews the hard
spade work, the
eternal struggle
with self.
The soul is like a
garden in which
the real mystery
of growth and
bringing forth of
beauty and
fruitfulness are
in the hands of
God, but the
preparation of the
ground, the
digging and the
weeding, the
hoeing and the
raking, is left to
us. It is
hard and trying
work too,
especially when
the soil is stiff,
the stones
frequent and
bindweed has got a
firm hold.
But unless the
ground is as clean
as we know how to
make it, unless we
trench it well and
clear out the
clotsfoot and
groundsel and cut
down the nettles
before they go to
seed, we can’t
expect the crop to
be much use, can
we? –Evelyn
Underhill
Register
Here
>>> 2023-2024 Day of Prayer
Registration
Parables of
Jesus:
Treasure and
Your Heart
Facilitated by
Paula Mitchell
Director of
Doorways
Ministries
July
27, 2024 St.
Mary’s by the
Lake 9:30 am –
3:00 pm
This
day‐long retreat is
an opportunity to
spend time learn
about and experience
together a sampling
of spiritual
practices, to live
more attentively
toward God, to rest
in God’s presence
and let go of
“doing.”
We will spend the
day looking at three
parables about the
Kingdom of God from
Matthew 13.
The Treasure in the
Field, the Pearl of
Great Value and the
parable of the
Dragnet that gathers
fish of every
kind. Both the
Treasure in the
Field and the Pearl
of Great Value
stresses the same
point; the value of
God’s Kingdom is
immeasurable and we
have to let go of
earthly attachments
in order to obtain
it. As we
know, Jesus himself
is the great
treasure hidden from
the world. The
parable of the
Dragnet envisions
the Day of Judgement
when God will
separate the
righteous from the
wicked.
“Where your
pleasure is, there
is your treasure:
where your
treasure, there
your heart; where
your heart, there
your happiness”
– St. Augustine
“The Gospels are
primarily the
faith-stories of
Jesus Christ, but
at the same time
they also present
a picture of a
disciple’s call
and gradual
formation through
the following of
Jesus.
Ignatius’s focus
on the gospel
mysteries intends
to put the
retreatant back
into a basic
learning situation
of the first
disciples –
listening,
observing, and
being as fully
present as one can
to a particular
Gospel incident.”
– David Fleming S.J.
Register
Here
>>> 2023-2024
Day of Prayer
Registration
Parables
of Jesus:
Built on the
Rock
Facilitated by
Paula Mitchell
Director of
Doorways
Ministries
September
28, 2024 St.
Mary’s by the
Lake 9:30 am –
3:00 pm
This
day‐long retreat is
an opportunity to
spend time learn
about and experience
together a sampling
of spiritual
practices, to live
more attentively
toward God, to rest
in God’s presence
and let go of
“doing.”
We’ll spend our day
looking at the
parable of the
builders from
Matthew 7 and Luke
6. The parable
of the builder is
about practical
living and
preparation.
The wise builder
hears Jesus’ words
and acts upon what
he hears. He
invests time and
energy on building a
firm and stable
foundation for his
or her life.
The foolish builder
hears Jesus but
doesn’t heed his
warning, neglects
sound construction
and builds his life
on a weak
foundation.
Jesus warns his
disciples, and us,
to build our lives
on the sound
foundation of Jesus
Christ.
“Any other
foundation will
fail, but Christ
is a sure and
steady rock to
build your life
on.” – Billy
Graham
“The simpler your
house, the easier
it will be to
run. The
fewer the things
and the people you
‘simply must
have’, the nearer
you will be to the
ideal of
happiness— ‘as
having nothing, to
possess all’.” –
Evelyn Underhill
Register
Here
>>> 2023-2024
Day of Prayer
Registration
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