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CAREY, Ohio — Retired Bishop John Kudrick of Parma led the Seventh Annual Women’s Retreat at the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, March 15-17, on the theme “How Does Penance Heal?”
Retreatants prayed Small Compline, the Akathist to the Mother of God, a Panachida and Vespers. They celebrated Divine Liturgy and had quiet time for private prayer and reflection.
Bishop Kudrick gave the didactic sessions on the role of penance in the life of a Christian. Firstly, he said, Christians must be with Jesus. Christians must stand still and listen to Jesus, as did the Apostles on Mount Tabor, surrender to his plan, then act accordingly.
Penance is integral to the life of each Christian as they journey to God, ultimately entering into the Divinity of God as he entered into our humanity.
Second, Bishop Kudrick said, Christians must stay with Jesus and possess purity of heart, that is, singleness of purpose in life, to seek God. Purity of heart is a gift of God, yet Christians must accept the gift by living a virtuous life. Only with purity of heart are Christians able to see God. Purity of heart is purity of love.
Christians must journey with Jesus, he continued. They are called to holiness and must work with God and allow him to work with them. Christians must be of service, as God graces the world through a Christian’s good deeds. Christian service is an expression of one’s personal relationship with God.
Christians want to remain with Jesus, yet they often miss the mark through sin. Through confession, Christians set their life, with all its sinfulness, before God. They must confess their particular sins as people live in “particulars,” upon which their relationship with God is built.
Christians must share in Jesus’ poverty, chastity and obedience, and, regardless of their state in life, live these evangelical counsels. Poverty means living within one’s means; chastity means being faithful in one’s state in life; and obedience means being open to God’s will. To live these virtues is to live a life of penance.
Like Jesus, Christians must also suffer with those within the church who have broken the Law. The renewal of the individual Christian, as well as of the whole church, is necessary so that the church is presented to the world as holy yet imperfect, as its members are sinners.
Caption: Retired Bishop John Kudrick, center, poses with participants at the Seventh Annual Women’s Retreat, sponsored by St. Mary Parish in Marblehead, Ohio. (Photo: Dr. Susan Gallagher)
As published in Horizons, June 23, 2019.
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