Inner Peace in Divine Love Retreat
Week Two – Dwelling in Love
Ex 9 – Inseparable from God’s love
Preparation
I take a relaxed position with a straight back, my body poised for prayer. I make a gesture of reverence and humility.
Opening Prayer
I ask for the grace to direct my whole self toward the Trinity.
Desire
I desire the inseparable love of the Trinity.
Prayer
I use my imagination to re-create the upper room where Jesus and his disciples had their last meal. Soon the Spirit will be here with Pentecost fire, but at present it is just Jesus and I. We stand at a window, looking over domed rooftops, busy streets, and roads from Jerusalem. He tells me how nothing shall ever separate me from his love. Slowly reading the prayer text, I allow his words to grow into the muscles of my heart.
In response, I abide in Jesus while saying to him, gently and often, each of the desiring statements below for a few minutes each:
I am inseparable from your love.
I love you.
Thank you.
Conversation
I end my prayer with the Our Father.
Prayer Texts
What then are we to say about these things?
If God is for us, who is against us?
He who did not withhold his own Son,
but gave him up for all of us,
will he not with him also give us everything else?
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will hardship, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Rom 8:31–32, 35, 37–39)
Time: 25 Minutes
Preparation: 5 minutes. Opening Prayer: 1 minute. Desire: 1 minute. Prayer: 15 minutes. Conversation: 3 minutes. Listening Book: 10 minutes.
For greater guidance, depth and practical use of this exercise and retreat, source the First Spiritual Exercises here.
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