Day Five
Jesus, Master, in your ardent love for us you have filled our hearts during this retreat with a burning desire to discover joyful hope. In these moments you have joined each one of us in communion with you and with one another. We have set out on a journey with you at our side. You accompany us as we enter more deeply into our own hearts, listening to your Word proclaimed and broken open for us.
You lay your gentle, healing hand upon our fragile, wounded heart—laden with pains and sorrows, fatigue, discouragement, perplexity. You remind us that you yourself had to suffer before you entered into your glory.
We feel a stirring in our hearts, a great fire—an ardent yearning to know you more, to believe you more deeply, and to trust you more simply as you explain the Scriptures to us. You have bound yourself to us in some mysterious way as our companion on our journey. You have captured our hearts, and we beg you to stay with us. You have opened our eyes to see in faith the beauty of your face—to see it in the face of every person in communion, in sharing, in service.
Jesus, you are our love, our joy. You are our crucified and risen Lord, who is with us always and never abandons us. You take the first step and come to us. We have come close to you and have seen you in your Word, in fraternal gatherings and in the greatest way in the Eucharist. In this Sacrament you point us to the future, draw us into yourself and fill our Christian journey with hope.
Now you are sending us out in mission to be and to bring your presence everywhere —to the members of our families, to our parish community, to the whole Church, to the world. May we reflect you and radiate you. For some persons along the way, we may be the only Jesus Christ they will meet on their journey. We hasten to tell others about you by our witness, communion of life and prayer.