Charisms Build Up the Church

Reflections from the WWCCR Women’s Retreat

By Trisha Gosciewski

Jesus’ heart was burning with love for us at the WWCCR 2020 Women’s retreat, titled, “Christ has no body now but yours”.

This was an overnight weekend retreat that sold out. Since each retreat has a “personality” of its own, one never knows what the exact outcome will be for the individual participant, or for the organization, but for me, I have put together a few reflections to share.

The Retreat started Friday evening with prayer and worship music and ice breaker event, with a presentation by the guest speaker for the weekend, Sr. Mary Anne Schaenzer, SSND. Then the evening concluded with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with Fr. Dwight Lewis. Although all the elements were very uplifting, the talk by Sr. Mary Anne struck a chord for me and set up the structure for the weekend. Sr. Mary Anne told us about “the renewal” in the Body of Christ. She described how the sacraments give the individual member graces, and she noted how our charisms individually build up the church as a whole. During Sister’s talks, I reflected on my own life and identified possible charisms that I had not considered as something to serve the Church and Christ in the world.

On Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday, the time spent in prayer and reflection at the chapel was led by Fr. Dwight Lewis. The fire of God’s love and many graces and gifts were manifested. I heard again the Lord’s longing and love to heal us as I prayed for my sisters and Father. I was also called to account as I received Fr. Dwight’s message to turn our eyes from ourselves and toward others and pray for them. I felt convicted that I was more concerned about what I wanted in healing prayer, rather than to pray more diligently for others to be healed and filled up by Jesus.

At Sunday Mass the retreat concluded with strong prayer, and Fr. Dwight’s admonition to not be afraid to speak the truth or use our charisms, despite the resistance of the anti-Christ culture. I thought how often I have kept quiet and not offered an answer to someone, more out of avoidance of a potential argument than anything else. I prayed that my heart would seek what the Holy Spirit wanted to say and speak it.

As the 2020 WWCCR Retreat concluded, we were sent out. Fr. Dwight said, “I want you to stay…”. But like the 3 booths proposed by St. Peter at the Transfiguration, we all knew we were being sent out, and could not stay in the moment of the retreat forever. Because the Lord has no body now but us to do His will on earth. And with that final hymn ringing in our ears, the retreat was concluded.

Retreat Reflection

By Dolores Marshall

I attended the retreat with a lot of reluctance and felt bad that I was taking the place of someone who really wanted to be there. My main reason was to share the experience with my mother, also I had never been to the Palisades and wanted to see it.

Spiritually I was closed up and had been for a long time, no spark or enthusiasm in anything. My morning reading and prayer time rudimentary and church attendance out of a feeling of obligation hoping I would hear something inspiring. Sometimes it happened and participating in the Eucharist will always be important even if I’m feeling dead inside.

So Friday evening a bit difficult for me with all the praise and enthusiasm abounding! Feeling like an imposter but deter mined to make it til I could blessedly go home on Sunday. Slept horribly on Friday night so that made Saturday especially challenging, I struggled to stay awake during presentations, thank God for easy access to the snack bar. I made it to the beach on Saturday and was inadvertently joined by a lovely lady from my small group for a beach walk, when we got back to the center we went to the chapel so she could go to confession. I sat there wondering if I ought to go too and the ladies were singing The Divine Mercy Chaplet, it was so beautiful! My heart began to stir and I could at least pray for my heart to open up so the Spirit had some room to move. I let myself be prayed over in immersion prayer on Saturday evening though didn’t have the openness to make the altar call with Father Dwight.

Sunday morning was lighter for me, I got some sleep and was going home soon. The second spark of life in my spirit came during Father Dwight’s moving homily. I could see how I packed the enemy in my bags and let him torment me all weekend. I heard what I needed to hear and was relieved of weight in my heart. Also my small group leader asked to exchange name tags to pray for each other this year, I felt blessed indeed.

This past Christmas my mother gave me a copy of a cd of Father Northrop singing The Divine Mercy Chaplet, something I intended to listen to one of these days… After the retreat I pulled it out and now at 3pm sing a Divine Mercy Chaplet with my pretty rosary bracelet from Palisades. It is absolutely perfect and the time in the chapel was my inspiration. I am so thankful I went on the retreat as my spirit is continually opening and desiring more during a truly strange time of social distancing.

Impressions

By Clarice Harrison

Scared, new room, new people and loved it!
Healed on this retreat in Confession.
Holy Spirit, power and gifts, what are Charisms?
Something we prayed for, our mission, the shoes we chose and shared with each person in silence. So beautiful.
The Priest on retreat, what a gift of joy and full of the Holy Spirit.
Feeling weak after being prayed over and the heaviness of the Holy Spirit’s love. Like a weighted blanket—
Walk to the ocean beach—Ahhhhhh
Praying now for everyone, meeting new friends as we all journey out as one body in Christ to love and share our gifts.
Thank you Lord

Afterglow

By Jean Beers

What a rich banquet we enjoyed at the “Christ has no Body now, but Yours” retreat. We were escorted by lovely candlelight along the stairs and in the chapel; the theme of walking was creatively explored in our shoe photos, the reasons we chose them, and the shoe rosary; the sessions on the gifts of the Spirit by Sr. Mary Anne Schaenzer gave us many resources to discover our gifts and recognize those of others; the small groups enabled us to share our faith stories and pray personally for each other; the many prayer opportunities invited us to open our hearts to the Lord and to receive His love for us; the celebration of both Masses drew us closer to the One who loves us. Fr. Dwight Lewis’s preaching and prayer ministry were highlights of the retreat; the connection with new friends promised more fellowship to come.

There is more: the music ministry called us to begin the days, to praise, to rejoice, to draw near to the Lord during worship and times of prayer ministry. We were accompanied by beauty all weekend. Each opportunity had its effect on our hearts, even if we sometimes felt tired, distracted, discouraged; there was always something to help us call on the Lord, open our hearts again. The beautiful women and their gifts, both those preparing the banquet and those attending, shared the gifts of their lives with us that drew us in to the encompassing love of God. The excellent meals with a variety of choices represented the many opportunities each of us had to be enriched over the weekend. A weekend retreat is a participation in abundant life, as Jesus said, “I come that they may have life and that abundantly.”

Shoes Theme

Equipped to walk with the Lord, a theme depicted in the Women’s Retreat ad of a woman in walking sandals, was developed through photos of a variety of shoes, boots and sandals. The retreatants picked a photo and then explained why they chose that particular footwear. The photos were later placed around the beautiful statue of Mary in front of the altar as an offering of their service to the Lord. The Rosary was prayed with boots and shoes on pedestals that represented the Our Fathers, and the individual shoes that represented the Hail Marys as a special highlight of the weekend.

Sr. Mary Anne Schaenzer, SSND

Speaker

Sr. Mary Anne Schaenzer is a School Sister of Notre Dame, SSND, serving in Minnesota as a teacher, hospital chaplain and hospice team member, serving parishes in a variety of staff positions, serving the National Service Committee for Catholic Charismatic Renewal as a Council member, and is Editor of Pentecost Today, magazine of the National Service Committee.

Fr. Dwight Lewis

Celebrant

Fr. Dwight Lewis is zealous to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Born in Trinidad, Fr. Dwight is now a priest serving the Archdiocese of Seattle as chaplain in Tacoma hospitals. He has been celebrant of WWCCR Healing Masses, and was the speaker at the Pentecost Celebration last June.