Mourning into Dancing Session 1

Opening

• Welcome attendees near the door at the registration table, where provided materials and payment collection (if applicable) are available.

• Once everyone has arrived or five minutes after the scheduled start time—whichever comes first—the first speaker begins by:

• Sharing the purpose and structure of the program, emphasizing that sessions 2 through 4 are the most challenging.

• Reassuring attendees that God is always with them and that the program volunteers are present to listen and journey alongside them.

• Prayer led by speaker: Almighty God, who have created us in Your image and likeness, instilling in us the gift of life, reason, and freedom, grant that we may always recognize the inherent dignity of every human person, reflecting Your goodness and love in all our thoughts, words, and actions. May we be instruments of Your peace, working for a world where justice, compassion, and respect for all prevail, and where the rights of every person are upheld. Transform us by Your grace, that we may live as faithful witnesses to the dignity You have bestowed upon us, especially in our care for those in need. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Objectives

• Participants will communally and individually contemplate the goodness and dignity of persons, which man was created with and sin does not destroy (even if it is corrupt).

• After a talk on the subject, participants will introduce themselves to the group and be separated into small groups based on the experience of suffering that brought them to this retreat/group. They will then give a synopsis of their experience thus far to their small group, and all will listen to each other without much feedback.

Methodology (Volunteer Actions)

Volunteers assist in welcoming and prepare for the session as needed, and the presenting volunteer prepares and delivers a talk on the content of this session, uniting it with personal experience, what one has been taught about the subject/passage from Sacred Scripture or Magisterium, and sharing one's own reflection upon it.. Volunteers who are comfortable and gifted with helping someone grieve may lead small groups, participate in prayer teams, and lead one-on-ones. Volunteers who are not gifted or comfortable with doing so may help the priest with adoration, lecturing at the Mass, and arrange rooms according to needs. All assist with clean up according to the parish staff request, and for the sake of tidiness in any case.

Magisterial Content

• "God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man [in His own image] to make him share in his own blessed life." CCC, 1.

• "Man’s wonderful destiny is to share, through Christ’s humanity, in his divine nature (Cfr. 2 Petr. 1, 4) (John Paul II, Address to a group of Bishops from the United States of America on their ad Limina visit (8 July 1988), §3.)

• "To know God and his Son is to accept the mystery of the loving communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit into one's own life, which even now is open to eternal life because it shares in the life of God. Eternal life is therefore that life of God himself and at the same time the life of the children of God... For this reason, as St Irenaeus said, the glory of God is the living man: 'Gloria enim Dei vivens homo, vita autem hominis visio Dei'. He is not so only because of his physical life, but especially because 'man's life consists in the vision of God' (Adversus Haereses IV, 20, 7). And to see God is to be transfigured in him: 'We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is' (1 Jn 3: 2)" (John Paul II, General Audience on the Most Holy Trinity (5 April 2000), §5.)

• "The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":"For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods." (CCC 460)

Scripture Content

• Made in God's Image (Required content): Genesis 1:26-27

God is Good (some, any, or all of the following):

• Promises Good things and follows up (generous, faithful, and desiring our health, happiness, and holiness): 2 Peter 1:4, Romans 4:13-25

• The father in the prodigal son (merciful, caring about the person and more than the category one partakes): Luke 15:11-12, 17-20, 21-24, 25-28, 31-32.

• We are known and cared for more than animals (prioritizing us over creation): Matthew 10:29-31, Genesis 1:31 as opposed to Gen 1:4, 10, 12,18,21, 25

• God is a better giver than human parents: Isaiah 49:15-17, Luke 11:13, Matthew 7:11

• He wants us to come to the Kingdom (desire for us), be prepared for it (intent to justify, "wrath"), and has gone to the greatest lengths to invite (love in action covenants to Incarnation to death) and provide for our acceptance of the invitation (every grace, see also next category): John 19:28, Luke 12:32, 2 Peter 3:15, Matthew 22:1-14

• He loved us even when we hated Him (compassion and love that suffers): John 1:10-13, 16-17, John 3:16, Romans 5:1-11, John 13:1-5; (in the measure we follow: Luke 13:49-53; Matthew 10:34-36

• Allowing our freedom to choose Him or against Him is just enough to grant that request with some generosity and its full reality including consequences inherent to the choice: Genesis 1:29-31; 2:9, 16-17; 3:6-24

• He gives us guidance on how to restore what sin lost and even more, to live in the life of the Holy Trinity, not just serving Him: Psalm 147:19-20; John 13:33-34, John 15:15

Personal Content w/ Example

1. Particular type of suffering this is helpful consideration for suffering: Due to the Present State of the World & Others and Due to Natural and Psychological Growth

2. Consider times in one's life where there was limited suffering or where God has shown His goodness, and man was thought to be good, connect it to the verses chosen.

Participant Interaction

1. Listen: 

Listen attentively to the talk. 

2. Discuss in small groups: 

• Due to the Present State of the World & Others: How does recognizing our intrinsic goodness in the midst of suffering shape your understanding of the world’s brokenness? 

• Due to Natural and Psychological Growth: In what ways does experiencing that you are “made good” challenge or develop your personal resilience and capacity for growth? 

• Discuss what relief or relevance being made good has on suffering. What implications might being made good have on eventual outcomes or paths to resolution when dealing with conflict? What does being made good suggest about the reality of our sufferings and our sin? What insights has the talk helped you see? What is God doing in your heart when these truths are shared? 

3. Pray: 

• Due to the Present State of the World & Others: In prayer, reflect on how your intrinsic goodness stands against the challenges of a fallen world. 

• Due to Natural and Psychological Growth: Pray for the strength and wisdom to transform personal suffering into opportunities for natural and psychological growth. 

• Spend time in prayer contemplating your fundamental goodness and belovedness as a creation that God is actively forming.

Feedback/Measurable Outcomes

1. Participation and authenticity by all.

2. A clear sense of belovedness and inherent goodness was shared with participants, adapting and revealing it to the appropriate people.

Closing

1. Our Father...

2. Make announcements and anticipate the next session's content and how it connects.

3. Consider the optional content.

4. Emphasize rest, processing puts much stress on the body.

Optional Content

• Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary