By His Wounds We Are Healed. The Sacraments of Healing
The 7th Mysterium fascinans liturgical retreat took place on 12–14 September 2014 in Kraków. It already has a permanent place in the calendars of lovers of the liturgy in Poland, since this year it is being held for the seventh time. In the Bible, the number seven signifies fullness, perfection.
We are doing everything we can to make this edition just that. Although every edition is marked by care for the harmony between acquiring knowledge during the lectures and practising it in the celebrated liturgy, each time the programme is also improved on the basis of participants’ comments and expectations.
This year the talks, catecheses and homilies will focus on the sacraments of healing, that is, Penance and Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. As Fr. Krzysztof Porosło, the initiator and main organizer of the retreat, explains, we keep the treasure of divine life received through the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation inearthen vessels, which are extremely easy to break and damage through weakness, illness, suffering and death, and even to destroy through sin. In all these situations we need healing from God. Our healing lies outside ourselves. Our healing is in the wounds of the Saviour – in the pierced Heart of Jesus Christ, where the sacraments of the Church began, from which life itself, the fullness of life, poured forth.
An important principle of the retreat is the attempt to translate complex theology into clear and vivid language. The homilies during the retreat will be preached by the respected Kraków biblical scholar and retreat leader Fr. Wojciech Węgrzyniak, and the lectures will be given by Fr. Dr. hab. Artur Malina, Fr. Dr. Maciej Zachara MIC, Fr. Dr. hab. Dariusz Kwiatkowski, Fr. Dr. Mateusz Przanowski OP and, as a duo, Fr. Tomasz Grabowski OP and Magdalena Ryszka.
To take part in this extraordinary retreat, you need to fill in the online application form (available under “Registration” at the top of the page from 9.06 to 25.08 or until places run out) and pay a deposit. Everyone who wishes to come (aged 16 or over) is invited: lay people, but also priests, deacons, seminarians and religious. We trust – and pray – that the biblical “seven” will bear fruit in an extraordinary time of grace, in the richness and intensity of God’s action, especially His healing action.
Publication following the Mysterium fascinans 2014 retreat
photo: Grzegorz Czerwiński/gregory.com.pl
Outline of this edition’s theme
This is already the 7th Mysterium fascinans liturgical retreat. In the Bible, the number seven signifies fullness, perfection. Will the seventh edition be like that? Will it be the best retreat of the whole series? We will certainly do everything possible to prepare it as well as we can. We listen to the voices of participants in previous editions and want to respond to the proposals and suggestions made to improve the programme or the materials prepared. But what matters most remains in God’s hands. It is He who is to come first at this time, He who is to be glorified in the celebration of the liturgy, He who will sanctify us through the liturgy. We trust, however – and pray – that this biblical “seven” will bear fruit in an extraordinary time of grace, in the richness and intensity of God’s action – especially His healing action.
After two editions devoted to the sacraments of initiation, this year we want to focus on the next group of sacraments – the sacraments of healing. We will want to enter into the depth of the theological meaning and beauty of the celebration of the sacraments of Penance and Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. Each of us knows very well that we keep the treasure of divine life received through the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation in “earthen vessels” (2 Cor 4:7), which are extremely easy to break and damage through weakness, illness, suffering and death, and even to destroy through sin. In all these situations we need healing from God. Today the Church continues Christ’s mission of healing and saving human bodies and souls by celebrating the sacraments of healing (cf. CCC 1421). Pope Francis spoke beautifully about one of them: “The Sacrament of Reconciliation is asacrament of healing. When I go to confession, it is in order to be healed, to heal my soul, to heal my heart and to be healed of some wrongdoing” (General Audience, 19.02.2014). Our healing is not in our own hands. Even ever-developing medicine or an ever-growing number of psychologists’ couches cannot heal the place that is most wounded – our heart. Our healing lies outside ourselves. Our healing is in the wounds of the Saviour – in the pierced Heart of Jesus Christ, where the sacraments of the Church began, from which life itself, the fullness of life, poured forth, which is given to us today in the liturgy. Hence this year’s edition will take place under a motto taken from the Fourth Song of the Servant of the Lord in the Book of Isaiah, a passage we read during the liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday: “By His wounds we are healed” (Is 53:5).
This year’s retreat will treat its topics in a popular way. The lectures will be mystagogical, that is, the emphasis will be on introducing participants into the celebration and the mystery of the two sacraments of healing. The idea is simple: to translate complex theology into clear and vivid language. The homilies during the retreat will be preached by the well-known and respected – also to participants in last year’s edition – Kraków biblical scholar and retreat leader Fr. Wojciech Węgrzyniak. The lectures will be given by Fr. Dr. hab. Artur Malina, Fr. Dr. Maciej Zachara MIC, Fr. Dr. hab. Dariusz Kwiatkowski, Fr. Dr. Mateusz Przanowski OP and, as a duo, Fr. Tomasz Grabowski OP and Magdalena Ryszka.
The central moment of the first day, and at the same time of the whole retreat, will be entering into the very heart of the mystery of God’s mercy, as we will then celebrate the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. In the address mentioned above, Pope Francis said that “celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation means being enfolded in a warm embrace: it is the embrace of the Father’s infinite mercy”. We will begin the celebration with a common penitential service and crown it with a Eucharist of thanksgiving. In this way the ecclesial, communal dimension of the celebration of this sacrament will be clearly shown. Sin is never merely my private affair. My sin affects the Church, my brothers and sisters, which is why I stand before the wounded community of the Church, ask its forgiveness and at the same time ask for its intercessory prayer. On Saturday – as is already the custom of the retreat – the emphasis will be on celebrating the liturgy in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite: Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, with an extraordinary performance of Gregorian chant by the Schola Cantorum Minorum Chosoviensis. Sunday – the crowning of the retreat – will be filled by the Eucharist in the Royal Cathedral on Wawel Hill and a mystagogical catechesis given by Fr. Tomasz Grabowski OP and Fr. Krzysztof Porosło. During this year’s retreat there will be more workshops that engage and integrate participants.
We warmly invite to the retreat everyone who wants to enter the space of beautifully celebrated liturgy and mystagogical reflection on the sacraments of healing, and above all to live a time of God’s extraordinary, healing action during the retreat. We especially invite lay people, who every year form the largest group of participants (the minimum age is 16). We invite just as warmly all religious sisters, priests, deacons and seminarians. Registration for the retreat opens in June and closes on 25 August. Registration is possible only online, by filling in the appropriate form available on the website.