Marketplace Spirituality Retreat

Running Together Toward Life Renewed
Presented by Fr. Hung Pham, SJ

The annual Marketplace Spirituality Retreat for this year’s retreatants, prayer companions and a few other members of the Bridges community was held April 28-29, 2023 at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Motherhouse. Led by Fr. Hung Pham, director of the Jesuit South and Central Province Office of Ignatian Spirituality, the retreat challenged participants to see the four movements of the Spiritual Exercises through the lens of the resurrection story told in John 20 with these questions:

• What did Mary see?
• Why did John, who arrived first, not enter the tomb?
• Why did Peter run so slow?

During an examen prayer before lunch on Saturday, Fr. Pham asked participants to reflect on their feelings thus far in the retreat and to note if they were “full.” Here are the responses, which were posted for all to see.

• I’m in a grateful state of heart and mind. I’m full!
• I’m trying to be faithful to my mission. Thank you for being patient with me.
• Loved just as I am. I’m ready. Overflowing with joy.
• I’m happy to be here in the presence of God. Still hungry.
• Relaxed – “In beauty I walk.” (Navajo way of beauty). Cared for. Whole. “It will become beauty again.” Full. Joyful. Grateful.
• I feel my feet and am grounded yet curious about the path God has for me. I don’t feel rushed to make any decisions yet know a path is ahead. Jesus is with me.
• Open. Growing.
• I am open, standing at the tomb, receiving Jesus’ invitation to enter, but I haven’t eaten all my rice. I am not full…yet. I am going to the garden to pray as Jesus did.
• I am rejoicing inside, full of joy.
• Jesus is my friend.
• In between. On a journey to be fulfilled, keeping my eye of my goal.
• I’m graced.
• Less awkward than yesterday.
• I’m here seeking. I’m getting there.
• I am on a journey to find my true self and enjoying everything along the way.
• I am fulfilled because of the people around me. Because of Bridges. Because of my work and the people there.
• Peaceful and comforted. Grateful. Going to MORE.
• Distant, scattered, depleted, needy.
• I am good. I am grateful so much for so many gifts. I am spending time with Jesus. I am filled with the graces of God. I am on the road to knowing Jesus more deeply.
• I am getting there…becoming more full every day as I learn to walk more closely with Jesus, my brother.
• I am full but need to be emptied, so I can be filled again.
• I am thankful for loving friendships; living life with open hands, nourished by God’s grace.
• I am good. I am at peace. Full of contentment.
• Forgiven.
• Encountering. Listening.
• I am loved, connected…in a state of grace. I am flowing with the spirit; I am going wherever Jesus wants me to go.
• I am tired yet peaceful. Skipping with Jesus. Going to have a deeper relationship with God.