The document discusses a retreat focused on Mary and the Wedding at Cana, with prayers offered at the start of retreat and guidelines for presentations encouraging interaction, coherence, and being audible. It also provides an example exercise on discerning the signs of the times using a hypothetical couple, and reflections on Mary as a model of faith through pondering, meditating, and tasting the fruits of faith.

1. Marriage, Mary and the
Wedding Feast of Cana
ChangingWater…
…intoWine

2. Lord Jesus Christ,
We thank you for having called us together here.
We offer you what we are about to undertake,
everything we think, do and experience
during these coming days in your honor.
We also offer you our fatigue this evening,
and from the various events of this day,
because this – too - is our “daily bread.”
Grant that we may begin this retreat
with a spirit of hope and anticipation
That you will feed our hearts and souls in the days ahead...
in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

3. Conference will be….
• Interactive
• Challenging
Warning ! (for you)

4. Presentation should be….
• Coherent
• Audible
• Paced
Warning (for me)

5. Preamble
Reading the “Signs of the Times”

6. “Faith impels us to read and
discern the signs of the times
in the present history.”
PortaFidei, Pope Benedict XVI, 2012

7. Preamble
“(The current times) should prove a stimulus to the Church:
To increase its vitality,
To take stock of itself,
To give careful consideration to the signs of the times,
Always and everywhere ‘proving all things and holding fast
that which is good.’"
(EcclesiamSuam, Encyclical by Paul VI “On The Church,” 1964)

8. Preamble
And….how do we discern this? (next slide)
In other words, the Church asks:
Where were we? …….. (Past)
Where are we? ……… (Present)
Where are we going? .. (Future)
What’s good? ……….. (Keep or make better)
What’s not? …………. (Change or discard)

9. Reading the
“Signs of the Times”
An Interactive Exercise

10. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a Church, where do we see:
An increase in vitality?
The Church taking stock of itself?
The Church giving careful consideration to the
signs of the times?
“Holding fast that which is good"

11. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a Church, where do we NOT see:
An increase in vitality?
The Church taking stock of itself?
The Church giving careful consideration to the
signs of the times?
“Holding fast that which is good"

12. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a BELIEVER:
Where do yousee an increase in vitality in you life?
How are your taking stock of yourself?
Who helps you give careful consideration to the
signs of the times?
What is good in your life to which you are, and
should be, “holding fast?”

13. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a believer, where does there need
to be conversion/redemption:
What areas of your life are lacking vitality?
What areas of your life have not been examined?
(“Taking stock of yourself”)
Whom do you still need to consult to give
“careful consideration to the signs of the times?”
What is NOT good in your life onto which you are
still “holding fast?”

14. Questions:
What is this that we’re doing?
Why is this important?
What saint is famous for this process?
Extra Credit:
What religious order did he found?
What book did he write?
What Pope is a member of this order?

15. What secular examples do we
have of this process?

16. Reading the Signs of the Times,
An Example
Kate, Andy (not their real names)
and the “New Year’s Eve Party”

17. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a husband / wife:
Where have I seen an increase in vitality in our marriage?
What areas of our marriage are lacking vitality?
How are we taking stock of ourselves?
Who helps us discern the “signs of the times” in our marriage?
What areas of our life need to be examined?
What is good in our marriage to which we “hold fast?”

18. Further Reflections
Mary as the Model

19. Mary – “And Her One” How did Joseph do it?
(Hold that thought..)
• Mary nurtured Son of God in her virginal womb...
• ..thus she could not desire a "more“ or an "again" or a
"next“ in other children.
• “Until death do us part” means that I could not desire a
"more“ or an "again" or a "next."
How do couples do this?

20. In other words, saying
“No” and “Yes!”
• A constant impulse has come from the icon of
Mary, the „ideal woman‟,... But also [from] the
courage of women martyrs who faced the
cruelest torments with astounding fortitude, the
witness of women exemplary for their radical
commitment to the ascetic life.(John Paul II, “On the
Dignity of Women”)

21. Michael Hyatt &
Intentional Leadership
• His priorities:
▫ Company Holidays Date night in
South Philly
▫ Church Holidays
▫ Industry Events
▫ Vacations
▫ Board Meetings
▫ Business Review Meetings
▫ Special Trips
▫ Time with Friends

22. Faith in Action
Mary as the Model

23. Faith Applied in Action:
• Discern for yourself what the Lord is telling you
during your retreat this year.
• Discuss this three times with at least one person
over the course of the next year.

24. Faith Applied in Action:
• There are 18 Marian celebrations and feast days…
• Celebrate just oneof these days that honor Mary
this year.

25. Faith Applied in Action:
• Commit to saying the Rosary (or Divine Chaplet)
daily during October, the month dedicated to
Our Lady of the Rosary.

26. Faith Applied in Action:
• Mary is mentioned close to 50 times in the New
Testament. …
• Over the next year, chose and read just one
Marian story or passage. Sit with and pray with
this passage for one week from one Saturday to
the next.

27. Mary as the Model
What to do:
• Treasuring Memories
▫ “Pondering” What you might experience:
• Joy
• Meditation
• Trepidation
▫ “Reflecting”
• Trust
• Confusion
• Tasting
▫ The fruits • Wonder

28. End Presentation…
The New Evangelization
and The Year of Faith