This Is the Will of God, Your Sanctification

The 8th Mysterium fascinans liturgical retreat took place on 11–13 September 2015 in Kraków. Every year it brings together about 200 people who want to deepen their understanding and experience of the liturgy. Each edition is marked by care for the harmony between acquiring knowledge during the lectures and the opportunity to apply it in the celebrated liturgy.

Every year the programme is improved on the basis of participants’ comments and expectations. This year the talks, catecheses and homilies will focus on the sacraments of sanctification: Matrimony and Holy Orders. A number of talks will therefore be devoted to holiness, vocation and living the sacraments we receive. The reflection undertaken during the retreat will not be addressed only to priests and married couples. On the contrary, in the perspective of these sacraments of sanctification we will look at the destiny of every human being and learn to live according to the truth that God’s will is our sanctification. We will also devote attention to celebrating Sunday, the sign of the temple and the common priesthood.

An important principle of the retreat is the attempt to translate complex theology into clear and vivid language. In choosing speakers we are guided by the conviction that above all we need teachers who will present the truths of the Catholic faith in an accessible way. This year we have entrusted the homilies to Dominik Jurczak OP, and the lectures will be given by, among others, Maciej Zachara MIC, Danuta Piekarz, Paweł Milcarek, Fr. Dominik Ostrowski, Jarosław Kupczak OP and Fr. Maciej Skora.

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 retreat will be not only wise but also full of inspiration for conversion.

Publication following the Mysterium fascinans 2015 retreat

photo: Joanna Rytter

Outline of this edition’s theme

Over the last few editions of the Mysterium fascinans retreat we have been reflecting on the sacraments of the Church. This year we pause on the sacraments of sanctification – Matrimony and Holy Orders. One might therefore expect this year’s edition to be addressed only to clergy and married couples. That is not our intention. The sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Orders open up a perspective that is broader and far more fundamental than it might seem. Each of the sacraments is a cause of grace, that is, of God’s action. In the cause, the purpose for which God acts is revealed. The interior life is not limited to receiving the sacraments and living by the grace they bring about in us. Each of them can be read as a description of man’s vocation. By looking at the grace of God given through the sacraments, we can read the meaning of creation and the goal towards which it is heading.

The sacraments of sanctification are indeed a call to life in a family or in ministry. At the same time, however, they reveal to every believer the purpose of his or her existence. That is why this year, in the lectures, we will first try to describe the purpose of creation, which is the glorification of God. We were created to give glory to God. Next we will ask what holiness is and about the relationship between the holiness of God and the holiness of man. Then we will ask about the sign of the temple and the meaning of worship and liturgy. Only in this perspective will we take up questions about the “common priesthood” with which every believer is endowed and to which he or she is called. In the context outlined in this way we will place the specific vocation of married couples and clergy, and at the close of the retreat we will consider the meaning and quality of celebrating the Lord’s Day.

God’s will is our sanctification. We know this, although sometimes we do not know what it means. In order not only to reflect on this truth but also to live it, we will celebrate the liturgy. On the first day – as last year – we will hold a penitential service. Aware of the condition in which we find ourselves, we will ask for the forgiveness of our sins and then receive the Holy One in the Eucharist. On the following days the solemn Liturgy of the Hours will allow us to taste what is called “the sanctification of time”. We want to focus on giving glory to God and abiding in His presence, and in this way fulfil our vocation. On Saturday we will celebrate the liturgy in its older form, in order to learn how to give glory to God from our brothers and sisters of past centuries. The extraordinary form of the Roman Rite places its participants in an attitude clearly marked by reverence and the fear of God. We know that we must not forget it, so we want to make ourselves aware of it by worshipping God in this very form of the liturgy. On Sunday, the first day of the new week, we will listen to the testimonies of people living various forms of the Christian vocation, to be inspired by their experience and reflection. At the end of the retreat we will celebrate a final Holy Mass together, both to glorify God and to let Him sanctify us.

We have decided not to hold workshops during the retreat, because we never had enough time to devote to them properly. We decided that it is better to spend the time saved in prayer and in listening to a conversation with our invited guests.