Spirituality Shaped by the Liturgy
The 9th Mysterium fascinans liturgical retreat took place on 9–11 September 2016 in Kraków under the theme “Spirituality Shaped by the Liturgy”. Every year the Mysterium fascinans retreat 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 theme “Spirituality Shaped by the Liturgy”. The first part of the lectures will therefore be devoted to the person of Jesus and His prayer. We will learn prayer from the Lord himself, so that it may shape our lives. The second part will be devoted directly to the liturgy and the place it should have in our spiritual life, whether we are lay people, religious or priests. The mystagogical catecheses will teach us a life that is an offering made to the Lord.
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 the homilies during the liturgy will be preached by Fr. Krzysztof Porosło, and the lectures will be given by Fr. Andrzej Muszala, Fr. Krzysztof Grzywocz, Maria Miduch, Fr. Konrad Małys OSB, Fr. Tomasz Grabowski OP, Fr. Bogusław Migut and Sr. Anna Hyszko CHR.
To take part in the retreat, you need to fill in the application form (available under “Registration” until the end of August 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 retreat will be not only wise but also full of inspiration for conversion.
Publication following the Mysterium fascinans 2016 retreat
photo: Marcin Świdziński
Outline of this edition’s theme
During last year’s Mysterium fascinans retreat we discovered that God’s will is our sanctification. We looked at the holiness of God in order to understand what it means to become like Him through the celebration of the sacraments. The sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony have a special place in the mystery of man’s sanctification. Seen in this perspective, the next topic – this year’s theme – intrigued us: “Spirituality Shaped by the Liturgy”.
In various contexts and situations we hear terms such as spiritual life, spiritual exercises, spirituality. When we look up dictionary definitions of these terms, we find explanations such as: “Spirituality includes conversion, holiness, prayer, penance, fasting, asceticism, mysticism, and inner movements and desires. It embraces the whole of spiritual life together with its practice and mystical experience”, or “Christian spirituality is the evangelical attitude of identification with Christ that takes place under the influence of the Holy Spirit”. These definitions do not mention the liturgy at all. Without going into detail, these terms usually do not denote what we call the liturgy. At most, liturgy and spirituality meet at the edges of their ranges of meaning. With the word spirituality we try to name, for example, the charism of a religious congregation or community, that is, a certain concrete orientation of that congregation, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in carrying out the mission of the Church. Sometimes the liturgy may also fit within the framework of spirituality, but only as one of many listed elements. It is placed alongside care for the sick, service in schools, leading retreats or contemplative life. By “spiritual life” we most often mean our personal prayer, we describe our relationship with God, or we include spiritual direction and confession in this concept. But again, the liturgy rarely falls within the meaning of this term. It is certainly not seen at its centre.
During this year’s edition of the Mysterium fascinans liturgical retreat we want to show that the liturgy is the foundation of the spiritual life. It cannot be reduced to only one of its many elements. It is not an addition to spirituality but a lasting and sure point of support for it. Through the successive lectures we will want to see that it is the liturgy that shapes the spirituality of the believer – whatever state of life he or she lives in: lay, religious or priestly. Our starting point will be to pause at the person of Jesus and look at what His prayer was like and what prayer He teaches us. Next we will ask whether there is such a thing as liturgical spirituality and, if so, how this concept should be understood. Then we will hear how the liturgy shapes the spirituality of monks, and afterwards we will consider how the liturgy is lived in the lives of lay people. To this end we will listen to three people who will share their own experience of building their spiritual life on the liturgy. Two catecheses will have a somewhat different character: their aim will be to learn to live, pray and worship according to the virtue of piety, so that we may know how to offer our lives as a sacrifice pleasing to God.
However, as always, we will not so much talk about the spiritual life shaped by the liturgy as let the liturgy itself speak. As every year, its celebration will be placed at the centre of the retreat. The rhythm and spirituality of the retreat will be shaped by the daily sacrifice of the Eucharist, celebrated in the ordinary and extraordinary forms, and by the Liturgy of the Hours. As is our custom, on Friday evening we will prepare for the sacrament of confession through a penitential liturgy. On Saturday we will honor the Lord by adoring His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. We will close the retreat with a solemn Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. We believe that once again we will experience that the liturgy truly is “the summit and the source” of the whole life of the Church.