IBIL CONFERENCE 2: HUMBLE CONFIDENCE

Hello everyone,
I am so excited for our meeting this coming Wednesday morning. The Upper Room is reserved so just come on in after drop off. I have to admit that I haven't read Conference 2 yet but I am looking forward to it- reading the questions ahead might help give me some guidance!! Ok, just finished typing the questions and they are amazing- can't wait to read!

Humble Confidence

Review the challenge from conference 1: Choose one "hesitantly" taken-up cross in your life and carry it smilingly. What difference did doing this make?

Questions for meditation and discussion

1. "This word, confidence, summarizes the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity- sovereign virtues which bring all the others in their train." (page 25)
How do faith, hope, and charity relate to confidence? Is it possible to have confidence in God's love for us without these virtues?

2. "I, too, would like to find an elevator to lift me up to Jesus, for I am too little to climb the rough stairway of perfection." (page 27)
What is your "rough stairway"? How can we find the gentle elevator?

3. "We have been trained in the habit of looking at our dark side, our ugliness, and not at the purifying Sun." (page 29)
Under what circumstances do you most often look at your dark side? In what way can we minister to those in our lives (children, spouses, and friends) to look to the purifying Sun?

4. "Remember that each time you pick yourself up after a fall, the feast of the prodigal son is renewed." (page 34)
How do you approach the confessional?

5. "We do not dance enough in the spiritual life." (page 35)
Can you think of a time when you were moved to 'dance in the spiritual life'?

6. "How many young people have lost the Faith, not from having fallen, but from not having been helped, with love, to pick themselves up again as many times as was necessary?" (page 35)
The primary goal of parents is to get their children to heaven. Are you teaching your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews, or any other children in your life about God's infinite mercy so that when they fall, they will have the humble confidence to "rise up and go to my Father" (cf Luke 15:18)

7. Regarding the good thief: "A whole life of sin, one humble and confident look toward the Crucified, and there was the first canonized saint, and canonized by Jesus Himself! A thief who stole heaven!" (page 36)
Jesus is telling us that there is always hope and a way to Heaven. Is there some stumbling block in your life that you have given up on correcting?

8. "We sometimes make a prayer of the words for which He reproached His Apostles: 'Lord, save us; we are perishing!'" (page 41)
Do you pray with confidence?

This Week's Challenge
"Your Father in Heaven clothes you again in His most beautiful cloak, puts a ring on your finger, and tells you to dance with joy. In a living faith, you will not approach the confessional with dragging feet, but as if you were going to a feast, even if you have to make a great effort each time to humble yourself and to conquer the monotony of the routine.
"After the absolution, you should dance like the prodigal son did at the request and for the joy of his father." (pages 34-35)
Approach the confessional as if you are preparing for a feast.

IBIL CONFERENCE 1: LOVE FOR LOVE

1. St. Therese said, "In the evening of this life, I shall appear before YOU with empty hands." (page 7) What does this mean to you? How can you begin "emptying your hands"?

2. "As if that were not enough, He invented the Eucharist: a God who makes Himself into bread, a little host, in order to descend onto our lips and into our hearts, to bridge all distance between Himself and us." (page 9) Does reading this give you a different understanding of the Eucharist?

3. "Never let your past sins be an obstacle between you and Jesus." (page 12) How have your sins been an obstacle? How can we overcome this?

4. "If you have been loved like this, you must love in return, give love for love. 'I have loved you; you must love. I have given you my Heart without reserve, in order to have your heart without reserve. I have put no limit on my love; you must put no limit on yours.'" (pages 13-14)  How are you giving love for love? Where are you putting limits on your love?

5. Father d'Elbee points out all the things Jesus did not ask Peter (are you wise? virtuous? capable of leading? and so forth). He asks only, "Do you love me?" (page 14) Because doubting who we are keeps us from fully loving God, what reasons do you give yourself for not completely loving God? (I am not ____ enough.")

6.  "The Cross, taken up hesitantly, is crushing; taken smilingly, by free will, and with love, it will carry you much more than you carry it." (page 18) What are your crosses taken up smilingly? What are your crosses taken up hesitantly? How do they differ?

7.  Do you fear what God will ask you to do? If yes, why? (page 21)

8. Do you think you are a joy for Jesus? In what ways do you bring Him joy?

this week's challenge: choose one 'hesitantly' taken up cross in your life and carry it smilingly. What difference did doing this make?

Feel free to answer the above questions, ask questions of your own, or just provide thoughts in response to Love for Love. I know Amy and I were both surprised by the gravity of the text. I Believe in Love seems like such a light title but prepare yourself for some intense reading!! These are the questions from the study guide.