During Lent, the Church calls every one of us to intensify our quest for Christ. The Colors of the Cross, our latest Retreat Guide, is a tool that will certainly help you do that. In this Retreat Guide, we reflect on the three colors of the cross. The first, the brown color of the wood, helps us understand why Jesus chose to be crucified. The second, the red color of Christ’s blood, reveals the meaning of our own crosses. The third, the simple skin color of Christ’s humanity, gives us the secret to carrying our crosses faithfully and fruitfully.
The Colors of the Cross: A Retreat Guide for Lent
How to Use A Retreat Guide
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How to Use A Retreat Guide in a Small Group
Gather together, start with prayer, and then watch the Intro and First Meditation together. At the end of the First Meditation, spend 5 – 10 minutes in silent meditation/prayer with the reflection questions. Then watch the Second Meditation and have 5 – 10 minutes of silent time. Lastly, watch the Conference and use the meditation questions as the springboard for personal prayer or group discussion.
You can use this format to gather in person or virtually. If virtual, someone could run the videos (sharing their screen, e.g., using Zoom or any other video conference platform), pausing for silent reflection.
The Conferences (the last video of each Retreat Guide) are designed as stand-alone videos offering practical applications for living out the Retreat Guide theme. They always work well with the Meditations, but you could use the Conference separately for a shorter gathering to kick off a topic for discussion.
Seasonally, you may want to use a Retreat Guide at home or with a closer group of friends. For Advent or Lent, you could select one Retreat Guide a week, watch one video each night, and discuss it as a family.
These are just some suggestions. Feel free to experiment with a format that works best for your group. With almost 60 Retreat Guides, you have a great library of retreats to pick from.
