Week One: The First Commandment: Adore the Lord Your God, and Only Him
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- What area(s) of my life need healing?
- What are the temptations in my life that are leading me to sin?
- Which side (good or evil) am I on when I make decisions?
- How is evil getting into my life? Are there habits, secret habits, sinful habits, that are tearing me apart? Am I a slave to any things that are leading me to sin and that I need to be freed from?
- Read Deuteronomy 5:6-10. Am I fully living out the first commandment? Is God my only God? Do I truly trust God with my whole life? Where do I put my trust?
- If I need to break bonds and chains of evil that I have allowed to enter my life, have I realized how critically important Confession and Communion are for this? Have I asked a priest to bless my house, my car, my children, the sacred objects in our house, etc.? Have I gone to a healing Mass to ask God to cure me, and have I taken other people so that they can be cured?
SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMITMENTS TO MAKE
- Examine my day every evening and recognize the areas of my life that are causing me to sin, the areas that are evil in which I’m a slave to.
- Go to Confession right away to break any bondage in my soul, and receive Communion at Mass.
- Say this prayer as often as needed throughout my day to combat the evil, “I renounce every influence and every way that this spirit of ___________ (jealousy, envy, lust, greed, etc.) has influence over me.” Then invite God into my life and into my heart to fill that hole of whatever was damaging me and my relationship with God.
- Recite the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel daily – every morning when I wake.
- Do 30 minutes of Eucharistic adoration at church.
Week Two: Jesus Is Alive and Heals Your Heart
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Have I discovered the root of the sin or the trauma that is holding me back in my life?
- Do I feel guilty for the bad decisions I have made? Do I suffer from fear, insecurity, addiction, abuse or violence in my family?
- Why is it hard to forgive from the heart those who have offended me, freeing ourselves from desires of revenge?
- Do I truly and fully believe that Jesus wants to heal me, just as he healed those who came to him in the Bible?
- Do I fully trust in the love and mercy of Jesus to heal my mind, my soul, and my heart? Do I show it by going to Confession and Communion?
- Have I ever asked a priest or a trusted friend to pray over me that the chains I bear be broken? Do I want to attend a healing Mass?
SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMITMENTS TO MAKE
- Pray together in a spontaneous way as a group to ask forgiveness from God for all the offenses we have ever committed.
- Seek to forgive from the heart everyone who has offended you in your life, praying for them and giving all that suffering to God.
- Attend a healing Mass as a group, to ask God’s mercy and healing from any resentment or inner wounds.
Week Three: Jesus Is Alive and Heals Your Illnesses
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- If you have ever received healing at a retreat, a prayer session, or a healing Mass, can you share your story?
- Why do we sometimes believe that God causes our illness or the suffering that we and our families go through? Why is it hard for us to realize how infinite his mercy is, and that he is not a Father who punishes, but who wants us to approach him to be healed?
- Do I truly have faith and trust in the power of Jesus Christ to heal me completely in soul, mind, spirit and body, or do I still doubt him?
- Do I care for the sick and the elderly, praying for them, visiting them, and helping my own sick and elderly relatives, or do I forget all about them?
- Have I ever seen the full power of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick?
- Do I truly trust in the powerful motherly intercession of Mary? Is there a testimony of healing through her intercession that I can share?
- What is God asking you to do right now to make a change in your life for continual healing? What is God asking you to do to continue healing in your life? Write it down and how you will accomplish it.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMITMENTS TO MAKE
- If you have someone sick in your family, call the parish office so that a priest can go administer the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for them.
- Pray sincerely to remove any obstacle to physical healing that is in your heart – hatred, anger, resentment, envy and jealousy – through a sincere repentance, since a healed heart is often a condition for physical healing from God.
- Mothers who have sick children can pray over them every night by laying hands on them and praying that Jesus heal them.