S.O.L.T. Ecclesial Team of Georgia
2008

Father Zachary of the Mother of God S.O.L.T. begins a three year formation cycle for the laity across the United States in 2008. The Georgia S.O.L.T. community is pleased to announnce Father Zachary will be offering this formation at the Apostolic House, 110 Aspen Drive in Covington, Georgia. The formation will look at how God formed Our Lady from her conception to her assumption - and how we as creatures like her, can imitate and follow this pattern with God's grace into communion with the Most Holy Trinity. The three year program begins with :

YEAR I: God the Father and Our Lady.

YEAR II: God the Son and Our Lady.

YEAR III: God the Holy Spirit and Our Lady.

The formation program in Georgia begins Saturday, March 29th. From May until the end of the year, every FIRST SATURDAY will be the formation day in Covington. The day begins with Mass at 9:30 AM and then the class will be held until noon. Please visit the schedule page on this website to see other scheduled spiritual opportunities to join us through the week. Below is an overview of our spirituality and some photos of retreats we have held in the past. Please come and join us !

					Atlanta Archbishop, John Francis Donoghue (center) elevates our Lord
			Retired Corpus Christi Bishop, Rene Gracida explains		during a retreat Mass
			the role of a Bishop to the children.

Retreat Programs used by the SOLT Ecclesial Team is based on the teachings of Father James Flanagan, the founder of the Society of Our Lady. He highlighted four pillars in a teaching given in Corpus Christi, in July of 2002. We will explore these areas, which include gift, relationship, covenant, and communion. "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build. Unless the Lord guards the city, in vain does the guard keep watch. It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, to eat bread earned by hard toil -- all this God gives to his beloved in sleep. Children too are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children born in ones'' youth. Blessed are they whose quivers are full. They will never be shamed contending with foes at the gate."" (Psalm 127)

SOLT Sister Amata Aumell enjoys the kingdom of little children.

The Mickey Williams Family brought the gift of Irish music.

In order to live out the plan that God has given us as a family, we must understand these four pillars of gift, relationship, covenant and communion. Through these four pillars, we understand that God has placed us into a specific family to prepare us to live in His family, the Trinity, for all eternity. We must recognize how the enemy of God is working to destroy families, and how God is at work to restore families. This is the purpose of the four pillars. They are the cornerstones to build the house that God wishes each family to build, a house that is not built in vain, and that will last for all eternity.
We see the kingdom of God at war with the kingdom of Satan. Secular humanism is currently destroying America. We live in an adulterous generation. The enemy of God is working hard to destroy the family of our Father. In this work of our Father, to restore the family, these pillars will shift the reality from the enemy's work to God's work. These retreats are designed to build upon each of these four pillars.

			Mary Ann Judge and Mike Pond lead the
	Gerald Coale leads some young pilgrims past the		youth in a lesson on the dock of a lake.
	cross during a retreat in the country.

Our goal is to change marriage and family life from its present reality of broken relationships, infidelities, materialism, and selfishness, to a reality of love and holiness. To do this, we must change the present order of our thinking and our ways of relating to each other. There are no limits to our holiness of life as married couples and families. God has given us every instrument and grace needed within our sacrament of marriage, and the sacraments of the Church to become truly holy families. Families must have these four realities deeply ingrained in them, to change their ways of relating to each other. These are the foundation stones to build up the holiness of family life.

	Young people come to know Our		A family friendly environment that
	Lady as their mother.		brings joy to the heart.

GIFT

With the first pillar of gift, we want to change the order of society. For example, law is the order of America. It is lawful in American society to kill ones'' unborn child, but not lawful in God's. If we are going to change this order of law, then we have to change our attitudes from a right to life, to a gift of life. If we can change our order of thinking to the order of gift, we will then see everything as gift. There are no rights and responsibilities in the order of gift. Instead, we see each person as a gift given to us by God''s holy will, to help us to grow in holiness. This order of gift brings us to see our spouse as a gift from God, not an object for my own selfish gratification. Children are seen as a gift from the Lord. They are not a burden, and they are not seen as a financial challenge. Thus, children are received as the gift they are, as persons made in the image and likeness of God. We do not limit God in his generosity of bestowing upon us the gift of children. The order of gift brings us out of our selfish tendencies and into the relationships we are called to live in. This pillar is fundamental in re-ordering our relationships and restoring them to the fullness of the living reflection of the Trinity. This pillar on gift will show how gift is the order of God in the gift of Himself.

The following will be covered in the first pillar on gift:

1. God''s supreme gifts –– Scripture is Gods gift of His Word to us! We study sacred Scripture to deepen our understanding of all that God has given to us. All of creation is God's gift to man. Every gift that was given to Jesus has been given to each and every one of us. Grace is God's gift of His divine life to man. All of God's gifts are to bring us to be holy, as God is holy. The primary means of growing in holiness for married couples are prayer, penance, and the Eucharist.
   
2. Man and Woman -- their gift of complementarity to each other. We look at the beginning in Genesis to see how God declared that it was not good for man to be alone. We will also explore the teachings of John Paul II on the Theology of the Body.
   
3. Persons -- seeing each person as a gift. Every person we encounter is a gift from God to us and we are to relate to each other from this basis. Everyone has been given gifts to build up the Body of Christ (Rom 12). We will explore our God-given gifts, so we can be gift to the Church and to each other.
   
4. Gift of service -- To follow Christ who came to serve, not to be served. We only come to know who we truly are by giving a sincere gift of ourselves to others.
   
5. Husband and wife -- Seeing each other as gift, and receiving each other as a gift from God to grow in holiness. Being open to the gift of life, means that the spouses give of the fullness of themselves to each other, not thwarting God's design of procreation. Receiving children as a gift and blessing from the Lord.
   
6. Family -- not a right to life, but a gift of life. Children seeing each other as gift. God gives brothers and sisters to us, to help us to relate more fully to each and every human person and thus God. Families are the primary witnesses of love.
   

	Families form a bond of graced		The atmosphere of families relating and
	friendships through relationships.		playing together enables communion.

RELATIONSHIPS

We see in the world today, an epidemic of broken relationships. One does not need to look far to see the great need there is in restoring true human relationships among God's people. The greatest need of course, is in the relationships between husband and wife, between parents and children, and between brothers and sisters. Thus, the importance of the second pillar, on relationships. We begin by exploring the reality that God is the originator and creator of every relationship among man and woman. We want to come to recognize that we were created in the mind of God before the world began. In Jesus Christ, we live, and move, and have our being. When we recognize and live from this reality, that we are living in Him and He lives in us, we become truly free. The Trinity created us out of nothing into his own image and likeness. God created us for Himself, not for myself, or for others. We are the only creatures God created for Himself. This is the basis from which we relate with each other, that we are created in the image and likeness of God.

In this pillar on relationships we will look to Scripture and the lives of the Saints for the answers on how we are to relate to one another and deepen our relationships:

1. Know yourself -- God knows Himself, and it is in knowing ourselves that we become more like Him. We are a mystery to ourselves; we must continue to deepen our self-knowledge over time. We must be careful of our false self-images and the deceptive idol of self. Who does God say that I am?
   
2. Meaning of life –– it is to enter into the three relationships of the persons of the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Family is our model of true relationships. To find God's meaning and purpose for our lives, we must set goals. God has a unique purpose in His creation and in our lives. He has a specific work for each of us that no one else can do. Our work is to discover and cooperate with God's unique plan and destiny for us.
   
3. Make your love visible -- love is defined not by words, but by action, through the giving of ourselves for the good of our beloved. True love is to choose what makes my beloved happy, and to put his or her happiness before my own. Love is a disposition to please the beloved. We must see and esteem the goodness of the Father in each person through charity.
   
4. Husbands and wives –– They would be beloved to each other if they understood the reality of belonging. We want to imitate the beloved disciple of Jesus, John. John knew he belonged to Jesus and he desired to be beloved to Him. We make our love visible in belovedness. We are to be like children who know whom they belong to, because their fathers and mothers are beloved to them. We are to see each other as beloved in graced friendships. Husbands and wives are to be friends to each other because of, and through grace.
   
5. Communication -- Our way of relating to each other is to be modeled on the relationships of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit communicate everything to each other. We are to reorder our communication with each other to reflect and give glory to God in all we think, say and do. We are to build each other up, not tear each other down. We will learn new communication skills, so that we can more effectively communicate our true thoughts and feelings to each other.
   
6. Mary as our model of how we are to relate with the persons of the Trinity. We can grow in our relationship with her as mother and mediatrix of all graces.
   

COVENANT All covenants, from the Old Testament (Noah, Abraham, Moses, David), including the conjugal covenant in marriage, are fulfilled in the New and Everlasting Covenant. All covenants were and are made to bring people to communion with the Most Holy Trinity, the original covenant. When people are unfaithful to their covenant, God makes another one. He doesn't have to, but He wants communion with us. Because man has been unfaithful to every covenant God has formed with us, He made the New and Everlasting Covenant in Jesus. We receive strength to live faithfully our conjugal covenant in marriage through the Most Holy Trinity and through the Mass. The sacrifice of the Mass celebrates covenant and renews it. The Body and Blood of Christ washes and purifies us. It gives us a new heart and a new spirit, for God is ever faithful to His covenants. God will not take the covenant away because of our infidelity. He is restoring us to the gifts of communion, given to Adam and Eve before the fall. The communion with the Most Holy Trinity was the greatest loss of original sin. The Eucharist brings us back to this communion. Renewal in covenant must be present to renew family life in holiness and the conjugal covenant. God commands that every conjugal act must be open to life. In the covenant of marriage, God requires that we are to be faithful to each other throughout ones'' life until death.

Father Michael Jordan leads a procession of the faithful with Our Lord in the monstrance following adoration and benediction.

In this third pillar on Covenant we will explore the following areas:

1. Understanding the meaning of covenant and the history of covenant in Scripture.
   
2. Marriage as a conjugal covenant in which God sets all the terms and conditions of the covenant. God gives the blessings for faithfulness to this covenant, and the curses for unfaithfulness. We will discuss Family as a covenant of persons to bring us to communion with the Most Holy Trinity.
   
3. The Breakdown of Covenant - temptation, lack of gratitude for the gifts of God, selfishness, putting our own desires before those of our beloved and God. We must examine our conscience daily, to recognize how we have not been faithful to this covenant.
   
4. Jesus is the New and Everlasting Covenant, sealed in His own blood. God desires to restore us to our original relationship with the Trinity through discipleship.
   
5. Consecration to Jesus through Mary, according to St. Louis de Montfort is the great aid to living this covenant in marriage and the family.
   

COMMUNION

"By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13: 35) If we have truly contemplated the face of Christ, we will be inspired by this new commandment which Jesus gave us, ""to love one another as I have love to you" (John 13: 34) We are called to be witnesses to love. In his apostolic letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte, our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, exhorts us to recognize that "communion is the fruit and demonstration of that love which springs from the heart of the Eternal Father and is poured out upon us through the spirit which Jesus gives us"", (Cf. Rom 5:5) to make us all "one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32). It is in building this communion of love that the church appears as "sacrament", as the "sign an instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the human race".

The Holy Father continues, "it is again the apostle Paul who in the hymn to love reminds us: even if we speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, and if we have faith ‘‘to move mountains'', but are without love, all will come to nothing". (Cf. I Cor 13: 2). Love is truly the "heart" of the church, as was well understood by St. Therese Lisieux. She said, "I understood that the Church had a heart and that this heart was a flame with love. I understood that love alone stirred the members of the church to act... I understood that love encompassed all vocations, that love was everything". Again the Holy Father expresses beautifully this spirituality of communion, "we need to promote a spirituality of communion, making it the guiding principle of education wherever individuals and Christians are formed, wherever ministers of the altar, consecrated persons, and Pastoral workers are trained, wherever families and communities are being built up (emphasis mine). "A spirituality of communion indicates above all the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us. A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith within the profoundly unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, and therefore as "those who are a part of me". This makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to sense their desires and attend to their needs, to offer them deepen genuine friendship. A spirituality of communion implies also the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and price it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has received it directly, but also as a "gift for me". A spirituality of communion means, finally, to know how to "make room" for our brothers and sisters, bearing "each other's burdens" (Gal 6: 2) and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset us and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy. Let us have no illusions: unless we follow this spiritual path, external structures of communion will serve very little purpose. They would become mechanisms without a soul, "masks" of communion rather than its means of expression and growth." (JP II, Novo Mill. Ineunte).

God brings us to communion with Himself through the sacraments. They are to bring us to the fullness of communion with the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity is a communion of persons, each existing to love and serve the others. Our families are to be modeled on this spirituality of communion. We are to seek true solidarity, friendship, and fidelity to one another. We are not to relate to each other in the ways that are prevalent in our society, which is to relate to persons as objects, for power, money, physical attractiveness, intelligence, etc. The only way to relate to each other that brings us to communion, is to relate to persons, as persons created in the image in likeness of God. Otherwise, we relate for the wrong reasons. This spirituality of communion will bring us not to categorize people, but to move from person to people. We must understand that we are a people of God. "You will be my people, and I will be your God". All families are created as a communion of persons.
They become divided when they do not relate as persons, because they overreach and wound and destroy each other in many ways. When we receive Jesus in communion, we not only receive Him, He receives us! He receives us as a communion of persons. Husband and wife must recognize each other as gift, and to realize that we are all part of the one body of Christ. Everything that happens to others happens to all, because we are part of the same body. This means if I live in sin, this wounds the whole body of Christ. If I live from grace to grace, this affects the whole body as well. We desire that the families who participate in this four pillar program would move from the experience of being isolated and nuclearized in individualism, to the experience of the true communion of persons, thus being a living reflection of the Most Holy Trinity.

This pillar on communion will cover the following areas through Scripture and the teachings of the church (especially John Paul II writings):

1. The Church as the teacher of the "spirituality of communion". The means of communion: the Sacraments.
   
2. Family as the primary witness to the "spirituality of communion". The means to live this are the Sacraments of marriage, penance, the Eucharist, and family prayer.
   
3. Spirituality of Communion: what it means to see each other as gift, relating as persons in the reality and that all life is sacred, and a gift from the God.
   
4. Communion of the Saints. We are part of the family of God, in heaven as on earth. Jesus is the head, and we are His body.
   
5. Goal of each family, should be communion with each other, so that they can experience communion here ""on earth as it is in heaven.""
   

This is an overview of the Four Pillars For Family Holiness retreat program. It is estimated to be 12 months in duration, to cover in-depth each of the four pillars. The families will be encouraged to participate in this ongoing formation for the full length of the program. Each segment is being designed to integrate and connect it to the other pillars, so that the families that cannot participate every month will still benefit from their experience in this family retreat program.
Our vision statement for the SOLT Lay Community is: all families in communion with each other, in union with the Most Holy Trinity, through discipleship of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

This essay was prepared by Tom and Susan George, SOLT

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