Southern Nebraska Register
As the Church approaches Holy Week, people seeking deeper spiritual preparation are invited to attend a weekend retreat led by Father Michael Zimmer March 27–29 at Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House in Waverly: “Behold the Humility of God.”
A virtual option to watch online is also available.
Rooted in Scripture and the Church’s liturgical tradition, the retreat invites participants to contemplate the profound mystery at the heart of the Christian faith: God Himself, in Jesus Christ, freely embracing suffering and death for the salvation of the world. Entering deeply into the events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday through Easter, Father Zimmer guides retreatants to behold the humility of God revealed in the Passion of Christ.
“In the sacred journey of Holy Week,” Father Zimmer said, “we encounter not a distant God, but one who descends into human suffering in order to redeem it.”
Through conferences, prayer, and meditation, participants are invited to reflect on how Christ’s willing self-emptying reveals both the heart of God and the meaning of their own crosses.
A central focus of the retreat is the theology of redemptive suffering. Father Zimmer will explore how personal trials, pain, and hardship, when united to Christ’s sacrifice, can become a path to grace, healing and deeper union with God. Rather than viewing suffering as meaningless or merely something to be avoided, retreatants are encouraged to discover how it can be transformed into participation in Christ’s saving work.
Father Zimmer was ordained in 2012. He is in residence at St. Joseph Parish in Lincoln and St. Mary Parish in David City. He is also a chaplain in the Air National Guard.
The retreat begins Friday with a rosary and Mass at 8 p.m. and concludes Sunday with Mass and a noon lunch. Throughout the weekend, participants will have opportunities for Eucharistic adoration, confession, daily Mass, stations of the cross, and prayer with the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.
Register at goodcounselretreat.org or call 402-786-2705. Other upcoming retreats at the retreat house are: Living the Good Life with Father Nicholas Kipper Feb. 27-March1; Catholic Medical Retreat with Sr. Mary Diana Dreger, OP, March 19-22; Holy Week Retreat for Young Women with the Marian Sisters of the Diocese of Lincoln April 2-4.
