{"id":1587,"date":"2017-02-26T17:09:08","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T22:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/?page_id=1587"},"modified":"2022-02-24T07:34:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T12:34:21","slug":"choose-joy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/choose-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Choose Joy &#8211; Lent 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"youtube-responsive-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M44ivBgkKbA?rel=0&amp;modestbranding=1\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"564\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Mary discusses the life of St. Therese of Lisieux who always chose the difficult things to offer up to God. Mary encourages us to do the same and choose joy during the small things that we find difficult in life by offering it up to the Lord.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for watching and participating in this retreat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Not Registered, yet? Don\u2019t miss the rest of the talks! Register for the Pray More Retreat!&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/2017-lent-retreat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Click Here to Register!<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Downloads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audio MP3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/12%20-%20Mary%20Lenaburg%20-%20Choose%20Joy.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click&nbsp;here&nbsp;to download audio file.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Printable Study Guide PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/choose-joy-study-guide.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click here to download the printable study guide.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Printable Transcript PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Choose-Joy-Mary-Lenaburg-Transcript.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click here to download the transcript of the video presentation.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Reflective Study Guide Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cPrayer is an aspiration of the heart. It is a simple glance directed to heaven. It is a cry of <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/eliminating-self-comparison-for-grateful-reality-lent-2021\/\">gratitude<\/a> and love in the midst of trial as well as joy.\u201d St. Therese of Lisieux<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\"><li>Pray like St. Therese of Lisieux and her, \u201cLittle Way\u201d. So, the first thing Therese did was pray, and through her daily prayers she would offer these little trials and tribulations up to the Lord. She would glance toward heaven and speak with her heart, and share her life with the Lord as a small child, like a small child. Try to do the same. Any trial, big or small, can be offered to the Lord.<br><br><\/li><li>Seek little ways within your vocation to choose joy. Do the lowly of the lowest tasks and do them joyfully. What is one task that you detest doing? Laundy, cleaning, cooking etc.? By choosing to joyfully do this task that you do not enjoy doing with a smile on your face which, is sometimes difficult, you honor God. You lift that up to the Lord and love Him through the task that you do not enjoy doing. Choose joy in that moment!<br><br><\/li><li>When people gossip or say negative things about you, choose joy. Take a deep breath and to smile and say \u201cLord, I offer this to You as a small child.\u201d Try to do what St. Therese did and choose joy. Don\u2019t go and say anything, don\u2019t defend yourself, just smile and pray for that person and choose joy. Can you think of a time when someone spoke negatively about you and tried to tear you down? Did you act on it and defend yourself? It\u2019s not easy to offer such a thing up, but it does bring an incredible <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/blessed-are-the-peacemakers-lent-2021\/\">peace<\/a> to life when you do.<br><br><\/li><li>We encourage you this Lent to choose joy in all those little moments throughout your day, wherever it is in your world, to smile and to choose joy in those moments as St. Therese of the little flower did. Therese chose to give her life as a gift of joy to God, and so by choosing these little ways, these little mortifications throughout her day back as a gift. It was her path to holiness to come before the Lord as a small child, and it is a path to holiness that all of us can reach. She just loved, and she chose joy. How can you love and choose joy today?<br><\/li><li>What are the little things that seem to be weighing heavily on you today? Spend a minute or two meditating on how much Jesus had to relinquish when he let himself be buried for our sins and know that you can offer all <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/god-makes-things-new\/\">things to God<\/a>. What little mortifications can you offer to the Lord?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Text: Choose Joy <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello my friends. Welcome. My name is Mary Lenaburg, and I\u2019m so happy to be with you today. We\u2019re going to be talking about choosing joy, but first I want to bring our Lady into our time together and ask her to bless this talk and our time. So we\u2019re going to say the Hail Mary. So please join me in praying.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hail Mary<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Choose Joy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>As I said, my name\u2019s Mary Lenaburg, and this talk is called \u201cChoose Joy\u201d, and you might be wondering why we\u2019re talking about joy during Lent. Well, it\u2019s a joyful season. I realize it\u2019s a penitential season in the church, but it\u2019s also a season in which we experience the love of our Lord as we prepare to go through the Triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. So it\u2019s an opportunity for us to give alms, to pray, and to repent. To have penance. And so I offer this talk to you as an encouragement during this time to choose joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve been married for 28 years, I\u2019m the mother of 2, and one of my children, my daughter Courtney is a special needs&#8230; or was a special needs child. She had seizure disorder, cerebral palsy, a brain injury at some time, either in utero or sometime after, we\u2019re not really sure. But she suffered a great deal throughout her life here on earth for the 22 years God still blessed us with her. And I learned during that time with her how to choose joy. There were many sufferings and difficulties that came to us, that came to our family, and during this time of caring for our daughter, but God sort of revealed to me in prayer and through the example of the saints on how to have sort of a gratitude of attitude. No. To have an attitude of gratitude. See? There you go. An attitude of gratitude. So to take all things to Him in joy, in prayer and supplication.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">St. Therese of Lisieux<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So what does that mean, to choose joy? Well, the saint that I followed, took the lead from on this was St. Therese of Lisieux. And so they call her \u201cThe Little Flower. She was a Carmelite nun who lived in France in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and she had a difficult childhood. She was kind of rather a spoiled brat, shall we say. And she had kind of a conversion at the age of 14, a deep conversion, and chose at that point to change her ways and to offer herself and her life up to the&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lord. She entered the convent, and she chose what she called \u201cThe Little way\u201d, to bring herself before the Lord as a small child so that every little offering she made would bring Him joy.&nbsp; Think of a small child in your life, whether it be your own child, or nieces, nephews, grandchildren, children at church, when they pick up that little dandelion flower, the little yellow flower, and they bring it to you, and \u201cOh, momma, Oh miss Mary, look what I gave you. Look. This is for you. I love you.\u201d And it\u2019s a weed, and you\u2019re just looking at it, but all you see is the joy on their face, and you know \u201cThis is done with love.\u201d That\u2019s how St. Therese kind of looked at her life. So I\u2019m going to start with a quote of hers to kind of put this in context, and then give you some kind of practical examples on how to choose joy. I apologize, I\u2019m battling a cold, so bear with me. She said \u201cPrayer is an aspiration of the heart. It is a simple glance directed to heaven. It is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the first thing Therese did was pray, and through her daily prayers she would offer these little trials and tribulations up to the Lord. She would glance toward heaven and speak with her heart, and share her life with the Lord as a small child, like a small child. She had difficulty with some other nuns, difficulties in her life. She was not a very strong person physically, so she had a hard time carrying out these large physical tasks that were required of her in the convent. But she would seek them out. She would seek out to do the lowest work. The scrubbing of the floors, the ironing of the cloths, anything that she could do that other nuns wouldn\u2019t want to do, you know. They would be like \u201cUgh, do I have to do that? Ugh, do I have to do that?\u201d Well, she would seek those jobs out, and that was one way she would choose joy, and she would offer that time back up to the Lord by doing this holy work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ways to Choose Joy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So that\u2019s the first thing for choosing joy. Choose the lowly of the low. If you\u2019re a mom at home with little ones, you\u2019re sleep-deprived, you may feel overwhelmed, you may be in a situation where finances are extremely limited. So everything falls to you to do. The meal planning, the house cleaning, the laundry doing, the errand running, all of it lands on your shoulders. So, seek little ways within that vocation to choose joy. For myself it\u2019s cleaning the bathroom. I grew up with 6 brothers. I detest, I really do detest housework. I\u2019m not a fan of it. But I have learned that by choosing to joyfully do this task with a smile on my face which, let me tell you, is sometimes difficult, I honor God. I lift that up to the Lord. I love Him through the task of scrubbing the toilet. The lowest and lowly of them all. I choose joy in that moment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing that I do is I don\u2019t like doing the dishes \u2013 see, housework\u2019s not my thing \u2013 I don\u2019t like doing the dishes. My husband and I made a deal when we first got married: I would cook, he would do the dishes. Well, that has continued throughout 28 years of marriage, that was a good deal to make, but every once in a while I will, in love of him, you know, \u201cYou go sit down and read your book, you go do this. I know this was the deal we made, and you\u2019ve honored it, and it\u2019s great. I\u2019m going to take on the pan that, you know, burned something on the bottom of. I\u2019m going to choose joy and offer up that time for our Lord, and for you. So I choose joy in this.\u201d And I\u2019ll go and I\u2019ll do it. Another choosing joy in the moment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, St. Therese would do the same to regards to of other people and their estimation of her. So, she had&#8230; there was a nun in her convent who used to kind of say \u201cOh, well St. Therese is so pious. She\u2019s so pious.\u201d Kind of gossip. They would talk to each other and gossip about St. Therese, and St. Therese would hear this, and she wouldn\u2019t immediately go and defend herself. She would just say \u201cLord, I offer this humiliation, this moment of lowliness up to You.\u201d You know. \u201cI offer it in love.\u201d And she would smile. And what\u2019s so interesting about that is she would drive the other nuns nuts, because she was always smiling, and she was always filled with such joy, this joy of a little child. She wouldn\u2019t let other people\u2019s opinions or gossip affect her, because she would bring it before the Lord as a small child, and she would choose to love Him with joy through that humiliation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that\u2019s another thing I have learned to do. In this world of social media and an online presence and all of these things, you don\u2019t always hear the most kind things about yourself. And so in those moments, I try very hard to take a deep breath and to smile and say \u201cLord, I offer this to You as a small child.\u201d You know. \u201cThis person said I wasn\u2019t nice. This person said that they thought I was, you know, a Holy Hannah, or hoity-toity, or arrogant, or misinformed, or whatever.\u201d I try very hard to do what St. Therese did and choose joy. I don\u2019t go and I don\u2019t defend, I just smile and pray for that person and choose joy. Not always easy, but it does bring an incredible peace to my life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">St. Gianna Molla<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the saints that really followed this, St. Therese\u2019s little way, she really embraced this, was St. Gianna Molla, who was a physician in Italy in the 1940s, 50s I think. And she says this: \u201cThe secret to happiness is to live moment by moment, and to thank God for what He is sending us every day in His goodness.\u201d \u201cTo live life moment by moment, and to thank God every day for whatever He is sending us.\u201d That\u2019s St. Gianna Beretta Molla. St. Therese did this, and this is how we choose joy. We choose to take these difficulties, take the good things and the bad things, and choose joy, and smile, and offer up whatever hardship might be in our heart over them, or whatever little humiliations might come, or whatever it is that\u2019s landing on us from other people\u2019s issues they may have, and we offer it back up to our Lord with joy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">So, I entreat you, I encourage you this <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/engaging-season-struggle-spirit-joy\/\">Lent to choose joy<\/a> in all those little moments throughout your day. In traffic when somebody cuts you off, in school when somebody says something not so nice, in church when you might be hearing gossip, wherever it is in your world, to smile and to choose joy in those moments as St. Therese of the little flower did. She suffered greatly in her life. She died at the age of 24 of Tuberculosis, and that was a tremendous physical suffering upon her. And what was interesting was that nun she always had such difficulties with, like they never saw eye-to-eye, but Therese would treat her with such respect and with such love, and would never fight against her. That nun was the nun who served her in her final days. She was the one that wouldn\u2019t leave her side, and cared for her, because Therese had chose to love. And so this other nun chose to respond in Therese\u2019s hour of need with love. Therese chose to give her life as a gift of joy to God, and so by choosing these little ways, these little mortifications throughout her day back as a gift. It was her path to holiness to come before the Lord as a small child, and it is a path to holiness that all of us can reach. It\u2019s a wonderful example to all of us. It\u2019s not a big, lofty goal. She just loved, and she chose joy. We can do that. We can do that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It puts holiness&#8230; her life puts holiness in reach of the ordinary person like myself, who always is looking at God going \u201cI\u2019m not that holy. I just can\u2019t do this. I\u2019ve sinned again. I\u2019ve got to go to confession.\u201d Okay, God knows all of that. But if we choose to live moment to moment, we choose to offer with joy moment to moment, then God honors that. If we choose the light and the love over the pettiness and the greed, then we choose God. If we choose to not allow the negative to consume us, then we choose God. And that\u2019s what Lent is all about, choosing God.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that\u2019s just a little lesson on how to choose joy in your daily life following The Little Way by St. Therese. John Paul The Great, St. John Paul The Great followed this way. Obviously St. Gianna Beretta Molla followed this way, St. Josemaria Escriva followed this way. Many modern saints followed the way of St. Therese. Choosing joy in the little mortifications, offering them up as a gift to our Lord like a small child that dandelion flower. So let us strive to do that this Lent. Let us strive to take all of those little mortifications, all of those moments where we could choose to curse at someone. Choose instead to bless them. We could choose to defend. Choose instead to take the offense on God\u2019s behalf.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s pray the prayer that Jesus taught us, shall we?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Closing Prayer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, amen. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Choose joy my friends. It will bring you much peace.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">About Mary Lenaburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:21% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"382\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/mary-l-headshot-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1269 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/mary-l-headshot-1.png 310w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/mary-l-headshot-1-243x300.png 243w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/speaker-mary-lenaburg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mary Lenaburg<\/a><\/strong> is a writer, speaker, wife and mother sharing her witness and testimony about God\u2019s Redeeming love. After suffering a miscarriage, she gave birth to her son Jonathan in 1989. After another miscarriage, her daughter Courtney arrived August 1992. On September 27, 1992, while being baptized, Courtney had the first of many grand-mal seizures. Going from the church to the emergency room, Mary\u2019s world changed forever. For the next twenty-two years Mary and her family took a spiritual journey that led them to Lourdes, France, numerous hospitals and specialists with their daughter and finally to home-based hospice. Courtney took her last breath this side of heaven on December 27, 2014, the feast of St. John the Beloved, while in her mother\u2019s arms. She is now her parents and big brothers most powerful intercessor. Mary lives in Northern Virginia with her husband of 28 years and her grown son. She continues to embrace her father\u2019s advice: Never quit, never give up, never lose your faith. It\u2019s the one reason you walk this earth. For God just this time and place just for you, so make the most of it. Mary can be found on-line at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marylenaburg.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.marylenaburg.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/choose-joy.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/choose-joy.png 800w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/choose-joy-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/choose-joy-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/choose-joy-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"701\" height=\"316\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Pray-More-Lenten-Retreat-Image-without-many-words-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1544\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Pray-More-Lenten-Retreat-Image-without-many-words-1.png 701w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Pray-More-Lenten-Retreat-Image-without-many-words-1-300x135.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary Mary discusses the life of St. Therese of Lisieux who always chose the difficult things to offer up to God. Mary encourages us to do the same and choose joy during the small things that we find difficult in life by offering it up to the Lord.&nbsp; Thank you for watching and participating in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1588,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"plain-container","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Choose Joy - Lent 2017 - The Pray More Retreat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/choose-joy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choose Joy - Lent 2017 - The Pray More Retreat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Summary Mary discusses the life of St. Therese of Lisieux who always chose the difficult things to offer up to God. 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