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Pray
constantly...always and for everything giving
thanks in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ to
God the Father."
-- 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 5:20
The
Catholic Parishes in Waterloo Present
Our 2012 Lenten Enrichment Series
“Pray
All-Ways”
Monday evenings, February
27, March 5, 19, 26.
6:30-8:15pm •
Church Hall (church
basement)
St. Edward Parish, Waterloo
No registration
•
No charge
“The
living tradition of prayer, each Church proposes to its
faithful, according to its historic, social, and cultural
context, a language for prayer: words, melodies, gestures,
iconography.... [I]t is for pastors and catechists
to explain their meaning, always in relation to Jesus Christ.”
-- Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2663.
Our four-part
Lenten series is designed for any adult or young adult who
wants to expand or enrich their appreciation for different types and
forms of praying. Each week in the series we will explain
or experience three types of prayer, some traditional and some
more contemporary. Some of these prayer forms may be
familiar, others may not. This is an excellent opportunity
for individuals, couples and small groups to enrich their
personal or group prayer and expand their appreciation for the
Church's rich tradition of personal and communal prayer.
Schedule of
Topics and Presenters
Monday, February 27
Praying with Color - Barb
Duggan
Praying with Music - Fr. Jerry Kopacek
Praying Our Life Experiences - Hazel Martin
Monday, March 5
Praying with a Journal -
Diane Flaherty
Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet - Gloria Eft
Praying with Images - Amy Hoyer
Monday, March 19
Centering Prayer - Juli
Rowell
Charismatic Prayer - Ken and Sharon Even
Stations of the Cross - Bev Byford
Monday, March 26
Praying Traditional Prayers
- William Brandle
Praying the Daily Examen - Dave Cushing
Praying the Labyrinth - Sr. Marj English OSF
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Reflections on
Prayer
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
In the Name of Jesus
The prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the
celebration of the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord
Jesus. Even though her prayer is addressed above all to the
Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions forms of
prayer addressed to Christ. Certain psalms, given their use in
the Prayer of the Church, and the New Testament place on our
lips and engrave in our hearts prayer to Christ in the form of
invocations: Son of God, Word of God, Lord, Savior, Lamb of God,
King, Beloved Son, Son of the Virgin, Good Shepherd, our Life,
our Light, our Hope, our Resurrection, Friend of mankind. . . .
(2665)
There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ. Whether
our prayer is communal or personal, vocal or interior, it has
access to the Father only if we pray "in the name" of Jesus. The
sacred humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy
Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father. (2664)
Times of Christian Prayer
We learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the Word of the
Lord and sharing in his Paschal mystery, but his Spirit is
offered us at all times, in the events of each day, to
make prayer spring up from us. Jesus' teaching about praying to
our Father is in the same vein as his teaching about providence:
time is in the Father's hands; it is in the present that we
encounter him, not yesterday nor tomorrow, but today: "O that
today you would hearken to his voice! Harden not your
hearts." (2659)
Prayer cannot be reduced to the spontaneous outpouring of
interior impulse: in order to pray, one must have the will to
pray. Nor is it enough to know what the Scriptures reveal about
prayer: one must also learn how to pray. Through a living
transmission (Sacred Tradition) within "the believing and
praying Church," the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God how
to pray. (2650)
Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at
every moment. But we tend to forget him who is our life and our
all. This is why the Fathers of the spiritual life in the
Deuteronomic and prophetic traditions insist that prayer is a
remembrance of God often awakened by the memory of the heart "We
must remember God more often than we draw breath." But we cannot
pray "at all times" if we do not pray at specific times,
consciously willing it These are the special times of Christian
prayer, both in intensity and duration. (2697)
The Tradition of the Church proposes to the faithful certain
rhythms of praying intended to nourish continual prayer. Some
are daily, such as morning and evening prayer, grace before and
after meals, the Liturgy of the Hours. Sundays, centered on the
Eucharist, are kept holy primarily by prayer. The cycle of the
liturgical year and its great feasts are also basic rhythms of
the Christian's life of prayer. (2698)
Types of Christian Prayer
The Holy Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls to her all
that Jesus said also instructs her in the life of prayer,
inspiring new expressions of the same basic forms of prayer:
blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise.
(2644)
The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom,
especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in
the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives,
the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today.
(2683)
In
the communion of saints, many and varied spiritualities
have been developed throughout the history of the churches. The
personal charism of some witnesses to God's love for men has
been handed on, like "the spirit" of Elijah to Elisha and John
the Baptist, so that their followers may have a share in this
spirit. A distinct spirituality can also arise at the point of
convergence of liturgical and theological currents, bearing
witness to the integration of the faith into a particular human
environment and its history. The different schools of Christian
spirituality share in the living tradition of prayer and are
essential guides for the faithful. In their rich diversity they
are refractions of the one pure light of the Holy Spirit.(2684)
The Christian tradition comprises three major expressions of the
life of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplative
prayer. They have in common the recollection of the heart.
(2721)
•
Vocal prayer, founded on the union of body and soul in human
nature, associates the body with the interior prayer of the
heart, following Christ's example of praying to his Father and
teaching the Our Father to his disciples. (2722)
•
Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination,
emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the
subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our
own life. (2723)
•
Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of
prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness
to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with
the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his
mystery. (2724)
Prayer and
Christian Life
Prayer and Christian life are inseparable, for
they concern the same love and the same renunciation, proceeding
from love; the same filial and loving conformity with the
Father's plan of love; the same transforming union in the Holy
Spirit who conforms us more and more to Christ Jesus; the same
love for all men, the love with which Jesus has loved us.
"Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he [will] give it to
you. This I command you, to love one another." (2745)
He
"prays without ceasing" who unites prayer to works and good
works to prayer. Only in this way can we consider as realizable
the principle of praying without ceasing. (2745)
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Online
Resources on Prayer
Art and Prayer
The Art of Prayer (America)
Contemplative Prayer
Centering Prayer
"A Contemplative Prayer Journey with Jesus" Armand Nigro SJ
(Scripture from Scratch)
"Getting Started with Meditation" Ariane de Bonvoisin and Arjuna
Ardaugh
(Beliefnet)
Examen
"Examen of Consciousness--Finding God in All Things" Phyllis
Zagano
(Catholic Update)
Lectio
"Lectio Divina" Daniel Harrington
(America)
"Praying with Lenten Scripture Day by Day" Christopher Bellito
(Catholic Update)
"Praying the Our Father with the Pope" Pope Benedict XVI
(Catholic Update)
Review of the Day
(Jesuit Media Initiatives)
Labyrinth Prayer
"The
Labyrinth"
Virtual Labyrinth
Liturgy of the Hours
Daily
Divine Office readings
(Universalis)
The Divine Hours
(ExploreFaith.org)
Prayer Journal
Ways of
Keeping a Prayer Journal
(Deeper Devotion)
Prayer Journal Workshop
Rosary
"The Rosary of the Virgin Mary" Pope John Paul II
(Catholic Update)
"The Rosary--A Gospel Prayer" Thomas A. Thompson and Jack Wintz
(Catholic Update)
Virtual Rosary
Taize Prayer
The Taize
Community
Daily Taize
Meditation
Twelve Steps
"Spiritual Wisdom from the 12 Steps"
(U.S. Catholic)
_______________________
More Prayer Resources and Local
Opportunities
Click
here
to check our links
Click here for our guide to public
prayer and devotions
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Posted 02.02.09 •
Last Update: 02.01.12
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