Prayer

Prayer is communication. It is a response to the very breathing life of our Creator at the innermost part of our being. From the center, God is always present and calling us to respond as we live each day. Prayer are those moments when we acknowledge the "God-centeredness" of our being and begin to reach out in response to love. In those moments we reach into sacred space and connect with the living God. These moments can be intimate and personal or open and public.

For an online experience check out Sacred Space - here you will be guided in an interactive sacred moment. Take your time and be still.

Below also are some methods for connecting with the Sacred. These methods are ancient and are steeped in Christian tradition. Have a go...
Daily Scriptures

Centering Prayer

Ignatian Prayer
    
Lectio Divina
    
          

     Centering Prayer     

 

 

     
Centering prayer is a method of prayer designed to develop contemplative prayer. Contemplation is not meant to replace other forms of prayer. However, it can bring a new perspective to the other methods of prayer. Centering prayer gives you a fresh sensitivity to God's presence everywhere, all of the time.

God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - lives in the center of your being. Centering prayer allows you to experience God's presence now, to be touched by the Lord where you need it the most, and to be transformed in your inner being by the God who loves you.

Where to begin ...

1.   Sit quietly and relax. Enjoy your own inner silence. Be calm. God lives in the midst of your silence. Listen to whatever God wants to share with you. Take pleasure in God's presence and open your heart, allowing yourself to be touched by God in the deepest part of your being.

2.  Respond to God's presence with an act of faith. Do not allow your thoughts or feelings to get in the way. When thoughts come into your mind, gently let go of them and focus on a single word, such as – “Jesus," "Lord," "Love” - or a phrase that is meaningful to you, such as - "Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me"; "Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world." This sacred word or phrase is a symbol of your intention to allow God's presence and action within you.

3.   Put your faith and love into the word or phrase. Whisper it softly. Repeat it slowly and effortlessly, letting it lead you more deeply within your being. God is in you and you are in God. Surrender to God's refreshment and re-creation.

4.   Center your attention and desire on God. Leave your thoughts and feelings peacefully. Let Jesus draw you into His perfect prayer of adoration, love, and praise. Let it happen. Don't try to force it, simply go with God's leading. Whenever you become aware of any distracting thoughts or images, gently return to your word or phrase.

5.   When you end this prayer time, move slowly to a silent awareness of God and then move to a conscious prayer such as The Lord's Prayer. Say it slowly. Savor the words. Listen to their meaning and make them your own.

6.   Centering prayer may be used once or twice daily for 20 minutes. If you are faithful to pray, you will soon experience the fruits of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. You will abide in God and God in you.

    
     How to: Ignatian prayer – spiritual exercises (Ignatius of Loyola)    
     
It contains one preparatory prayer and two preludes, three chief points and one colloquy.

The preparatory prayer
The preparatory prayer is to ask grace of God our Lord that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed purely to the service and praise of His Divine Majesty.

Please formulate you own prayer, which you will use than all the time as your personal preparatory prayer as a first little exercise.

First Prelude
The first prelude is a composition, seeing the place. Here it is to be noted that, in a visible contemplation or meditation-as, for instance, when one contemplates Christ our Lord, Who is visible- the composition will be to see with the sight of the imagination the corporeal place where the thing is found which I want to contemplate.

The composition of an Ignatian Prayer is like a classical drama or a film. The first step is to prepare the stage design or the set, depending on your text.

Second Prelude
The second is to ask God our Lord for what I want and desire. the petition has to be according to the subject matter; that is, if the contemplation is on the Resurrection, one is to ask for joy with Christ in joy; if it is on the Passion, he is to ask for pain, tears, and torment with Christ in torment.

You are going into a dialogue with God, with Jesus. What do you really want from Jesus or God in this time of prayer?

To look, mark, and contemplate what they are saying, and, reflecting on myself, to draw some profit.

This is the second step into the drama - you are already on the stage or set - now you are focusing who is on the stage or set and what they say.

To look and consider what they are doing, such as going on a journey and laboring, that the Lord may be born in the greatest poverty, and all this for me: then reflection, to draw some spiritual profit.

This is the final step into the drama, the dialogues are followed by action. Which role are you playing?

Colloquy
At the end a colloquy is to be made, thinking what I ought to say to the three Divine Persons, or to the Eternal Word incarnate, or to our Mother and Lady, asking according to what I feel in me, in order more to follow and imitate our Lord, so lately incarnate.

I will say an Our Father.

Every exercise ends with a colloquy. Please look back to the hour or time of praying and formulate what is in your heart, as you would talk to a very close friend. Either you are speaking as Ignatius suggested, to Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Jesus or Mary or you can speak to a person who was on the stage or set. Please finish with an Our Father.

Reflection afterwards

After the exercise or time of prayer Ignatius proposes a short reflection (15 minutes). Please look back and think about it. What happened in the time of prayer? What are the good "things" or the disturbing things in the prayer? If you like you can make notes in your personal spiritual diary (write it only for yourself - if you have a person in mind who might read it - it will change your writing). Finally Ignatius' Annotation at the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises gives you an overview of the meaning of "Spiritual Exercises".

The first annotation is that by this name of Spiritual Exercises is meant every way of examining one's conscience, of meditation, of contemplating, of praying vocally and mentally, and of performing other spiritual actions, as will be said later. For as strolling,

walking, and running are bodily exercises, so every way of preparing and disposing the soul to rid itself of all the disordered tendencies, and, after it is read to see and find the Divine Will as to the management of one's life for the salvation of the soul, is called a spiritual exercise. [...]

For it is not knowing much, but realizing and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul.

Stop at any time in your prayer if your heart is moved by God's grace and it is fruitful for you. Sometimes it could be even at a point of your preparatory prayer.

A translation and contemporary reading by David L. Fleming, S.J. Draw Me Into Your Friendship. Saint Louis 1996.

    
          
     Lectio Divina    
     Turn to the text and read it slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the "still, small voice" of a word or phrase that somehow says, "I am for you today." Do not expect lightning or ecstasies. In lectio divina, God is teaching us to listen to him, to seek him in silence. He does not reach out and grab us; rather, he gently invites us ever more deeply into his presence.

Take the word or phrase into yourself. Memorise it and slowly repeat it to yourself, allowing it to interact with your inner world of concerns, memories, and ideas. Do not be afraid of distractions. Memories or thoughts are simply parts of yourself that, when they rise up during lectio divina, are asking to be given to God along with the rest of your inner self. Allow this inner pondering, this rumination, to invite you into dialogue with God.

Speak to God. Whether you use words, ideas, or images--or all three--is not important. Interact with God as you would with one who you know loves and accepts you. And give to him what you have discovered during your experience of meditation. Experience God by using the word or phrase he has given you as a means of blessing and of transforming the ideas and memories that your reflection on his word has awakened. Give to God what you have found within your heart.

Rest in God's embrace. And when he invites you to return to your contemplation of his word or to your inner dialogue with him, do so. Learn to use words when words are helpful, and to let go of words when they no longer are necessary. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity.