Contemplative Prayer Ministry

The Contemplative Prayer Ministry invites you to participate in the 2022 Listen and Color meditations each day of the week – The following Audio-Retreats will be presented beginning January 24 through Lent. Each session is 40 minutes. We listen and color… or knit… or doodle… or just listen. We have fun and grow wise together! No discussion… no preparation… no final exams.

The following audio-retreat is offered on Mondays – The format is: about 35 minutes of listening to wonderful presenters… 5-10 minutes to “ponder”, and then a closing prayer. Either join with consistency or randomly. All are welcome!

VESTIBULE TO ADVENT

Trees mimic the burning bush with lavish color. Autumn leaves linger, then fall with their messages of limitation. Fireplaces become thuribles, incensing our homes with the dark fragrance of presence. Then on December 1, Advent begins with Luke telling us in the gospel that “people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world”. So let’s prepare our hearts for this by participating in any of the contemplative opportunities offered by the Contemplative Prayer Ministry:

Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday

  • 9:00 AM – Whole Body Mystical Awareness Meditation – We invite Divine Presence into each of the four energy centers of our body: Head, Heart, Gut and Feet. The result is a felt presence of Jesus the Risen Christ. If you struggle with Centering pray, this may be more accessible for you.
  • 12:00 PM – Centering Prayer / Lectio Divina from The Christian Meditation Group In The Thomas Keating Chapel – The Meditation Chapel.org offers an online space 24/7 for every human being to be transformed through divine stillness, sacred sharing and holy listening – 30 minutes of Centering prayer and 30 minutes of Lectio Divina.
  • 1:00 PM – 30 minutes of Centering Prayer hosted by Kathleen Johnson Flanagan – The simplicity of Centering Prayer is staggering! We simply allow thoughts to pass by like clouds in the sky. Often they cleanse toxic residue from the unconscious. This Divine Therapy is transformative… and cheaper than human therapy!
  • 6:30 PM – Thirty minutes of Centering Prayer as a preparation for our video teachings of Rohr Finley, Bourgeault and Delio at 7:00 PM.

Please request an invite at cpm.sgfmc@gmail.com – The zoom link will be sent to you.Contemplative Prayer Ministry

  • On Mondays starting on December 5 through December 19 – 7 pm
    Gospel Food for Hungry Christians: John – Bible Study with Jack Shea
    CLICK FOR ZOOM MEETING
    Meeting ID: 838 8640 5892 – Passcode: 366497
  • On Tuesdays starting on December 6 through December 20 – 7 pm
    Gospel Food for Hungry Christians: Matthew – Bible Study with Jack Shea
    CLICK FOR ZOOM MEETING
    Meeting ID: 892 0475 5756 – Passcode: 923035
  • On Thursdays starting on December 8 through January 19 – 7 pm
    Gospel Spirituality
    CLICK FOR ZOOM MEETING
    Meeting ID: 820 6734 7013 – Passcode: 813059

Please request an invite at cpm.sgfmc@gmail.com – The zoom link will be sent to you.Contemplative Prayer Ministry

The Contemplative Prayer Ministry offers opportunities to listen together to Audiobooks and Workshops while Coloring, Crocheting, Cooking, or even Catnapping. The following is a menu of wonderful opportunities to deepen a contemplative lifestyle. There are no dates; however, when two or three desire to gather together a convenient date can be scheduled to listen together. The listening lasts 40 minutes usually without discussion. If you would like to listen to these contemplative materials on your own, the Contemplative Prayer Ministry will deliver them to you.

  • DIVINE AMBUSH – Richard Rohr and James Finley explore intimacy through the poetry and commentaries of John of the Cross and the experiences and writings of Julian of Norwich.
  • THE ENNEAGRAM: NINE GATEWAYS TO PRESENCE – With Russ Hudson, we will explore the full scope of the enneagram to illuminate our greatest wisdom , become our truest self, and face life’s challenges with fortitude and grace.
  • PATH TO THE PALACE OF NOWHERE – Essential guide to the contemplative teachings of Thomas Merton.
  • WILD MERCY: LIVING THE FIERCE AND TENDER WISDOM OF THE WOMEN MYSTICS – Mirabai Starr shares the subversive wisdom and fierce compassion of the feminine mystic across cultural boundaries and throughout history.
  • RADICAL PRAYER – Matthew Fox teaches about using the power of prayer to change our world. He covers what prayer is and why it works, recovering the sacred masculine and feminine, exploring the dark night of the soul and deep ecumenism lessons from history’s great mystics in every tradition.
  • WISDOM JESUS: TRANSFORMING HEART AND MIND – A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON CHRIST AND HIS MESSAGE – Cynthia Bourgeault presents a side of Jesus you have been longing to hear.
  • UNIVERSAL CHRIST – Drawing on scripture, history and spiritual practice, Richard Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world.
  • NEW GREAT THEMES OF SCRIPTURE – Richard Rohr shows how Scripture always reveals that we are related to something infinite and that ours is an enchanted and trustworthy universe. Rohr suggests that God is different than we thought and much better than we feared. In fact, God cannot be fully grasped by thought and must not be approached in servile fear. God is present in our midst and is calling forth a people and a consciousness that is capable of divine union.
  • GREAT THEMES OF PAUL: LIFE AS PARTICIPATION – Richard Rohr presents Paul’s all-embracing vision and invites us to enter into the mystery of Christ and be transformed.
  • GOSPEL SPIRITUALITY: AND AUDIO RETREAT ON THE GOSPELS – Jack Shea, theologian and storyteller explores the spirituality of Jesus himself. Shea shows that Jesus’s words and actions were aimed at teaching us two things: how to let go of our sins and how to overcome our fear. Once we do that, we can enter more fully into the “Eucharistic spirituality” of Jesus, which is one of constant receiving and giving of Love.”

Centering Prayer

What is Centering Prayer? – Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God’s presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. As the Contemplative Prayer Ministry, we embrace the process of transformation in Christ and in others through the practice of Centering Prayer.

Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. Rather, it adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active modes of prayer – verbal, mental or affective prayer – into a receptive prayer of resting in God. Centering Prayer emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God and as a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Him.

  • INTRODUCTION TO CENTERING PRAYER – Just 14 minutes a day for ten days to absorb the transformative wisdom of Centering prayer, taught by Maria Gullo, a gifted spiritual director.
  • Times for Centering prayer or Christian Meditation – 8:30 AM, 1 PM and 6 PM Monday through Friday.
  • Sundays we read Jack Shea’s commentary on the Sunday gospel and then sit in Silence from 9:30 to 9:50 AM.
  • Each weekday we read the Daily Meditation from Richard Rohr twice and then choose a sentence that the Spirit draws us to.

Books We Plan to Read Out Loud Together

  • EVERYTHING ABLAZE: MEDITATING ON THE MYSTICAL VISION OF TEILHARD DE CHARDIN – “David Richo describes Teilhard’s spirituality in clear distinct prose. He highlights the world of Teilhard’s expansive ideas on the dynamism of spirituality, illuminating the life of the spirit as an evolution in love. Everything Ablaze provides a wonderful introduction to the thought of Teilhard de Chardin.” – Ilia Delio
  • ECOLOGY AT THE HEART OF FAITH: THE CHANGE OF HEART THAT LEADS TO A NEW WAY OF LIVING ON EARTH – The theme of this Australian theologian, Denis Edwards is that “the heart of faith is an ecological communion that holds together and grows in love toward the fullness of life imaged in the Resurrection of Jesus.”

Questions?

For additional information, contact John Hynes at jhynes1124@gmail.com.