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WE OFFER YOU THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES ON THIS WEBSITE FOR YOUR COMMUNAL PRAYER . IT IS FOR MEMBERS OF A CLC OR OTHER STORY GROUP. SHARE YOUR PRAYER WITH ONE ANOTHER, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A GROUP GUIDE. IT ALL STARTS WITH. STORY.
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WE OFFER YOU THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES ON THIS WEBSITE FOR YOUR COMMUNAL PRAYER. • IT IS FOR MEMBERS OF A CLC OR OTHER STORY GROUP. • SHARE YOUR PRAYER WITH ONE ANOTHER, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A GROUP GUIDE.
IT ALL STARTS WITH STORY
We all carry in our heads a model of reality put there by tradition, training, custom and prejudice. • When the events of life….conform to this model we are at peace and when they don’t…we feel upset. • Thus what upsets us is not…those events but the model we carry… • This model is arbitrary and accidental. Realize that and you will not feel upset anymore at anything. Anthony de Mello SJ
WHERE DO I HEAR THE STORIES? Wherever we meet in groups
From where do our stories come? From our experience of living, as creatures, in networks of relationship.
We tell stories because of our experience of MYSTERY
In contemplating our stories we enter the mystery This is the use of the ACTIVE IMAGINATION, in IGNATIAN spirituality. through IMAGES
“It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for Truth in which alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to Truth is one of hostility and fear. • So the Spiritual Teachers of humanity, like Buddha and Jesus, created a device to circumvent the opposition of their listeners: the story.” Anthony de Mello SJ The Prayer of the Frog
“They knew that the most entrancing words a language holds are, ‘Once upon a time…’, that it is common to oppose a truth but impossible to resist a story. • Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata, says that if you listen carefully to a story you will never be the same again. That is because the story will worm its way into your heart and break down barriers to the divine.” Anthony de Mello SJ The Prayer of the Frog
HUMANS USE STORIES TO PROCLAIM THE TRUTH, AND PUT US IN TOUCH WITH THE WISDOM OF THE ELDERS. • THIS IS ESPECIALLY SO WITH THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE EARTH.
ARTIST: NORVAL MORRISEAU TITLE: TELLING THE STORIES
THE MOST ANCIENT AND UNIVERSAL OF SACRED STORIES IS THAT EARTH AND EVERY CREATURE AND ECOSYSTEM IS HOLY. • TO IMITATE CHRIST TODAY IS TO BRING TO CONSCIOUS KNOWING THIS SACRED STORY.,
WHEN THE SACRED STORIES OF A COMMUNITY ARE READ OR HEARD, THE LISTENER ENTERS INTO THE COMMUNAL MEMORY OF THE ANCESTORS AND WE ARE PRESENT TO THE STORY. • THIS IS THE BASIS FOR IGNATIAN CONTEMPLATION ON THE SCRIPTURES.
THESE ANNOTATION 18 EXERCISES ARE MEANT TO FOSTER A SENSE THAT EARTH AND EARTH’S WATERS ARE SACRED.
THESE EXERCISES ARE MEANT TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE DEEP MYSTERY OF LIFE, AN EXPERIENCE OF THE TRANSCENDENT.
THERE ARE SEVERAL FORMS OF IGNATIAN PRAYER. • EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE, • MEDITATION, • CONTEMPLATION, • APPLICATION OF THE SENSES, • CONSIDERATION.
ONE OF THE SECRETS OF PERSONAL PRAYER IS TO FOLLOW THE LEAD OF THE SPIRIT ON WHEN AND HOW TO PRAY. • FOCUS ON WHAT DEEPLY AFFECTS YOU.
AFTER PRAYER: • REFLECT ON YOUR EXPERIENCE, • SHARE THESE REFLECTIONS WITH YOUR COMMUNITY/STORY GROUP, • DISCERN YOUR ACTION. • THIS PROCESS MIRRORS THE DYNAMIC OF CONSCIOUS KNOWING DESCRIBED BY THE JESUIT PHILOSOPHER, BERNARD LONERGAN, S.J.
CONSCIOUS KNOWING INVOLVES • EXPERIENCING • REFLECTION ON YOUR EXPERIENCE, • JUDGING, • DECIDING.
USE LONERGAN’S TRANSCENDENTAL PRECEPTS DURING THESE WEEKS OF PRAYER. THEY ARE: BE ATTENTIVE, BE INTELLIGENT, BE REASONABLE, BE RESPONSIBLE, BE LOVING
THE GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC CULTURE RECOGNIZES MAINLY ONE FORM OF VALID KNOWLEDGE, WHICH IS PUBLIC AND OBJECTIVE.
YET OUR EXPERIENCE TELLS US THAT WE HAVE OTHER WAYS OF KNOWING WHICH ARE SUBJECTIVE, MORE INTEGRATIVE, ACQUIRED THROUGH AN INTERIOR LIFE AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. IN THIS KIND OF KNOWING, EVERYONE CAN BE AN EXPERT!
BY TAKING MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF LOVE FOR A TREE OR LAKE THROUGH LONERGAN’S INTENTIONAL STEPS TO KNOWING, I COME TO THE PROFOUND TRUTH THAT I AM IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THESE CREATURES AND ECOSYSTEMS. THUS, I COME TO KNOW THE TREE RATHER THAN KNOW ABOUT THE TREE.
IN THESE EXERCISES I USE • THE PRAYER OF A LISTENING HEART, • A REVIEW OF PRAYER, • MY JOURNAL, • REPETITION
IN THE PRAYER OF A LISTENING HEART I: • FIND A QUIET PLACE. • OFFER MY TIME OF PRAYER TO GOD. • ASK FOR THE GRACE OF THE EXERCISE I AM PRAYING. • READ THE SCRIPTURE/READING. • STAY WITH WHAT MOVES ME. • USE THE POINTS FOR REFLECTION AND CONSIDERATION. • PONDER IN MY HEART AS MARY DID. • HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH GOD, MARY OR ANY PERSONIN THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.
IN MY REVIEW OF PRAYER I RECALL • MY EXPERIENCES, NOT MY IDEAS. • WHAT IMPRESSED ME. • MY INTERIOR MOVEMENTS TOWARDS CONSOLATION, DESOLATION, FEAR, ANXIETY, JOY, ETC. • WHAT THE PRAYER SHOWED ME. • MY DISTRACTIONS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY WERE DEEP AND DISTURBING.
IN MY SPIRITUAL JOURNAL I RECORD • MY DAILY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES. • MY REFLECTIONS FROM MY REVIEW OF PRAYER. • MY REFLECTIONS FROM THE DAILY AWARENESS EXAMEN. • THE MOVEMENTS OF MY INTERIOR LIFE
IN REPETITION I • RETURN TO THOSE POINTS IN PRAYER WHERE I HAVE EXPERIENCED “GREATER CONSOLATION, DESOLATION OR GREATER SPIRITUAL APPRECIATION”. [SP. EX, # 62]. • BECOME MORE AWARE OF MY INTERIOR MOVEMENTS. • RESPECT GOD’S COMMUNICATION WITH ME. • EXPERIENCE MYSTERY MORE DEEPLY.
