lv orientation 7 09
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Praying Our Experiences
Lasallian Volunteer Orientation
August 28, 2009
![Page 2: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Prayer = raising what’s on our minds
and in our hearts
to God
![Page 3: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Thomas Merton on Prayer:
In prayer we come to know ourselves
as we are in the hands of God
![Page 4: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Model: Mary pondered these things
in her heart…..
![Page 5: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Assumptions:
• God is already in our life• We are in God; in God we live & move & have our being• God’s word comes to us
- Scripture- Jesus- Creation (our own history)
![Page 6: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
We pray our experiences when we
use the content of our lived
existence as the content
of our prayer
![Page 7: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Praying our experiences means being open
to seeing ourselves as we are & to
seeing our personal history – as it
is known to the Lord
![Page 8: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Distinction:
• Knowing / knowing about• Praying / praying about
We pray our experiences/history not in order to change but to DISCOVER; to REVISIT our experiences.
![Page 9: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Fact vs. Issue (in my life, pushes my buttons)
• baggage• emotional content (out of proportion)• it’s in the way
Necessary: stabilize the emotional content / revisit the issue so that it becomes a fact.
![Page 10: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Types of questions when dealing with issues:
What question = factWhy question = motive, judgmental, negative, condemnation
ASK: “What” questions, not “Why” (we often don’t know why)
![Page 11: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
God is facilitating this process of discovery within us;
half of our struggle is denial.
![Page 12: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
God is facilitating this process of discovery within us; half of our struggle is denial.
![Page 13: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
The goal of the spiritual life is not achieving virtue, as
traditionally presented. It is, rather, the Discovery –
Dialogue – Doing, the true work of our salvation.
![Page 14: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
The aim of prayer is to come to know
God through the realization that our
very being is penetrated with
God’s knowledge & love for us
- Thomas Merton
![Page 15: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
To touch the hearts of your students
is the greatest miracle you can perform
& one which God expects of you
- De La Salle
![Page 16: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
You must constantly represent the needs of
your students to Jesus Christ, explaining to him
the difficulties you experience in guiding them.
- De La Salle
![Page 17: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Examine before God how you are acting in your ministry
& whether you are failing in any of your responsibilities.
Come to know yourself just as you are. Find fault with
yourself accurately, unsparingly….. - De La Salle
![Page 18: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
The spiritual life is not passive;
it is very active
![Page 19: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Pray the way you can,
not the way you can’t
(be open to other possibilities)
![Page 20: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
How do the saints report back that they spend their time in prayer?
![Page 21: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Saints report back…1. Reflective prayer (intellect), meditation – the thinkers
Focus: i) Sacred Scripture; ii) Life
St. Ignatius: contemplation = thinking & imagining St. Theresa: going inside our interior castle St. Benedict: lexio divino
![Page 22: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Saints report back…2. Affective prayer (will) – the heart people - Comes out of longing (willingness) of the heart - The Jesus Prayer - Mantras - The Rosary (touch = incarnational)
![Page 23: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Saints report back…..Saints report back…..
3. Contemplative prayer - To be present to God & ourselves as we are - Centering prayer - De La Salle’s “simple attention”
![Page 24: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Mother Theresa was afflicted with feelings of abandonment by God from the very start of her work among the homeless children & dying persons in Calcutta’s slums. From all available evidence, this experience persisted until her death five decades later, except for a brief interlude in 1958.
![Page 25: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
From Mother Theresa…..
I am told God lives in me – and yet the
reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is
so great that nothing touches my soul.
![Page 26: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
From Mother Theresa…..
I want God with all the power of my soul – and yet
between us there is terrible separation…..
Heaven from every side is closed.
![Page 27: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
From Mother Theresa…..
I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.
![Page 28: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
In our brokenness
we come to know
God’s acceptance & love
![Page 29: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Pray the way you can,
not the way you can’t
(be open to other possibilities)
![Page 30: Lv Orientation 7 09](https://reader037.vdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110120/55845944d8b42a7f1d8b473b/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)