“Love is shown more in deeds than in words…”
-St Ignatius
AIM:
To encourage participants to explore in prayer how they may be called to put the gospels into practice in their own personal and unique situations or callings.
OUR INTENTIONS:
Participants will …
-
learn how God is inviting each participant to put the Gospels messages into practice in their unique and specific situations – be it at home, at work or in society at large.
-
manage ways of taking our Spirituality and Christian beliefs into the work environment/ecosystem that we find ourselves living in.
-
explore individually and collectively if there are better ways in that we can practice our spirituality and if so, how can we implement these changes?
PROGRAMME:
Welcome and Stilling
Sharing Groups
Dr Theo Geyser: Spirituality in Practice
Individual Reflection/Prayer/Break
Sharing Groups
Closing Prayer/Music
Link: Music: Love each other – Graham Kendrick
SunflowersA Definition: Spirituality includes the various ways in which we live out our baptismal promise through prayer and action.
You may be the only Jesus some people ever see – Faith Gateway
Extract from Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved
A peaceful, joyful meal together belongs to the greatest moments of life. Don’t you think that our desire to eat together is an expression of our even deeper desire to be food for one another? Don’t we sometimes say: `That was a very nurturing conversation: that was a restoring time?´ I think our deepest human desire is to give ourselves to each other as a source of physical, emotional and spiritual growth. As the Beloved ones, our greatest fulfilment lies in becoming bread for the world. That is the most intimate expression of our desire to give ourselves to one another. Just as bread needs to be broken in order to be given, so, too, do our lives.
I discover more and more that the greatest gift I have to offer is my own joy of living; my own inner peace; my own silence and solitude, my own sense of well-being. When I ask myself, ´Who helps me most´? I must answer, ´The One who is willing to share his or her life with me.´ We may only have a few talents but we have many gifts. Our gifts are the many ways we express our humanity. They are part of who we are: friendship, kindness, patience, joy, peace, forgiveness, gentleness, love, peace, trust and many others. These are the gifts we have to offer to each other.
The fruitfulness of our little life, once we recognise and live it as the life of the Beloved, is beyond anything we ourselves can imagine. Imagine that in the centre of your heart, you trust that your smiles and handshakes, your embraces and kisses are only the early signs of a world-wide community of love and peace. Our lives as the Beloved bear fruit beyond our wildest imagining.
1 Corinthians 12 : 4 – 11
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, a and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Questions:
1. What are your God given gifts ?
2. How do you feel God wants you to use your particular gifts for the ‘common good’?
I want to unfold
“I want to unfold. I don’t want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie.
and I want my grasp of things to be true before you.
I want to describe myself like a painting that I looked at closely for a long time,
like a saying that I finally understood,
like a ship that carried me through the wildest storm of all.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems
Love Each Other (All the Room Was Hushed and Still)
Graham Kendrick
All the room was hushed and still
And when the bowl was filled
He stooped to wash their feet
And when it was complete, he said
This is what I’m asking you to do
This is why I’m kneeling here beside you
This is what I want my church to be
This is what I want the world to see
Who it is you follow
Love each other
One another Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
Walk together
And whatever comes
Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
Love each other
Let the room be hushed and still
Let us go to where he kneels
And join him as he serves
And learn his ways of love, he said
This is what I’m asking you to do
This is why I’m kneeling here beside you
This is what I want my church to be
This is what I want the world to see
Who it is you follow
Love each other
One another
Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
Walk together
And whatever comes
Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
Love each other
One another
Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
Walk together
And whatever comes
Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
(I have loved you)
(So love each other)
(In the way that I have, have loved you)
-
Complete any unfinished parts of what we did in the session.
-
Use any of the material above and below that speaks to you and enter into a discussion with God on what has touched your heart.
-
In prayer, discuss with God where and how you are called to put your spirituality into practice.
LINKS: Handouts:
LINKS: Youtube: