Spiritual Practice
Resources
A rule of life is simply the divine pattern of activities that God has revealed to you that he wants you to use to uniquely shape, sustain, and refresh you. It helps us to wrap our heads around the intentional work of becoming like Jesus.
Rule of Life
The purpose of this prayer practice is to help us become more God-centered throughout our daily lives. The Examen invites us to process our lives each day with God and before God by carving out a few moments of solitude in the midst of every day and reflect on what is going on and where our actions and choices are taking us (toward or away from God).
The Daily Examen
Many of us know that prayer is an important part of our spiritual life, yet we often ask the question:
"How do we enter into prayer and make it a conversation between us and our creator?"
The Lord's Prayer can lead us to a vibrant conversation with God as each phrase or line of the Lord's Prayer is an invitation from Jesus to think and pray into something.
The Lord's Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer was a resource put together 500 years ago in the Church of England. They took what was established prayer in the monastic communities and made that available to everyone so that people could learn to pray in their homes and with their families.
Not all people use the Book of Common Prayer in the same way. It provides structure to our prayer lives but it also can be used freeform. Work with the resources in the Book of Common Prayer to figure out the best way to use it in your life.
The Book of Common Prayer
Statio is a Benedictine practice that has been used in monastic settings for hundreds of years. It is simply a pause between two activities. When practicing statio, you choose to pause between two activities to recognize how God had just been present to you in what you just finished and then you look for how God might be present to you in the activity you are about to engage. (Imagine using statio in the driveway after work and before you enter your home, or imagine statio after grocery shopping and before meeting a friend)
Statio
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.
Centering Prayer
Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading as it is translated, has been practiced in the church since the third century. The ''movements' we use today were first described in sixth century writings, so it has been around for a long time. It differs from other methods of Bible study in that while traditional Bible study engages the mind, the focus of Lectio is to engage the heart. To view the scripture as the living word, one that brings life and nurture to the soul.
Lectio Divina
Spiritual journaling is a “sketchbook of the soul” in which you listen, reflect and respond how God is shaping your life as you know Him deeper. It is a record of noticing God’s presence, guidance and comfort through His immense love and grace even in the ups and downs of life.
Spiritual Journaling