OBLATE RETREAT:

PERSISTENT PRAYER

Sister Edith BogueSt. Scholastica Monastery,

Duluth, Minnesota12 April 2014

MORNING PRAYER

MORNING PRAYER

“Lord, Open my lips…”

Psalmody, ending with “Glory be…”1 minute of silence between psalms

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-242 minutes of silence

Benedictus with Antiphon, with “Glory be…”

Our Father

Collect

Blessing

PERSISTENT PRAYER:

CONTEMPLATION

MONASTIC CONTEMPLATIVE TRADITION

• Grounded in Scripture• Begins with Lectio

– Reading. Read a passage slowly many times. Read it silently, read it aloud. Try memorizing the passage.

– Meditating. As words or phrases stand out, focus on them. Dialogue with. What do they remind you of?

– Praying. Do you find yourself asking God questions? Do people or situations come to mind? Allow the connections to become a natural conversation with God.

– Contemplating. This is a gift from God. It may not happen and it is not the “reward” for a well-done lectio divina! It is the delightful “aha-moment,” a sense of timelessness, an inner awe at the beauty or love or wisdom or of God.

• Centering Prayer

SOULJOURNS: REVIVING A 4TH CENTURY DESERT SPIRITUAL PRACTICE!

FATHER WILLIAM MENINGER, OCSOCONTEMPLATIVE MEDITATION (CLICK ON IMAGE OR LINK BELOW)

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/7860339

AN EXPERIENCE OF GROUP LECTIO(OPTION FOR INDIVIDUAL PRAYER)

BREAK

PERSISTENT PRAYER:

CREATIVITY & BEAUTY

The American Dominicans make a distinction between Creation spirituality and Redemption spirituality. Redemption spirituality stresses fault, sin, and Redemption by Jesus Christ.

Creation comes before Redemption. It is God's first gift to mankind. Creation spirituality is marked especially by gratitude for God's beauty which shines through creation.

Measuring Benedictine spirituality against these two, it seems to me that it inclines more to the spirituality of Creation. Benedict talks less about fault and sin, and more about the daily round of community life, in which the order of Creation is reflected. Benedict is preoccupied with careful handling of creation and praise of the Creator, who has given us this marvelous world for us to take care of it.

Anselm Grün, “Benedict and Creation”AIM Bulletin 78/79

Click on photo to see exhibit information from Monastery of St Gertrude

“Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identify, our own destiny. We are free beings and sons of God. This means to say that we should not passively exist, but actively participate in (God's) creative freedom, in our own lives, and in the lives of others, by choosing the truth. To put it better, we are even called to share with God the work of creating the truth of our identity.”

Thomas Merton New Seeds of Contemplation

Drawing by Thomas Merton

“Monks have been the great preservers of literary tradition, saving many sacred texts … and illuminating manuscripts with gorgeous art. They have offered their gifts in the service of creating beautiful spaces of sanctuary. Monasticism has given us the great tradition of chant to immerse us in the continuous cascade of praying the Liturgy of the Hours. These ways of being in the world have been cultivated over hundreds of years of practice and offer us tremendous wisdom about what it means to live a meaningful, vital, and creative life.”

Christine Valters PaintnerThe Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom

Click photo to go to interview of Chrsitine Valters Paintner by Kristin Noelle, artist who made this drawing

CREATIVE TIME: DRAW WRITE KNIT IMAGINE GAZE

SNAP A PHOTO NOTICE REMEMBER

BREAK

PERSISTENT PRAYER:

MANUAL LABORMEAL PREPARATION IN SILENCE

When they live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks. Yet, all things are to be done with moderation on account of the fainthearted.

Rule of Benedict, Chapter 48Sweet corn harvest, Yankton Benedictines

PREPARE LUNCH USING SPEECH ONLY AS NECESSARY

“One of the practices that all of us should undertake from time to time is actual physical silence. We need to practice NOT saying even the good thoughts that we have, NOT communicating them to anyone. Part of this practice will show us the places and the people that stimulate us to communicate. Another part of this practice will show the strength of our desire to communicate and the strength of our own will to resist that desire.”

Abbot Phillip Lawrence,Abbey of Christ in the Desert

LUNCHWITH RECREATION

PERSISTENT PRAYER:

MANUAL LABORMEAL CLEAN-UP IN SILENCE

PERSISTENT PRAYER:

PRAYER IN OTHER CHARISMS

DOMINICANSStudyNine Ways of Prayer

STUDY

“Dominican study is a special gift of the Order. It is a gift for each of us as consecrated religious women who take on the responsibility and the joy of studying sacred truths. At the same time it is a gift to the Church, providing a means for these truths, contemplated through faithful and assiduous study, to be passed on to others.

For this reason study is both formative and fruitful for the Dominican soul. Like prayer, it is a necessary means for union with God, involving all the soul’s powers, integrating and ordering them in a specific way under the intellect. Study nourishes the mind and trains the will to search for and enjoy the truth. This love then lends itself to the flowering of zeal for the salvation of souls.

Dominican Studyhttp://nashvilledominican.org/apostolate/dominican_study

FROM THE “NINE WAYS OF PRAYER”• First of all, bowing humbly before the altar as if Christ, whom the

altar signifies, were really and personally present and not just symbolically.

• Sometimes, when he was in a priory, our holy father Dominic would stand upright before the altar, not leaning on anything or supported by anything. … If you had seen his devotion as he stood there, erect in prayer, you would have thought you were looking at a prophet conversing with an angel.

• He was also often found stretching his whole body up towards heaven in prayer, like a choice arrow shot straight up from a bow (Isaiah 49:2). He had his hands stretched right up above his head, joined together or slightly open as if to catch something from heaven. And it is believed that at such times he received an increase of grace.

IGNATIAN (THE JESUITS)

Sister Paule Pierre Barbeau

IMAGINATIVE PRAYER(NOTES FROM THE PRESENTATION BY SISTER PAULE PIERRE BARBEAU)

• Take time to quiet yourself• Choose a scripture passage with action and several characters

(Last Supper, Woman at the Well)• Read it once to see the big picture• Pause to think who you might be in this scene: a server? an

apostle? Jesus? the landlord? Judas? the donkey?• Read the passage again from that role’s perspective.• Go into your imagination to be part of the scene. What smells

and sounds would you experience? Imagine the seat beneath you, the warmth, the tastes, the sights.

• Hear the words of Jesus, watch for the action of God• Remain in this scene as long as you like; the meditation will

usually end on its own.

FRANCISCANIn the world.Meeting Christ in humility and poverty

The Franciscan path “to God” is an inversion of monastic values. Rather than fleeing the world to find God, God is to be found in the world. The idea that “the world is our cloister” finds its root in Francis of Assisi.

God loves us where we are—with our frailty, weaknesses and insecurities. This is the meaning of his encounter with the God of compassionate love as seen in the cross of San Damiano.

From “St Francis’ Style of Prayer” by Ilia Delio, O.S.F. St. Anthony Messenger October 2004

Click on image to go to website for the full article

PRAYER PRACTICE & BREAK

PERSISTENT PRAYER:

PRAYER WITH AND FOR COMMUNITY

For Benedict, everything takes place within the context of community. Whether he is talking about prayer, relationships, work, or whatever, the disciple is reminded that he or she is part of a community.

Our common prayer reminds us that sometimes we carry each other on this journey and sometimes we are carried. When our faith is weak and wavering, others hold us up; when we are strong we in turn help our brothers and sisters.

PARTICULAR PRAYER INTENTIONS

• Deceased of our community including oblates

• Deceased of our federation, diocesan priests, the monks of St John’s Abbey

• Our relatives, friends, and benefactors

• Our sponsored organizations• Those about to be executed and

for an end to the Death Penalty• Victims of human trafficking• Canonization of Dorothy Day

(29th of the month)

When we pray together we pray not only for our immediate community, but we pray for all those who do not pray. We hold those who have no faith in our prayers. Through our common prayer we remember and incorporate the deepest, unvoiced concerns of the people in our world who never pray.Image is a Facebook cover for a Timeline.

Click image to go to its Facebook page

From the article Praying Always by Cheryl Cope. Click the image to go to the webpage.

MIDDAY PRAYERRENEWAL OF OBLATION

OBLATE RETREAT:

PERSISTENT PRAYER

Sister Edith BogueSt. Scholastica Monastery,

Duluth, Minnesota12 April 2014