Catholic Faith Formation Resources

You are invited to reflect and pray on the wisdom of Fr. Thomas Keating (d. 2018), a Cistersian (Trappist) monk, who teaches us about being present to the Presence of God, the Ultimate Mystery: 1 The root of prayer is interior silence. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Deep prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind and heart, body and feelings—our whole being—to [the Presence of] God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond words, thoughts, and emotions. We do not resist them or suppress them. We accept them as they are and go beyond them, not by effort, but by letting them all go by. We open our awareness to the Ultimate Mystery whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing—closer than consciousness itself. The Ultimate Mystery is the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment.... *   ...

Prayer for Serenity God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Source: Attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr "LECTIO DIVINA" "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16 How often do you read and reflect on Scripture? Another ancient, prayer practice is Lectio Divina (“Divine Reading”). Basically, it is a spiritual reading, medita...

Are you willing and ready to allow your life to be radically transformed? Are you willing to let go of being controlled by your ego and its self-limiting ways of thinking, seeing, feeling, and acting? Will you let go of your habitual and often unconsciously generated preconceptions, presumptions, and prejudices regarding yourself, your life circumstances, and others? Are you ready to trust yourself to God's will for you? Are you ready to surrender and abandon your heart, mind, soul, and entire being to the grace and power of God's unconditional love and transforming Spirit? We invite you to pray and reflect on the "Suscipe" prayer by Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556): Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me. ...

OPENING PRAYER To Come Home to Yourself May all that is unforgiven in you be released. May your fears yield their deepest tranquilities. May all that is unlived in you blossom into a future graced with love. Amen. Source: John O'Donohue (d. 2008), To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Invocations and Blessings "THE DAILY EXAMEN" "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." (Lk 23:34) An unexamined life is not worth living” —Socrates Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) How often do you reflect on your life? An ancient, spiritual practice found in most religions applies our gift and ability of self-reflection to consider or review our relationship with God. St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, taught in his Spiritual Exercises that we can find God in all things...

Our life is a series of choices as to what thoughts or emotions we attach ourselves to, what we say or write, how we act, who or what guides our choices, and how we react or respond to the choices of others or to life's circumstances. Sometimes the failure to choose is a choice in itself. Some choices have no ethical dimension, such as choosing one flavor of ice cream instead of some other flavor. However, we face many ethical choices throughout our life with respect to deciding what is morally right or wrong behavior. We need to seek whether there are "universal" truths or values derived from perennial wisdom to guide us in making these ethical choices, or whether we are to be guided by "subjective" or "relative" standards or values, either our own or those of some other persons or groups? You are invited to reflect on what or whose truths, values, or standards guide the ethical choices you make in your life.

Where do you search for God? Is your God always somewhere else except where you are? Is your God "out there" instead of "in here"? Do you lift up your arms and hands to reach out to a God "up there," instead of embracing yourself with a God who is within you? Do you seek a God located somewhere "up in the sky," or a God who is incarnated in all of creation, including you? As Christ says, "Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20). Believe Christ and live that reality—God is present with you—now!

OPENING PRAYER Loving and merciful God, I am so aware of my sins and weaknesses. But as painfully aware of my faults as I am, Let me also remember your tender love, your gentle and limitless forgiveness. I come before you filled with pain and guilt but look into your eyes and see the forgiving love I so long for in my life. Help me to forgive the same way. Teach me to love as you love. Amen. Source: Online Ministries, Creighton University "CONTEMPLATIVE AND CENTERING PRAYER" "Be Still and Know That I Am God" (Psalm 46:10) "When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:6) How often do you rest quietly in the presence of God? There are three basic expressions of prayer: vocal, meditative, and contemplative. These are practiced formally and informally, personally and communally, through popular piety, and the li...

During this season of Lent, you may consider praying the following Litany of the Way, Prayer for the Journey : As Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, teach us to love. As Jesus promised paradise to the thief on the cross, teach us to hope. As Jesus called Peter to walk to him across the water, teach us to believe. As the child Jesus sat among the elders in the temple, teach us to seek answers. As Jesus in the garden opened his mind and heart to God's will, teach us to listen. As Jesus reflected on the Law and the prophets, teach us to learn. As Jesus used parables to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom, teach us to teach Source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

OPENING PRAYER Lord Jesus Christ, fill our hearts with the light of your Spirit, so that by following you on your final journey we may come to know the price of our Redemption and become worthy of a share in the fruits of your Passion, Death and Resurrection. You who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen. Source: Opening Prayer of Pope John Paul II, while leading the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday, 2000 "STATIONS OF THE CROSS" "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." (Lk 23:34) Do you pray the Stations of the Cross? The "Stations of the Cross" is an ancient prayer practice whereby pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem would follow Jesus’ footsteps from the site of his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his death on the Cross at Calvary. This journey would take them along the “Way of the Cross ” or “ Via Crucis ,” also known as the “Way of Sorrow” or “ Via Dolorosa ,“ pausi...

Jesus asks you today, if you are willing to listen to him, the same question that he asked Bartimaeus, a blind man who was sitting by the roadside begging, "What do you want me to do for you?" (Mark 10:51). Answering this question tells you a lot about where your priorities lie. How would you answer Jesus? Bartimaeus responded by telling Jesus, "Master, I want to see" (v. 51). Engaging in a literal reading of this passage may lead you to believe that Bartimaeus was merely referring to the restoration of his physical sight. This assumption may seem reasonable since Jesus responded by saying to Bartimaeus, "Go your way; your faith has saved you," whereupon Bartimaeus immediately received his sight and followed Jesus "on the way" (v. 52). Of course, there is nothing wrong with asking Jesus to heal you from a physical, cognitive, mental, emotional, or other impairment. What happens, however, if you look deeper and seek a metaphorical meaning ...

At times we hear people speaking about another person as having a "big ego" or being "self-centered." As Eckhart Tolle teaches, the ego consists of thought and emotion, of a bundle of memories you identify with as "me and my story," of habitual roles you play without knowing it, of collective identifications such as nationality, religion, race, social class, or political allegiance. It also contains personal identifications, not only with possessions, but also with opinions, external appearance, long-standing resentments, or concepts of yourself as better than or not as good as others, as a success or failure. 1 According to Beatrice Bruteau, our ego consciousness is that which judges everything in our experience according to whether it is good or bad for me as a private, separate individual, rather than according to whether it is good or bad in itself, or within the context of some greater whole, or from God's point of view. It is the con...