+ RCIA May 1, 2014 Spirituality. What is Spirituality? Spirituality is that which gives meaning to one's life and draws one to transcend oneself. Spirituality.

+

RCIA

May 1, 2014

Spirituality

What is Spirituality?

Spirituality is that which gives meaning to one's life and draws one to transcend oneself.

Spirituality is a broader concept than religion, although that is one expression of spirituality.

Religion: …”a set of beliefs and practices related to the issue of what exists beyond the visible world, generally including the idea of the existence of a being, group of beings, an external principle or a transcendent spiritual entity” (Adapted from Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1967).

What is Spirituality?

“…the search for transcendent meaning”

“a person’s experience of, or a belief in, a power apart from his or her own existence” 

“a quality that goes beyond religious affiliation, that strives for inspiration, reverence, awe, meaning and purpose, even in those who do not believe in God.

“the experience or expression of the sacred” (Adapted from Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1967).

Spirituality

Spirituality is the process through which we attain a more personal and intimate relationship with God.

Spirituality is our journey, our pilgrimage, to our heavenly home where God the Father awaits us as did the father of the prodigal son.

Our Journey

Beginning End

Spirituality

GOD

Our Journey

Times of Joy

The Valleys

We Are Not Alone

Spirituality

Spirituality is an active, not a passive process. Although God initiates the process we must do our part.

There are many activities that we can practice that will enhance our spiritual growth.

 No one can tell you which spiritual activity will work best for you. This is something you must discover on your own, perhaps with the assistance of a spiritual director.

Prayer

Prayer is essential to the spiritual life.

 Special place. Special time.

 Prayer can take many forms

Silent / Vocal Formal Spontaneous Meditative Contemplative

Praise Thanksgiving Confession/forgiveness Intentions

Scripture

Bible Study

Personal time with the scriptures

Faith sharing groups

Lectio divina

Devotions

The Rosary

Novenas

Pilgrimages

Stations of the Cross

Eucharistic Adoration

Veneration of Saints

Divine Mercy Devotion

Spirituality

Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office 

Nature

Religious literature

Emulating a Saint

Journal

Spirituality

Spirituality of Religious Orders Benedictine Franciscans Dominicans Sisters of St Joseph Carmelites

Ignatian/Jesuits

The Rosary

The word rosary comes from Latin and means a garland of roses, the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolize the Virgin Mary.

The rosary is a devotion in honor of the Virgin Mary.

It is not Church dogma.

How To Pray The Rosary

The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them.

There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into the five Joyful Mysteries, the five Luminous Mysteries, the five Sorrowful Mysteries, and the five Glorious Mysteries.

Joyful Mysteries

THE ANNUNCIATION

THE VISITATION

THE NATIVITY

THE PRESENTATION

THE FINDING OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

Luminous Mysteries

The Baptism of the Lord

The Wedding at Cana

The Proclamation of the Kingdom

The Transfiguration

The Institution of the Eucharist

Sorrowful Mysteries

The Agony in the Garden

The Scourging at the Pillar

The Crowning with Thorns

The Carrying of the Cross

The Crucifixion

Glorious Mysteries

The Resurrection

The Ascension

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

The Assumption

The Coronation

1. Make the Sign of the Cross and say the "Apostles' Creed."

2. Say the "Our Father."

3. Say three "Hail Marys.”

4. Say the "Glory be to the Father."

5. Announce the First Mystery; then say the "Our Father."

6. Say ten "Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.

7. Say the "Glory be to the Father.” Prayer: Our Lady of Fatima

8. Announce the Second Mystery; then say the "Our Father”

Repeat 6 and 7 and continue with Third, Fourth and Fifth Mysteries in the same manner.

After the Rosary:

HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.

 R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. O GOD, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Rosary

After each decade say the following prayer requested by the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima:

"O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy."

Divine Mercy

The Divine Mercy is a Roman Catholic devotion to the merciful love of God and the desire to let that love and mercy flow through one's own heart to others.

The Feast of Divine Mercy is celebrated on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday following Easter Sunday).

The devotion is based on apparitions, visions and revelations of Jesus received by Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska

(1905-1938), a Polish nun deemed as the Apostle of Mercy.

Pope John Paul II instituted Divine Mercy

Sunday as a Holy Day on April 30, 2000,

the day that he canonized Saint Faustina.

The three main themes of the devotion are:

To ask for and obtain the mercy of God

To trust in Christ's abundant mercy

To show mercy to others and act as a conduit for God's mercy towards them.

The Divine Mercy devotion views mercy as the key element in the plan of God for salvation and emphasizes the belief that it was through mercy that God gave his only son for the redemption of mankind.

The devotion places emphasis on the veneration of the Divine Mercy Image, which Faustina reported as a vision of Jesus while she was in her cell in the convent. The image is displayed and venerated by Catholics on its own, and is solemnly blessed during Divine Mercy Sunday.

Christ instructed Saint Faustina to:

"Paint an image according to the

pattern you see with the signature:

Jesus, I trust in You…”

I promise that the soul that will

venerate this image will not perish. "

The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy

The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. The Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Faustina and followed by a closing prayer.

1. Make the Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. Optional Opening Prayers

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You! (Repeat three times)

3. Our Father

4. Hail Mary

5. The Apostle's Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

6. The Eternal Father

Then, on the large bead before each decade

Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

7. On the Ten Small Beads of Each Decade

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole

world.

8. Repeat for the remaining decades

Saying the "Eternal Father" (6) on the large bead and then 10 "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion" (7) on the small beads of each decade

9. Conclude with Holy God (Repeat three times)

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Closing Prayer

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your mercy

The Chaplet may be said alone or as part of a Novena.