February 2000 (published June 2000)
Index
- Receiving the Holy Spirit Through Centering Prayer
- The Prodigal Heart
- Spirituality Council Report
- Survey Results
- Sumner Meadows Wants You!
- Remember Your SacraMentor Brothers and Sisters on Pentecost Sunday
- Train the Trainer Series Starts Soon
Receiving the Holy Spirit Through Centering Prayer
By Bruno Ienni
Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10
As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." Luke 10:38-42
Centering prayer is a discipline or method in which one is trained to be still and allow the Holy Spirit to enter. A cup cannot be filled until it is emptied, so it is with our hearts. Until we learn to put aside our daily thoughts, there is no room in our consciousness for the presence of God. Centering prayer helps us do this.
Since the time of Christ, our church has had deep roots in meditative and contemplative practices. The Fathers and Mothers of the Desert, Lectio Divina (praying the scriptures), and some of our greatest Catholic mystics: St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila have all placed silence and attending to God's presence here and now as a most important method of prayer. Over time, these practices were reserved for, or simply left to, monks and other inhabitants of cloistered religious communities. In the end, a prevailing thought of "That's not for me," served to keep all women and men from this most beautiful activity.
Abbot Thomas Keating, Fr. M. Basil Pennington, and Fr. William Menninger have led a revival of sorts. Beginning in the early 1970's these men began to devise and teach a modern version of this ancient tradition as a response to the hunger for spirituality evident in our culture.
Centering prayer is NOT a charismatic gift reserved for the few. The blessings of centering prayer are available to all. In its updated form, it is simple to learn the basics. Once you complete that - you're done, the rest is for God to do, you have only to be present and wait for His divine activity in your heart.
Basics: Centering prayer consists of sitting quietly for 20 minutes one or two times a day. During the time of prayer, one attempts to detach from the maelstrom of thoughts racing in one's mind and simply center the mind on the intention to be present to God.
I will not risk giving out bad information in an effort to economize on words. Rather, I recommend that those interested in pursuing this prayer form read some of the wonderful books by Thomas Keating or attend an introductory workshop on centering prayer. For information on workshops in our area, call Barbara Huston at 206-282-9076. She is a local contact of the national organization Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. . Barbara presented an introduction to centering at two recent SacraMentums. You can also visit www.centeringprayer.com or any of the other hundreds of web sites dedicated to centering prayer.
God's loudest voice is silence.†
The Prodigal Heart
We all know the story of the Prodigal Son who, after squandering his inheritance, comes to his senses and returns home to his father (Lk 15:11-32). The father, of course, receives his son with unconditional acceptance and love. Like the Prodigal Son, we can also squander our Christian inheritance of God's grace through sin. But we come to our senses and seek to return home to God's grace by acknowledging our sins and by asking God for forgiveness.
Returning home to God is a task we constantly face as Christians. As SacraMentors, we sometimes face a similar struggle when we stray from our weekly apostle's group meetings. What often lures us away are feelings like boredom or indifference. We can be lured away by a false need to be independent in our Christianity and stand apart from community. The need to be right is a powerful ego illusion that can keep us from our group. We can also become impatient toward a certain member of the group or experience restlessness over the meeting process. We may leave the group for a while, but, like the Prodigal Son, we can experience a sense a loss. Something is missing. Something is not quite the same.
Yes, it can be difficult to keep our commitment to go to the meetings. And, yes, it is a struggle at times to figure out what value it is to share our life in Christ with a small group of men or women. But for many of us, something gently tugs at our prodigal heart to return. We may resist this gentle tug or even resign ourselves to the idea that "I have moved beyond SacraMentors." An alternative to this kind of thinking is that we might suspend our disbelief one more time and trust that God really does have something for us in our apostle's group if we would be just a little more patient.
My brothers and sisters, God waits for us with unconditional acceptance. The acceptance of the father in the story of the Prodigal Son is the same kind of acceptance we look for and expect in our small groups. We don't always achieve this kind of unconditional regard for one another, but we keep trying, for that is our goal. We keep praying that we will be less judgmental of one another and more accepting of each other as we are, without the need to advise, fix or correct a brother or sister.
To have a prodigal heart is to be a SacraMentor. When we listen to our prodigal heart, we are drawn to share with one another, as Paul says, "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is gracious" (Phil 4:8). For to this we are called.
If you have been away from your group, I call upon your prodigal heart to come to its senses and return to that place where God and your SacraMentors brothers or sisters have set aside a chair for you. Right next to the one that is set aside each meeting for Jesus.†
Spirituality Council Report
By Steve Egge
The Spirituality Council is responsible for the Apostles Process groups (the weekly group meetings), the Retreat, and the SacraMentums. We have produced a Parish Coordinators manual and by now all Coordinators should have one. Hopefully it will help keep us connected and will be of use to the new groups as they form after the Series.
Please contact me if I have neglected to get one to you. We recently conducted a Parish Coordinators Brunch at the new St. Andrew Church on Saturday, March 4th, 9:30-12:30. We discussed how the groups are doing and how we can enhance the parish community experience. If as a Parish Coordinator you were unable to attend, please call Jim or me for the results. Jim has reported on the Retreat elsewhere in this newsletter. Plan a weekend off in 2001 to attend next year!
Two other SacraMentum presentations were conducted this season. They were on the Jesus prayer and its use in your prayer life and George Atwater gave a presentation on biblical origins of prayer at St. Andrew and St. Brendan at the beginning of April. Barb Huston from Contemplative Outreach NW gave the last SacraMentum presentation on Centering Prayer. What a wonderful addition it has been to my prayer life and to those who attended her sessions in November. The present policy is to open the SacraMentums to non-SacraMentors so they can become familiar with the program. It is a good way to introduce men and women to the program and see friends from other parishes. Make an effort to attend these SacraMentums and bring a friend. Please check the Events page on the website for what is happening as it is usually the most up to date source for information.
I invite those of you who have not been active in weekly meetings to start attending, your brothers and sisters will welcome you with open arms. I invite those who attend regularly to call your brothers or sisters whom you have not seen, consider having a parish SacraMentors meeting. Consider a community service project after the Lent/Easter season. The Spirituality Council would like to assist/discuss any parish meeting problems or service projects with you. If anyone would like to contact the Spirituality Council please give us a call or send e-mail.
(253) 841-1093 [segge@accessone.com] and Jim Malneritch (360) 825-7332 [jimmal1@juno.com] Spirituality Council Co-Chairs†
Survey Results
Thank you all for sending in the survey from the last newsletter. The survey shows how deeply the SacraMentors program has touched men and women. It also pointed out some areas we need to improve: Consistency in content of the Series presentations, Follow up with the newly formed Apostles groups by the trainers to assist them in becoming familiar with the process, and providing a Parish Coordinators manual to assist parish communities with the weekly process and service project ideas. All these problems have been addressed by the SacraMentors Council and we hope you are already seeing the changes take place.†
Sumner Meadows Wants You!
Whether you play golf or not, please join us for the first annual SacraMentors Mulligan Open!
We'll begin a little before noon on Saturday, July 15th at Sumner Meadows Golf Links, 14802 8th East, Sumner. This tournament is open to SacraMentors, their families and their friends. Though we do ask that you please not include children under 14. This is a great opportunity to introduce non-SacraMentors to the organization. It's also a great time to meet your fellow SacraMentors from other communities.
What is golfing with SacraMentors like? "Oops... looks like you sliced that one in the water, Ted." "Yep... God bless that ball." When you're finished playing your best round of golf ever, SacraMentors will host a barbeque dinner at the golf course.
But I've never played golf? We don't care and neither should you. If you've never played golf or only played a little, listen to this: You'll be grouped with experienced golfers and the tournament format will be "best ball" which means, after each person on your team has hit her/his ball, you will select the best shot of the team and advance to that spot. From there, each of you takes another shot and so on until you eventually get the ball into the hole. Even if you never hit the ball more than 6 inches, your team advances and has a shot at the Championship!
Trust me, it's the guys and gals that have never played that sink the long putts and hole out the chip shot. Don’t worry, if your golf game isn't a blessing, your presence will be. This is a wonderful opportunity to see what "all those golfers" keep raving about!!
But I don't even have clubs! Not problem. Let us know when you register and we'll make sure a loaner set is waiting for you.
The cost is $75 per person. A portion of the proceeds will go to SacraMentors and will assist us in expanding our organization and getting the wonderful blessings that we all share out to many other parishes in the coming months.
There will be prizes for best team score, longest drive, closest to the pin, longest putt on a specific hole and most effective blessing before a shot. (Fr. Bob will be the judge in the last category.)
A great time is guaranteed for all!!
Registration is open now, but won't be for long. We have to give the golf course the final number and participants by June 5th. So call today and register! Do it now!! To register call Carl Jones at (253) 863-1269 between 7-9 PM on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday.
Remember Your SacraMentor Brothers and Sisters on Pentecost Sunday
By Carl D Jones
On the fiftieth day after the beginning of Passover, the Holy Spirit was breathed into Jesus’ brothers, his apostles, in the form of fiery tongues. Luke associates the baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost with the mission and expansion of the church to people of every nation.
Now over 2,000 years later we still carry the same life giving message to every nation in the world by sharing the message that Jesus, the Christ, (our brother) calls us to new life in Him.
On June 11th we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, to renew ourselves in the Spirit and deepen our relationship with Jesus and our Father through the acceptance of the Holy Spirit as our guide to help us live better life.
On this day when you attend Mass at your parish take your SacraMentors stone with you and think about and pray for all your SacraMentor brothers and sisters throughout the diocese and a second prayer that this program have a long and fruitful life. As you do this many of your brothers and sisters will be praying for you.
Through this prayer allow the Holy Spirit to live within you as it has never lived before. Renew your walk with Jesus and allow our Father to direct your life anew. My wife (a SacraMentor) and I will pray this Sunday each day that the Lord direct and protect each of you.†
Train the Trainer Series Starts Soon
The Train the Trainer Series will start in July. The training is a five week series which prepares SacraMentors Series trainer candidates for the responsibility of taking the SacraMentor program to parishes throughout the diocese.
We will be attempting to reach 20 parishes this year which means that we’ll need to train a more teams to accomplish this task. Have you considered becoming a trainer? Answer any of the following questions and you are a candidate for becoming a trainer and should prayerfully consider it;
1) Has your life been changed since going through the program?
2) Has your family life changed by your participation in the program?
3) Have you started praying and forgiving more since the program?
4) Are thinking more about how you can become a better Christian?
If you answered yes to any of these questions or if you’ve been looking for a chance to tell someone about your experience this is your opportunity. God didn’t call only a few of us He called us all. Heed His call.
The Train the Trainer Series is scheduled on Thursday nights on July 27, August 3, 10, 17 and 24 from 7-9 PM at St. Andrew Parish Hall, 604 Kincaid, Sumner. Men and women training teams are needed to reach the parishes. To sign up to be a trainer or to find out more call Carl Jones in the evenings at (253) 863-1269.†
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