Catholic Meeting Prayers

With little or no preparation needed, this practical resource provides leaders of parish and school meetings with 47 prayer services. This book will ease the minds of those who lead prayer throughout the liturgical year, election of new leadership, monthly meetings, and more!

The 100 prayer services in this book can be easily adapted for specific needs, and treat a wide variety of themes including the natural and liturgical seasons, feasts, and significant moments in human life.

Meeting Prayers is a practical compilation of prayers which set a spiritual atmosphere for the beginning and end of meetings. Meeting Prayers incorporates the needs of the faith community with the spiritual needs of participants at meetings. These prayers flow from a wide selection of scriptural and literary sources. Celebrating the unity and diversity of the members in the community, each prayer appeals to the often puzzling experience of individual needs conflicting with the needs of the community. Moving with each month of the year, Meeting Prayers lends support to the spiritual life of each participant who attends faith-building meetings. Each prayer includes a short introduction and background that follows the spirit of the liturgical year. The prayers bind the participant to the mystery and poetry that each season brings. A practical resource, Meeting Prayers can be used for all meetings of a church organization, special gatherings of the faith community, and for personal reflection. The collection is thematically arranged and indexed for use in a variety of gatherings. Chapters are Prayers for Each Month of the Year, *Prayers for the End of Meetings, - and *Prayers in Anticipation of a Critical Meeting. - Philip A. Verhalen, PhD, teaches Christian Life Cycles at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Washington. He is the author of Prayers for the Classroom, published by Liturgical Press.

What is discernment? Who was Peter Faber? Why do the Jesuits exude such optimism? Awareness. Emotions. Love. Work. We use such words every day in normal conversation, but those same words take on special meaning when used in the context of Ignatian spirituality. Other words and phrases, such as finding God in all things, are distinctly associated with the Ignatian approach to spiritual development. Acquiring a general grasp of these terms will prove invaluable to those who desire a better understanding of the Jesuit / Ignatian way of life. With Ignatian Spirituality A to Z, Jim Manney has provided a brief, informative, and entertaining guide to key concepts of Ignatian spirituality and essential characters and events in Jesuit history. The lexicon format allows readers to find terms quickly, and the concise descriptions are ideal for those new to the Ignatian story. From Pedro Arrupe to Francis Xavier, from Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam to Zeal, this book uncovers the rich language of the Jesuits. It will be an indispensable tool to anyone interested in Ignatian spirituality, to staff, faculty, and students at Jesuit institutions and schools, and to clergy and spiritual directors who advise others about prayer and spiritual matters.

“A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer is a valuable and thoughtful book, and a very practical one, which can be put with confidence into the hands of anyone who wishes to learn to pray the Examen and to find the presence and action of God in their lives.” —Andrea Kelly, Thinking Faith Sometimes we can experience prayer as formal, dry, and repetitious. But what might happen if we discovered a simple prayer that changed all that? In A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer, Jim Manney introduces Christians to a 500-year-old form of prayer that dramatically altered his perception of prayer and the way he prayed. The prayer is the Examen, which St. Ignatius Loyola developed for the purpose of nurturing a reflective habit of mind that is constantly attuned to God’s presence. What makes the prayer so powerful is its capacity to dispel any notion that God is somewhere “up there,” detached from our day-to-day tasks and concerns. Instead, the examen leads us into a relationship with a God who desires to be personally caught up in the lives of those whom he created.

"First printing, 2008" t.p. verso.Series from back cover. Introduction -- Basic prayers -- Daily prayers -- Days and seasons -- Family prayer from birth to death -- Prayers for Catholic living -- Prayers for the Church and the world -- Litanies -- God's word in times of need -- Stations of the cross -- Calendar of the Saints.