DAY 1: HOLINESS AND LAY SPIRITUALITY
Holiness is being set apart from sin and selfishness and being set apart for love. We are holy when we love. We turn our backs on holiness when we live in self-centered ways.
Every person is called to holiness, but each of us follows a unique path to reach the holiness to which we are called. Our path to holiness is our spirituality. Priests have a particular spirituality that leads them to priestly holiness. Monks have a particular spirituality that leads them to monastic holiness. Lay persons have a particular spirituality that leads them to lay holiness.
Within each group, spirituality gets more specific and personal. For lay persons, there is married spirituality, single spirituality, parent spirituality, child spirituality, work spirituality, and the list can go on for as long as you can describe distinct ways of living a human life.
The ideal place to find the treasured gifts that God has planted within you is within the relationships that make up your daily routines. Think of the people who cross your path daily. God is calling out to you through them... calling you to love them, to understand them, to meet their expressed needs.
Here's a simple lay spirituality story of a young man who expresses what I would call "Basketball Spirituality."
Every person is called to holiness, but each of us follows a unique path to reach the holiness to which we are called. Our path to holiness is our spirituality. Priests have a particular spirituality that leads them to priestly holiness. Monks have a particular spirituality that leads them to monastic holiness. Lay persons have a particular spirituality that leads them to lay holiness.
Within each group, spirituality gets more specific and personal. For lay persons, there is married spirituality, single spirituality, parent spirituality, child spirituality, work spirituality, and the list can go on for as long as you can describe distinct ways of living a human life.
The ideal place to find the treasured gifts that God has planted within you is within the relationships that make up your daily routines. Think of the people who cross your path daily. God is calling out to you through them... calling you to love them, to understand them, to meet their expressed needs.
Here's a simple lay spirituality story of a young man who expresses what I would call "Basketball Spirituality."
- Did you notice how Jonathan Montanez tried to meet an expressed need of Mitchell Marcus?
- Jonathan comes out as the hero in this story, but he didn't do this by himself. If you watch closely, you notice that all of the other players on both teams were cooperating to create this special moment for Mitchell.
- Even the spectators and coaches were involved. This was an act of community building... turning community into communion.
- Did you notice that Jonathan's actions made others wonder about why he did what he did? When asked, he honored his family with the words, "I was always taught to do for others what I would want them to do for me." In that statement, he honors his family who taught him as well as his church who gave him that principle. This lay spirituality story is a story about true evangelism. Jonathan spoke the Gospel with his actions first. His actions aroused curiosity. He then spoke the Gospel in eloquent teenage fashion.
- Jonathan practiced lay spirituality on the basketball court. In this way, he moved closer to holiness.
Slide Show from Session 1
Videos from Session 1
DAY 2: FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is a gift that heals communion when it is broken. Forgiveness has two movements: 1) We offer forgiveness to others when they hurt us. 2) We seek forgiveness when we hurt others.
Only God can forgive, and God generously shares the power to give and receive forgiveness with anyone who has an open heart.
We can open our hearts to the power of forgiveness through a simple, daily routine of prayer. It is helpful to create your own prayer of forgiveness to fit your unique situations. Jim Townsend needed to connect his need to forgive himself with his need to forgive others. He prayed daily, "Lord, I forgive myself and others." This simple prayer, offered in the context of the nurturing relationship he shared with Fr. Walsh and others, softened the heart of a hardened criminal.
Only God can forgive, and God generously shares the power to give and receive forgiveness with anyone who has an open heart.
We can open our hearts to the power of forgiveness through a simple, daily routine of prayer. It is helpful to create your own prayer of forgiveness to fit your unique situations. Jim Townsend needed to connect his need to forgive himself with his need to forgive others. He prayed daily, "Lord, I forgive myself and others." This simple prayer, offered in the context of the nurturing relationship he shared with Fr. Walsh and others, softened the heart of a hardened criminal.
Slide Show from Session 2
The Jim Townsend Story
The Jim Townsend story offered here focuses on the caring relationships that made a significant contribution to his conversion. The article's purpose was not to focus on the power of forgiveness, so there is less emphasis placed upon the simple prayer that Jim learned from Fr. Walsh, "Lord, I forgive myself and others." This will give you an opportunity to hear more about the relationship foundations which opened Jim's heart to the possibility of prayerful transformation.
The Prisoner: An Invitation to Hope by Paul Everett
CLICK HERE to access a page where you can purchase a copy of The Prisoner.
Videos from Session 2
Day 3: The Treasure Hunt Within
We are all gifted people. Our gifts come from God, but they are sent through the people and the experiences we have in our lives. When we identify and use our gifts, it is an expression of gratitude to God and to the people who have both modeled and nurtured our gifts.
But gratitude is not only a response to gifts. Gratitude is also a way to release the power of our gifts. When we are grateful, our gifts flourish and others begin to notice them. This is called wordless witness and is the first step in evangelizing. We show our gifts by living them. We show them by becoming them. When we identify and practice gratitude for our gifts, our lives become a living testimony to our faith in God and that makes people wonder about us.
When people wonder about us enough, they begin to ask questions. Their questions prompt the second step of evangelizing... telling our stories about how we received our gifts, telling our stories about how we are grateful for our gifts, and telling our stories about how our gratitude has empowered us to live our gifts.
Discovering, being grateful for, and sharing our gifts are expressions of Eucharistic spirituality. The word Eucharist means thanks-giving. Eucharist is the gratitude sacrament. We celebrate and receive Eucharist on Sunday, but it is an empty ritual if we do not practice Eucharist by practicing gratitude every day of our lives.
The daily practice of gratitude changes our minds from a negative focus to a focus on God's goodness pouring out of every person and experience we have. When we give daily attention to gratitude, we become Eucharist people.
How to identify and share your gifts:
But gratitude is not only a response to gifts. Gratitude is also a way to release the power of our gifts. When we are grateful, our gifts flourish and others begin to notice them. This is called wordless witness and is the first step in evangelizing. We show our gifts by living them. We show them by becoming them. When we identify and practice gratitude for our gifts, our lives become a living testimony to our faith in God and that makes people wonder about us.
When people wonder about us enough, they begin to ask questions. Their questions prompt the second step of evangelizing... telling our stories about how we received our gifts, telling our stories about how we are grateful for our gifts, and telling our stories about how our gratitude has empowered us to live our gifts.
Discovering, being grateful for, and sharing our gifts are expressions of Eucharistic spirituality. The word Eucharist means thanks-giving. Eucharist is the gratitude sacrament. We celebrate and receive Eucharist on Sunday, but it is an empty ritual if we do not practice Eucharist by practicing gratitude every day of our lives.
The daily practice of gratitude changes our minds from a negative focus to a focus on God's goodness pouring out of every person and experience we have. When we give daily attention to gratitude, we become Eucharist people.
How to identify and share your gifts:
- Believe that you are gifted. Without belief, your gift will remain buried.
- Identify your gift.
- Identify and express gratitude daily for the people who modeled and nurtured your gift throughout your life.
- Prayerfully imagine how your gift will improve the lives of others and make your community a better place to live.
- Develop your gift and live it so transparently that your transformed life will make others wonder about the good thing that is happening to you.
- When someone finally asks what is going on in your life, tell the story about your gift, your gratitude, those who modeled and nurtured the gift, and how you believe the world needs your gift as well as the gifts of all people.
- Repeat the process with a new gift.
