Marist Spirituality Report

Prayer can be thought of as a form of worship. Some people may find a prayer peaceful or sentimental while others feel it's not useful in their spiritual life. These types of people often perceive prayer done in one way with very strict boundaries. Before taking the Prayer and Spirituality class at Mercy, this was me. I often found myself bored during morning prayer and even day dreaming during mass. Through the concepts and topics of this course I have learned that there are many different ways to pray. This class has broadened my horizons and open doors to a whole new prayerful experience. To begin, in the third unit we discussed the images of God. As a christian, I had already obtained the knowledge of the trinity. According to our class
We learned about the different spiritualities within the christian community. Some of the spiritualities include Mercy, Marianist, and Benedictine. Some educational institutions in the mid-west that practice these spiritualities are Marian High School, Mercy High School, and Benedictine University. My group did our presentation on Marist. Marist is a catholic institution which means the society of Mary. The Marist spirituality was founded by a french priest named Father Jean- Claude Collin. An example of a Marist school in metro Detroit is Norte Dame Preparatory High School. Communal prayer is a ritual intended to bring people together to an awareness of God and sacred mystery (Kline-Kator). This ritual can be formal or informal. A communal prayer gives a sense of belonging and has a specific focus. Uniting with there through communal prayers can build bonds in relationships to grow closer to the Lord. Prayers of petitions can be included in a prayer service which is communal prayer. Prayers of petition are the most common type of prayer and are described as an request made for something desired (Kline-Kator). One step in prayer of petition is the discernment process. Discernment is the process of seeking the direction that god would want for us. In other words discernment is one way to understand gods will or desire for us in our life. The steps of discernment is preparing, Holy
Journaling is as simple and as hard as it sounds. The concept of journaling is just as it sounds, simply journaling. Expect for the aspect that my mind races in a dozen places during this time. Journaling is not only a great way to stay in touch with spiritual life but also how one perceives themselves. When praying through journaling, we are praying our experiences to God (Kline-Kator). Journaling is one way of non verbally praying to the Lord. Some practical suggestions to keep in mind during journaling are to write regularity, be organized, choose either pen or pencil, and relax. There are many different styles to journaling namely free writing, letter writing, and prayer writing. During this unit we also talked about the Examen. The examen allows us to see God's presence in our life. The Examen is defined as a methodical prayer helping one to see god in every day life. Under the Examen we can have an Examination of Conscience which is a methodical way of reviewing thoughts and actions before Sacrament of Reconciliation (Kline-Kator). During this unit we also incorporated meditation. Meditation is the pondering, attending, dwelling upon, paying attention to a specific focus (Kline- Kator). When the focus of a meditation is God, it then becomes prayerful. The main aspect to a meditation is mindfulness as I described it in the previous paragraph. There are three stages to metal prayer: discursive,