Facilitators - Week 1

Pentecost retreat 2020: Week 1 - I know the plans I have for you

Getting Started

Thank you SO much for your willingness in these unprecedented times to continue to offer your groups graced hospitality and a space where there is an opportunity for prayer and spiritual growth, during this time of crisis.

The Lent Retreat followed the pattern of the Exercises of St Ignatius and included “teaching” on ways of prayer and ways of processing what is happening in prayer e.g. consolation, desolation and movements of the Spirit.

The Pentecost retreat assumes a certain familiarity with these. If you have new members in the group, it would be useful to give them information about methods of prayer as needed for each week´s material. In this first week we will use lectio, imaginative contemplation and ways of praying with a picture. Details on these methods can be found on the Pentecost webpage.

The material for each day´s prayer is on-line and accessible to all. To gain the most from the retreat it is worth reminding everyone that it is desirable to set aside regular time for prayer each day and to keep a journal. (see below)

One significant difference from the Lenten Retreat is the inclusion of a day for Repetition, at the end of the week on a Saturday. This is a key Ignatian concept that you don`t move on too quickly, you stay with and return to periods of prayer which were fruitful. This is about deepening the conversation with God in the exact places he has brought you to.

Format:

The format for the meeting remains as before –

Welcoming and Stilling

Sharing: An opportunity to look back over the prayer times through the week and share what the retreatants are comfortable with.

Thoughts to consider: How did the retreatants find praying the Scripture or the other meditations? Did time seem to drag on, or did it go quickly? Did anything surprise them? Did any of the Scripture passages or other meditations have any special meaning for the retreatants? There may be a second or even third round of sharing. The idea of a second round is to allow people to share things which might have come up for them when they were listening to others. (If people really move into advice giving mode, or if they start disagreeing with other people, then they should be gently stopped.)

Closing Prayer

Next week: Check everyone has access to what is needed for the week to come.

Potential resources for sharing

An Ignatian Structure for Prayer

Decide where and when you will pray in advance.

Take time to read through the material before your prayer.

Consciously prepare for prayer with a stilling exercise, a piece of music or whatever is helpful to you.

Pray with the material noticing where God is drawing you.

Finish your prayer at the end of the time allocated.

Do something else for a little while and then come back and journal, noting what is staying with you from the time of prayer.

Keeping a Journal

Your prayer journal is for your eyes only, it can become a rich treasure reminding you of how God has been meeting you and leading you.

You can write or draw in your journal in any way that you find comfortable and helpful.

The following questions may be useful to you when you are looking back on your prayer-

What were the significant feelings, reactions, intuitions, desires, emotions, thoughts, or insights?

What was the prevailing mood of your prayer: peace, agitation, excitement, boredom, confusion, calm?

What word, phrase, image, or memory meant most to you during prayer?

Is there some unfinished business that you think God is calling you to return to during another time of prayer?

Is there something happening in your life that is becoming part of your prayer? Do you feel moved to do something concrete in your life?

Are you making the necessary preparations for your prayer? Is there anything you are doing or not doing that is getting in the way of listening to God?

Journaling is not about recording every thought; it is rather a way of going deeper and gathering all the graces you are being given. There is no right and wrong. It is YOUR space.

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