YEAR OF FAITH

Post date: Jan 4, 2013 1:23:36 PM

Session 4 – Saturday 12th January, 10.45 am to 12 noon

The theme for January is God the Father, with emphasis on the Lord’s Prayer. St. Hugh’s group will watch Bishop Malcolm’s recent video in the church hall, followed by a discussion about prayer. Everyone is welcome. It is not necessary to have taken part in the previous

discussions.

Prayer in the Christian Life (from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, page 579)

The Christian tradition comprises three major expressions of the life of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation and contemplative prayer. They have in common the recollection of the heart.

Vocal prayer, founded on the union of body and soul in human nature, associates the body with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christ’s example of praying to his Father and teaching the Our Father to his disciples.

Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our own life.

Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.