Week 1 23/02/2021 Session 01 Prayer An Intimate Diaglogue

Week 1 23/02/2021 Session 02 Guigo's ladder : A way of Ascent

Week 2 02/03/2021 Session 03 Lectio and Medidation Climbing the First Rung
Week 3 09/03/2021 Session 04 Oratio : Convresaion with God
Week 4 16/03/2021 Session 05 Contenplation L The Gaze of Love
Week 5 23/03/2021 Session 06 Putting Love into Action

Week 1 23/02/2021 Session 01 Prayer An Intimate Diaglogue

Connect
What is your earliest memory of praying?
If you had to define prayer for someone who had never heard of it, how would you explain it?
Discus Questions for Week 1 Session 1 :
1. What was one thing you heard for the first time or that was an “aha” moment for you?
2. What obstacles to prayer do you experience? How have you dealt with these in the past?
How might approaching prayer as an encounter and a dialogue affect your experience?
3. Do you feel it is easy or difficult to hear God speaking directly to you in Scripture? Why?
Memory Verse for Session 1 is “I will seek him whom my soul loves.” —Song of Solomon 3:2
For Self Reflection pls turn to pg 7-19
Day 1 – The Importance of Prayer
1. How do you keep Sunday, the Lord’s Day, as a day of prayer? How does this influence the rest of your week?
2. Read Psalm 73:28 and 105:1–4. Take a moment to recall and praise God for his many works in your own life.
3. What does your life of prayer have in common with prayer as lived throughout Salvation History?
DAY 2 – The Problem of Prayer
1. What are some activities you know to be good and important, but that you simply don’t like to do—the ones that always seem to get moved to the
bottom of your “to do” list?
2. What is your greatest struggle with prayer right now?
3. What are some things you can do to cultivate a habit of exterior and interior silence, and practice the art of patient listening?
DAY 3 – Lectio: “I Thirst”
1. What need or desire does Jesus express in this passage? What does he receive?
2. What does Jesus give in this passage?
3. What reason does St. John offer for presenting his testimony in this passage?
4. What can you offer him on a daily basis? Weekly? Over the course of your whole life?
5. Why is it important to understand prayer as a response to God rather than something we initiate? What effect might this view have on your prayer
life
6. How do the Holy Spirit and the life of the Church (symbolized by the blood and the water) enable us to respond to God in prayer
DAY 4 – God Speaks
1. Is there a Scripture verse that is particularly meaningful or applicable to your life right now? (It might be something you have memorized, something
you heard or read recently, or even something that made an impression but you can’t remember the exact verse.)
2. Do you read from the Bible on a regular basis? Is it for prayer or for study? What are some steps you can take this week to begin praying with
Scripture or to increase the time you spend praying with Scripture3.
3. Consider your current habits for reading Scripture. Do you read from the Bible on a regular basis? Is it for prayer or for study? What are some steps
you can take this week to begin praying with Scripture or to increase the time you spend praying with Scripture?
Day 5 – Truth and Beauty
1. Read Luke 1:26–38. In this conversation between God (through his messenger Gabriel) and Mary, who initiates? Is this a monologue, or a dialogue?
How does Mary’s interaction with Gabriel change over the course of the conversation?

Week 1 23/02/2021 Session 02 Guigo's ladder : A way of Ascent

Connect
1. Think of a time you felt incredibly thirsty. What quenched your thirst and refreshed you? Describe
the experience.
2. How do you show others that you are listening attentively to them?
Discus Questions for Session 2 :
1. What was one thing you heard for the first time or that was an “aha” moment for you?
2. How does the account of the Samaritan woman at the well model an encounter with Christ in prayer? How do you relate to this account?
3. Have you ever tried to go straight to the top of the ladder of prayer without making use of the different rungs? Did it work? Do you feel the rungs are
evenly spaced (equally easy or difficult to move between each step), or is there one step on the ladder that is particularly hard for you? Why?
Memory Verse for Session 2 is “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have
asked him, and he would have given you living water.’” —John 4:10
For Self Reflection pls turn to pg 23-34
Day 1 – Hear, O Israel
1. God won’t let anything get in the way of drawing close to us in prayer. What is getting in your way of listening
Day 2 – Living Water
1. Read Psalm 65:9; Isaiah 12:3; Isaiah 44:3; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1-2. What do these passages have in common? Why do you think Scripture
uses water as an image of God?
2. Look up the following passages: Psalm 65:9; Isaiah 12:3; Isaiah 44:3; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1-2. What do these passages have in common?
Why do you think Scripture uses water as an image of God?
3. When it comes to prayer, are you actively seeking to receive God’s free gift or do you build your own cistern? Do you try to make fruitful prayer
happen on your own, or do you let God lead? How can you be more aware of prayer as a gift from God?
DAY 3 – Lectio: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
1. How many times are “Samaria” and “Samaritans” mentioned in this passage?
2. How many references are there to thirst or drinking or water in this passage?
3. What does the physical setting of this encounter tell you about how Jesus was likely feeling? The Samaritan woman
4. Why is the Samaritan woman surprised that Jesus asks her for a drink? What does Jesus’ willingness to talk to this woman and St. John’s comment
on the “necessity” of Jesus passing through Samaria teach us about prayer?
5. What is unique about the water that Jesus offers? What do you think it means to never thirst after receiving the living water?
6. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that she would respond differently if she knew who it is that is speaking to her (verse 10). When you pray, are you
mindful of “who it is” that is speaking to you? What difference does it make to approach prayer with humility and reverence rather than as something
casual and routine?
DAY 4 – Guigo and the Ladder of Prayer
Why must the ladder of prayer begin with Scripture? How might the practice of praying with Scripture help you to fulfill St. Paul’s exhortation to “pray
constantly” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)?
Day 5 – Truth and Beauty
Rather than presenting us with a single scene, the mosaic is divided into two parts, providing a pictorial narrative. Recall John 4:1-43. What two events
are depicted in the mosaic?

Week 2 02/03/2021 Session 03 Lectio and Medidation Climbing the First Rung
Connect/Ice Breaker Questions
1. What is your favorite thing to talk about with your closest friend?
2. What comes to mind when you hear the word “meditation”? Does this word have a positive or negative connotation for you? Why?
Discus Questions for Week 2 Session 3 :
1. What was one thing you heard for the fi rst time or that was an “aha” moment for you?
2. How does lectio lead naturally into meditatio? How might prayer be especially fruitful with an ebb and fl ow between lectio and meditatio?
3. In the video Dr. Gray says that Jacob’s wrestling with God is a metaphor for prayer. What does it mean to you to wrestle with God in prayer? Are you
comfortable with this image of prayer? Why or why not?
Memory Verse for session 03 is Blessed are those who dwell in thy house, ever singing thy praise! Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee, in
whose heart are the highways to Zion.” Psalm 84:4-5
For Self Reflection pls turn to 39-52
COMMIT
DAY 1 – Lectio: Careful Reading

ead Psalm 65:9; Isaiah 12:3; Isaiah 44:3; Revelation 21:6;

Revelation 22:1–2. What do these passages have in common? Why do you think Scripture
uses water as an image of God?