Here We Go!

This is my meager attempt to sort through my thoughts through the written word. I must admit that have not been very disciplined about this sort of thing lately. Hopefully this will change, as God seems to be doing alot of housecleaning in my soul as of late.

Recently I was blessed to attend the Florida 5 Day Academy for Spiritual Formation in Leesburg, FL. This was a wonderful time for spiritual retreat, reflection and community.

The retreat follows a pattern of the day very similar to that used in the Christian monastic traditions. Each day followed largely the same pattern. We gathered each morning for morning prayers at 7:30am, having spent the previous night in prayerful and contempletave silence ("The Grand Silence"). This allowed us to break The Grand Silence together in an act of community praise to God. This was followed by breakfast, then an hour of teaching from one of the two guest faculty. We spent the hour after the morning teaching in prayerful silent reflection. This silence was broken by 45 minutes of community sharing followed by lunch. We then enjoyed 1-2 hours of free, unstructured time. At 2:30pm we gathered for another hour of teaching from the other faculty member, again followed by an hour of silent prayer and reflection and 30-45 minutes of community sharing. Prior to the evening meal, we should share a community worship service where we would celebrate the Eucharist together. Following the evening meal, we gathered in small groups or "Covenant Groups" for a more intimate time of sharing, prayer and reflection for 90 minutes. The day ended with night prayers and we were sent out to spend the rest of our evening sharing together in The Grand Silence.

For me, this was a beautiful blend of prayerful, introspective silence and community. The faculty were excellent and many new, deep friendships were made. I still haven't quite processed all that God has done through this experience, but I can say that I was profoundly affected by the experience for the good.

One thing that I have enjoyed since the 5 Day Academy is utilizing the Daily Office in my personal prayer disciplines. I found a book in Cokesbury that is the product of the Northumbria Community in England. It is a prayer book that has many useful prayer resources, but also contains a daily office with morning, midday and evening prayers. The title is Celtic Prayer and it has been very useful and made my personal prayer time both more meaningful and disciplined. This has really boosted my prayer life and my overall experience of God's love and presence. I higly recommend this book if you are looking for something to help enhance your prayer life!