Jonathan F. Sullivan

Director of Catechetical Services, Diocese of Springfield in Illinois

Originally from Kansas City

Married, 6 (+1) children

www.JonathanFSullivan.com

A few reminders…

This series will not just be “information delivery”

More personal, reflective

Opportunities to respond – so please participate!

Overview

10/13: Jesus

10/20: Scripture & Tradition

10/27: Christian Community

11/3: Liturgy & Prayer

11/10: Vocation & Mission

What is Prayer>

Our response to God’s self-revelation

Examples throughout Sacred Scripture

Forms of Prayer

Blessing & Adoration

Petition

Intercession

Thanksgiving

Praise

Expressions of Prayer

Vocal

Meditative

Contemplative

What forms or expressions of personal prayer have you found most engaging?

Which do you struggle with?

Prayer and Human

Development

How has your prayer life changed over time?

What is “Liturgy?”

Liturgia: “work of the people”

“[Participation in the liturgy] by the Christian people as ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people’, is their right and duty by reason of their baptism.” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, no. 14)

Liturgy is…

Expression of Christian Community

Entrance into Paschal Mystery

Expressed in and guided by the Liturgical Year

AdventChristmas

Ordinary Time

Lent

Triduum

Easter

Ordinary Time

The Liturgical Year

Liturgy Devotion

Set order in a ritual book Local, cultural variations with no “official” text

Required for the People of God

Optional (although highly encouraged)

Self sufficient Extends liturgical life, doesn’t replace it

Mass, Liturgy of the Hours, Benediction,Rite of Marriage

Veneration of relics, pilgrimages, processions, Stations of the Cross, Rosary

Prayer & Liturgy in the

Life of a Disciple

Requires “Full, conscious, active participation”

Transforms us in Christ…

…so that we can transform the world.

Ritual, how could we do without it! Though it may seem to be gibberish and irreverence, though the Mass is offered up in such haste that the sacred sentence, ‘hoc est corpus meum’ was abbreviated into ‘hocus-pocus’… and has come down into our language meaning trickery, nevertheless there is a sureness and a conviction there. And just as the husband may embrace his wife casually as he leaves for work in the morning, and kiss her absent-mindedly in his comings and goings, still that kiss on occasion turns to rapture, a burning fire of tenderness and love. And with this to stay her she demands the ‘ritual’ of affection shown… We have too little ritual in our lives.

- Dorothy Day, The Long Lonliness

Prayer & Liturgy in the

Life of a Disciple

Requires “Full, conscious, active participation”

Transforms us in Christ…

…so that we can transform the world.

Q&A

bit.ly/BetterDiscipleVideo and slides available tomorrow at