All members of Bellarmine Chapel are encouraged to engage in their ongoing personal formation into discipleship by reflecting on the upcoming Sunday Gospel before celebrating the Eucharist on Sunday. Reading and prayerful reflection on the Sunday Scriptures greatly enhances one’s experience of the Word, the Eucharist, and the gathered Body of Christ.
- Reflecting on the Sunday Gospel
- St. Louis Center for Liturgy
- Loyola Press Sunday Connection
- At Home with the Word Book available at LTP (Liturgy Training Publications)
- Sacred Space Daily Prayer online
- Center for Action and Contemplation: daily meditations and podcasts
(We want to curate multiple resources for Praying the Examen during Lent 2022 and can post them here plus on our Lenten page)
- Jesuit Resources
- Praying The Daily Examen
- Ignatian Spirituality Resources including An Introduction to Ignatian Spirituality, Praying The Daily Examen, Praying The Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life http://www.ignatianspirituality.com
- Ignatian Examen for Civic Life
- Xavier University Center for Mission and Identity
Ongoing invitation to pray The Spiritual Exercises in a small group or individually guided by a spiritual director.
Read here for an understanding of The Spiritual Exercises
As a faith community grounded in Ignatian spirituality, Bellarmine Chapel provides ongoing opportunities to pray The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius as a “retreat in daily life” using the 8-week model during Advent or Lent; or the 32-week model beginning in the fall.
Information about the 8-week model here
To join a group, contact the Director of Faith Formation.
- Sacred Space Daily Prayer online
- Center for Action and Contemplation: daily meditations and podcasts
- Praying Lectio Divina, a “divine reading of Scripture”
- Centering Prayer Introduction by Thomas Keating
- Centering Prayer mobile app
Choose at least one of these great resources to take the next step into deeper prayer.
(As described at Ignatianspirituality.com)
Spiritual direction is “help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship.” (William A. Barry and William J. Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction)
- Spiritual direction focuses on religious experience. It is concerned with a person’s actual experience of a relationship with God.
- Spiritual direction is about a relationship. The religious experience is not isolated, nor does it consist of extraordinary events. It is what happens in an ongoing relationship between the person and God. Most often, this is a relationship experienced in prayer.
- Spiritual direction is a relationship that is going somewhere. God is leading the person to deeper faith and more generous service. The spiritual director asks not just “what is happening?” but “what is moving forward?”
- The real spiritual director is God. God touches the human heart directly. The human spiritual director does not “direct” in giving advice and solving problems. Instead, the director helps a person respond to God’s invitation to a deeper relationship.
See the list of spiritual directors available to the Bellarmine community. Their information is listed so that you may contact them directly.