Contemplative Living II: Daily Life as Prayer

Contemplative Living II: Daily Life as Prayer

January – April 2025

Course Description:

Your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

Further enrich your contemplative life and embrace the practice of living each day as a form of prayer. In Contemplative Living I (CL I) the focus is on deepening your interior prayer life, leading to the awareness of God’s presence in all that is. In Contemplative Living II (CL II) the focus shifts towards increased intentionality in how you are living your daily life. You likely have a better understanding of what blocks you in deepening your relationship with God, others, and even with yourself. You are now more capable of looking at your part in relationships and what gets in the way of being and becoming the person God created you to be. Building on the contemplative practices learned in CL I, in CL II you will assess where you are in your life and how you can make choices aligning with your authentic self.

The design of Contemplative Living II: Daily Life as Prayer:

Gaining contemplative attitudes and dispositions through

Contemplative Listening – a practice of active listening in group spiritual direction, raising your awareness of the movements of the Divine within you and others.
Contemplative Discernment – a method of going to God with your questions and desires, allowing the answers to find you
Contemplative Awareness related to Addictions, Attachments and Aversion – using contemplative discernment to surface habit patterns that have become compulsions that you no longer freely choose
The Forgiveness Prayer – a prayer that guides you to follow Jesus’s example to live with hearts open to love
Contemplative Service – a vocation, a calling, or a way of life that’s rooted in living a contemplative life
Commitment to a Contemplative Rule of Life – looking at the rhythm of life you’ve created in this course, what practices have worked for you and that you will continue to commit to in the ordinary activities of your life
Contemplative Living Communities – the support we receive from community enhances our spiritual journey and is helpful to continue in some way at the end of the course

Objectives

To Establish a daily practice of Centering Prayer
To Integrate contemplative practices into daily life
To Cultivate contemplative attitudes and disposition
To Foster contemplative sensibilities and a listening heart

Location: ONLINE

With: Julie Saad is a spiritual director, author, teacher, and retreat leader. Since 1994 she has been a student of Thomas Keating (1923-2018), a Trappist monk who was a founding member and spiritual guide for Contemplative Outreach. Julie has also served Contemplative Outreach as coordinator of the Denver Chapter, facilitator of spiritual journey courses and retreats, member of the Governing Board, and coordinator of the Contemplative Living Experience Program. She has been practicing and teaching Centering Prayer and other contemplative practices for over 25 years. She recently published the book Contemplative Life: Discovering Our Path into the Heart of God, a guidebook to spiritual formation in the Christian contemplative tradition, based on the teaching of Thomas Keating.

Schedule: Contemplative Living II consists of four monthly synchronous teachings and practices, with study and devotion between the monthly sessions:

6-hour monthly synchronous sessions
2-hour monthly Holy Listening Circles (Group Spiritual Direction)
1-hour weekly virtual prayer chapel (selected videos of Thomas Keating’s teaching will be assigned to view before each session for brief sharing/discussion

The synchronous monthly session meets from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Eastern Time on the following Saturdays: Jan 25, Feb 22, March 29, and April 26, 2025.

Program Fee: $700. Early bird discount of $100 until September 27, 2024.

Additional Information:

Required Reading

Contemplative Life: Discovering Our Path into the Heart of God by Julie Saad