Contemplative Living II: Daily Life as Prayer

February 17 – May 11, 2024

Course Description:

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. (Ezekiel 36:26)

"Contemplative life begins when when take the first step into the silence of our heart. It's a pilgrimage—a journey that takes us first to the inner reaches of who we really are, and from there, into the life we were meant to live." (Julie Saad, Contemplative Life: Discovering Our Path into the Heart of God)

This four-month long online course is the second part of the Contemplative Living concentration for the Certificate in Spiritual Formation.  This study is an experiential course that guides participants to deepen their experience of the abiding presence of God by cultivating their contemplative capacities. Participants will discover their daily life as prayer as they deepen their contemplative spiritual practices within a community of seekers. Contemplative practices are the doorway into the gift of contemplative prayer where the journey that begins in the silence of our hearts leads us into the heart of God. As we cultivate contemplative practices amid ordinary life, we begin to experience oneness with God and all creation.

The Design of Contemplative Living II: Daily Life as Prayer

Gaining contemplative attitudes and dispositions through

• Contemplative Discernment – a method for making decisions based on our interior spiritual life, relying on God.
• Contemplative Awareness related to Addictions, Attachments and Aversion – using the discernment process to surface habit patterns that have become compulsions we no longer freely choose.
• The Forgiveness Prayer – a prayer that guides us 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 has worked for you that you will continue to be committed 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 form 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.

Location: Online

With: Julie Saad. 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 a 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 individual study and devotion between the monthly sessions:

• 6 hour monthly synchronous sessions
• 1 hour weekly virtual prayer chapel

The synchronous monthly session meets from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time on the following Saturdays in 2024: February 17, March 16, April 13, May 11, 2024.

Program Fee: $700, early registration discount $650 through January 17, 2024

Contact: lifelonglearning@ctsnet.edu