Valentine’s Evening for Couples

Liturgy, renewal of marriage vows and a full course dinner highlight this most enjoyable way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The evening will focus on celebrating the love between you and growing in gratitude and joy. Mass starts at 5 PM.
Sign up early!
Date: Saturday, February 13
Time: 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Donation: $50/couple with registration.

Classics on Contemplative Prayer

We will read Father Thomas Keating’s classic on Contemplative Prayer, Intimacy with God, during our sessions from February to June. This session is followed by Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer 7:30 to 8:30 PM.
Dates: 5 Tuesdays:
February 16, March 16, April 13, May 11, June 8
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Donation: $65 includes book

Centering Prayer Evenings

5 Tuesdays    7:30 – 8:30 PM

February 16      May 11

March 16            June 8

April 13

We meet one Tuesday a month for 20 minutes of Lectio Divina and 40 minutes of Centering Prayer.  These evenings really help to keep your centering prayer practice alive.  There is power in the group. This is preceded by a study of the classics.  Love Offering.

The Call to Contemplation

We are built for contemplation. Communion with God in the silence of our heart is a God-given capacity, like a flower opens in the sun. This evening will offer guidance and encouragement as you respond to God’s invitation to contemplation. We long to be silent before God. As St. John of the Cross says, “The Father spoke one Word, which was His Son, and this Word He speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must be heard by the soul.” Come, allow refreshment for your soul. Let the Silence transform you. Can you give one night of your Lenten Season to respond to this call?
Date: Tuesday, March 2
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Donation: $20 includes book

Encounter the Silence

Simplify Your Prayer, De-clutter Your Life
I will lead you into the desert and speak to your heart. (Hosea 2)
Karl Rahner has written a marvelous series of essays on the effects of silence on our life and prayer. Lent invites us to this desert silence. This retreat evening will help us to experience the silence that leads to simplicity, and the simplicity that leads to a de-cluttering of life. This is a wonderful Lenten choice. Please register early.
Date: Thursday, March 11
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Donation: $20 includes book

Living in God’s Friendship

Here’s My Heart, Here’s My Hand
It is a difficult proposition for many of us to believe that God—eternal, unchanging, all-knowing—could actually desire a relationship with us. Once we have accepted the premise that God indeed does want our friendship, it can be even more challenging to think about how to actually engage in that friendship, foster it, and remain anchored in it when life tosses us about. Father William Barry’s book, Here’s My Heart, Here’s My Hand, will follow this theme and help us to grow in intimate friendship, a friendship like no other.
Date: Tuesday, April 20
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Donation: $25 includes book ($15)

Soul Searching: Merton Series

Merton speaks to the soul like no other. He gently leads us toward spiritual transformation and a more contemplative and peace-filled life. Merton reminds us: “Your life is shaped by the ends you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.” We will study Merton in these 3 sessions and let his pursuit of his true self in God foster our own search. Topics include:

Entering the School of Your Experience

Becoming Who You Already Are

Living Your Deepest Desire

You will receive a book each evening to lead you through your two weeks of prayer between sessions.
Dates: 3 Wednesdays:  April 28, May 12  &  May 26
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Donation: $50 for the series, including books, or $20 each session. Come to as many as you can, but please come to the first one if possible. Please register early.

Spiritual Friendship

I really want to have this, and I hope you want to come. Spiritual Friendship is an old spiritual classic by Aelred of Rievaulx which has been re-translated with a commentary by Dennis Billy to guide the way. The new edition opens up the riches of this spiritual masterpiece to a wide audience of contemporary readers who see the spiritual life not as a solitary enterprise, but one intimately connected to relationships. Spiritual Friendship offers wise counsel on many aspects of friendship and promises to enhance our friendships in the Lord. I read it years ago and loved it. I look forward to the new edition. How about you?
Date: Tuesday, May 18
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Donation: $20 includes book

Please, always register for programs! To register by mail, send your name, address, phone number and email to: Francis House of Prayer, PO Box 392 Rancocas, NJ 08073. You may also register by calling: 609-877-0509.

If you are registered and you cannot come, please call and let us know! Thank you.