How to grow with the Spirit of

Jesus in Response to a Deeper Call

Canossian Sisters Search-In
Program

How do I grow in the

Spirit?
The beginning of the spiritual life is
often difficult not only because the
powers which cause us to worry are
so strong but also because the
presence of Gods Spirit seems
barely noticeable.
If, however, we are faithful to our
discipline, a new hunger will make
itself known. (Henri Nouwen in Making All Things New.)

How do I grow in the Spirit?

The disciple asks, Is there anything I
can do to make myself enlightened?
To which the spiritual master responds,
As little as you can do to make the
sun rise in the morning.
Then of what use are the spiritual
exercises you prescribe?
To make sure you are awake when the
sun begins to rise.(Anthony de Mello)

A Way to Grow, A Way to Respond to a

Deeper Call

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

WHEEL

The Christian Life

Wheel

Stud
y

Prayer

Ch Da
ri ily
Li stia
fe n

ra
ts
en
m

Se
rv
i
e c

c
Sa

GO
D

hips
s
d
n
Frie

The Christian Life Wheel

Prayer is the way to remain connected
with God, to listen to His call and
cultivate a deep and loving personal
relationship between God and all that
God loves, beginning with yourself, then
your neighbors and the whole world.
Faithfulness to Inner Formation,
Attentive to outer expressions
- Spending useless time with the Lord
- Creating your simple rituals

The Christian Life Wheel

Prayer is the way to remain connected with God, to listen
to His call and cultivate a deep and loving personal
relationship between God and all that God loves, beginning
with yourself, your neighbors and the whole world.

Awake to the movements

of the Spirit
- Pondering
- Mindfulness
- Gratitude and Perspective

The Christian Life

Wheel
Prayer is the way to remain connected with God, to listen
to His call and cultivate a deep and loving personal
relationship between God and all that God loves, beginning
with yourself, then your neighbors and the whole world.

Centered on Jesus Christ

-I

love You

- I love

YOU

You love ME

The Christian Life

Wheel

Study is my disciplined and focused

effort to widen the horizons of my
understanding with regard to my faith,
my inner and outer world
Tools
- The BIBLE
- Spiritual Reading
- Homilies
- Search-in Formative Sessions
- Journaling

The Christian Life

Wheel

Service is my expression of a growing

relationship with God in Jesus Christ through
power of the Holy Spirit who makes me aware of
the needs of others and of the world.

He has told you, Omortal, what

isgood;
and what does the Lord require of
you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with yourGod?

Micah 6:8

The Christian Life

Wheel

To do justice, to love mercifully, to walk

humbly with God
These may embody all that we need to know
in order to be faithful and to be human.
They are not three virtues. They are not
things to do.
Rather, they speak of the three dimensions of
a life of faithfulness, each of which depends
on and is reinforced by the other two.
To love kindness (hesed) means to enter into
relationships of abiding solidarity. It means to
make commitments and to keep

The Christian Life

Wheel
Service is my expression of a growing
relationship with God in Jesus Christ through power
of the Holy Spirit who makes me aware of the
needs of others and of the world.

Basic Life Responsibilities (Work,

Creativity, Care)

Blest to Witness to Christs love and

service : to family, friends, neighbors, coworkers and the world at large

TYPES
OF
ACTION

The Active Life, A Spirituality of Work, Creativity and Caring by

Parker Palmer

TYPES OF
ACTION
WORK

CREATE

CARE

TYPES OF
ACTION

WORK: Action driven by

external necessity or
demand.
We work because we need to
survive,
solve
a
problem.
Work has the element of
necessity that leads to
the characteristic
dilemmas of this form of
active life

TYPES OF
ACTION
CREATE: Action driven more
by inner choice than outer
demand.
An act cannot be creative if it is not born of
freedom. In creative action the desire is
not to solve, succeed or survive but
to give birth to something new. If work
reveals something of our bondage to the
world, creativity reveals something of
how we transcend it gives rise to

TYPES OF
ACTION
CARE: Action freely chosen.
In caring we aim not at giving birth to something
new; we aim at nurturing, protecting, guiding,
healing, or empowering something that has life.
The energy behind caring is COMPASSION for
others which in turn is energized by the
knowledge that we are all in these together.
CARING may take a personal form but also form
through movements for
political and economic justice.

The Christian Life

Wheel

Friendship is where I learn how to become a renewing

Christian, where I experience being loved for who I am
and where I am encouraged to discover my potential and
where I learn to love others as they are, guided by the
Holy Spirit to love my neighbor as Jesus loves them.

Cultivating relationships
Openness
Detachment
Shifting my attention from myself to the
other
- Doing the wheel with my community

The Christian Life Wheel

Sacraments are the main channels of Gods
grace through which I am initiated more fully
into the life and mission of Christ together
with the Church, where I am reconciled,
where I learn to see signs of Gods abiding
presence in my life and in the life of the
community.
Sacraments of Initiation : Baptism,
Confirmation, Eucharist
Sacraments of Healing : Reconciliation,
Anointing of the Sick and the Dying

The Personal Growth

Plan

Inner Formation is transformative,

building on attitudinal change
a change of heart, mind and spirit.
A MOUSE was constantly anxious because of its dread of a
cat. An angel passing by saw this and pitied the poor creature.
He then turned the mouse into a DOG. Satisfied, he left, only
to return several months later to find the dog now suffering
from a paralyzing fear of a CHEETAH. Jumping in again, the
angel changed the dog into a LION so it would be relieved of
its anxiety. Upon returning months later, he found the lion now
worried constantly about a rogue elephant that lived in the area.
FINALLY, he turned the lion back into the MOUSE and said:
THERE IS LITTLE ANYONE CAN DO FOR YOU.
BECAUSE NO MATTER WHAT CHANGES ARE MADE OUTSIDE,
WITHIN YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE HEART OF A MOUSE.

A Personal Growth
Plan
What we LOVE, we LEARN,
what we learn, we LIVE we
LOVE the FULL CIRCLE OF
GRACE!
I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly . John 10:10
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to
you.
John 14:18

I have called you friends, because I have

NEW LIFE BEGINS

as you surrender totally to the Spirit of
Jesus, the Christ!

We will grow as the Spirit

moves and blesses us and as
we learn to respond,
discovering always how much
we are loved by God! And so
now we become Gods loved
ones, called to love the world as

LECTIO DIVINA
Growing in the Spirit with my group

How to Begin
To Learn to Love and to Live as
Jesus loves,
we need to gather to ponder and
share
on the Gospels meaning in our real
lives.
1.The Gospel is read three times,
each time preceded by a question.
2.Reflect and feel free to share after
each reading.

Question 1

What word or phrase

particularly speaks to
you?
(Feel free to contribute even if your
word or phrase has already been
spoken)

Question 2

What in todays
world does this
passage of
Scripture address?

Question 3
To what does this passage
call me? or
To what does it call our
Parish community? or
To what does it call
Canossians today?

Notes
After the three readings, the LECTIO DIVINA
Leader will close with a prayer.

(Lectio Divina Leader varies from meeting to meeting.)

The questions are read before each reading of the Scripture Passage.
If the Scripture passage is rather lengthy, feel free to choose a shorter
passage.
Try not to convey your meaning or interpretation of the passage as you
read it.
Closing prayer should be done in about 3-4 sentences.
The Scripture Passage is usually the Gospel of the coming Sunday
Please consult the website or a gospel commentary of the Gospel
Passage

http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/082408.html