Helping People to Pray

The Format:
On Pentecost, at all the weekend Masses, people are given a sheet that includes the first and third readings for Trinity Sunday. The readings are broken down in seven segments, one for each day of the week. For instance, Monday’s section would be from Exodus: “Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets. Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with him there and proclaimed his name, ‘Lord.’” Following this quote would be a question for reflection, such as, “How have you used the word Lord over the last few days, and with what reverence and forethought?” Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would continue with the Exodus reading, while Friday and Saturday would divide up the Gospel reading in two parts. The first section would end with “eternal life.” and the second would start with “God did not send . . .” Sample questions for these two sections might be: Friday: Where have you already experienced, here and now, “Eternal Life?” Saturday: God is not into condemning the world. Am I?

The Process:
As people leave Mass on Pentecost weekend, they are handed a copy of the Prayer Reflection sheet. (At the beginning, it is helpful to personally hand people this sheet rather than put it in the bulletin until they get used to receiving it. After a month it could be inserted into the bulletin or continue to be handed out as a separate sheet.) A similar sheet is prepared each week for people’s reflection on the next weekend’s readings. Ordinarily the sections will be taken from the Gospel, unless it is too short, as is the case for Trinity Sunday. Once a month, on the back side of the sheet, there is a Meditation on the readings for the coming Sunday. This could be a homily prepared by the celebrant, or it could be an insight into the readings prepared by one of the staff members or some other qualified person. This would provide a different perspective on the Scripture and could augment the person’s prayer experience for each day of the week.

Group Reflection:
Besides providing people with next weekend’s readings broken down for each day along with reflection questions, and a monthly “opening up of the Scriptures” on the back side of the sheet, this experience might also provide an occasion for people to come together once a month, perhaps on a Monday evening, to pray over the Scriptures and offer insights into how the readings might apply to their everyday lives. This sharing as a group could be a great asset to those preparing homilies for the coming weekend, as well as offering the participants an opportunity to “break open the Word” for one another as they use the reflection sheet for their prayer throughout the week.

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