GOING HIGHER AND DEEPER SEAN O’NEILL
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he main goal of the Church of the Resurrection is to provide an environment in which our parishioners can become intentional disciples, and ultimately, saints. In addition to the sacramental life, we aim to provide opportunities to personally encounter the Lord, beginning with our Resurrection Life course. The Resurrection Life course lays out the wonderful good news of salvation through a presentation of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and introduces participants to the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts.
finding new relationships in our parish, what’s next for someone who wants to go even deeper? We have been developing a fouryear formation program which will equip our brothers and sisters in the parish to love God in a more profound way, and spread
“But once they have heard the Gospel message proclaimed and are finding new relationships in our parish, what’s next for someone who wants to go even deeper?” that love to those around them. The formation program consists of fifteen courses, each with three talks. The courses are divided into two types: Love of God and Love of Neighbor.
At the end of the course, attendees are invited to join a Connect group, in order to benefit from the authentic community we are working to foster in the parish. But once they have heard the Gospel message proclaimed and are
Over the past two years, we have offered three courses focused on prayer. In November 2018, a member of our formation team, Brian Fink, gave an overview of the Catechism’s wisdom about prayer, including: The Revelation of Prayer; The Tradition of Prayer; and The Life of Prayer.
In March 2019, Fr. Steve gave an introduction to the Christian discipline of mental/contemplative prayer. He addressed the theology and practice of mental prayer, and gave “homework” to help us open our hearts and minds to the Lord in prayer. In May of 2019, Jeannette Barbacane and Tesa Fleming, founders of the Heart of Christ Spiritual Direction Program, explained the valuable lessons found in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Jeannette and Tesa discussed the basic movements of consolation and desolation as developed by St. Ignatius, including his fourteen rules for discernment of spirits. In January of this year, it was our honor to welcome Ralph Martin to give our fourth formation course entitled “The Journey to God.” Ralph is president of Renewal Ministries, director of Graduate Theology Programs in Evangelization and professor of Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, and consulter to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. Ralph’s three
