Prayer groups- is anyone in one or started one? Looking for ideas

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I am thinking about starting a small prayer group :gopray2: . There are some ladies in my homeschool group who are interested and some friends. I am looking for some guidance, suggestions, books, saints :getholy: , experiences, etc. to help us in pulling together some order for our group.
Thank you!
God Bless,
Margarete
 
This lent I’m trying something new. I’m running a Lenten prayer group that is organized by the parish.

In this case, we were given the materials. In these groups, we have a discussion guided by about five questions, about the scripture readings for the previous Sunday. We spend about 45 minutes on that discussion, and another half hour or so on the rest which is going over some printed suggestions for growing the faith in the coming week, and talking about how we might have incorporated last week’s.

These small prayer groups can be wonderful, especially if it has the right mix of sticking to the scriptures and relaying real-life experiences. I think in this way, sharing our experiences in response to scripture readings, can do a lot of good to help us and each other to put our life experiences in perspective.

One thing to caution against is that under some circumstances such meetings can turn into a free-for-all gripe session. My wife found that some ostensibly prayerful groups turned into a gossip session where we bashed each others’ husbands and other parishioners. Speaking of hurt so that others may help is probably useful, but if such is done it would behoove the leader of the group to be prepared to keep the discussion within reasonable guidlines.

Of course, people sharing their hurts are not “bashing” in and of themselves, but I am convinced that no good came out of some of those meetings that Julie went to, except that I learned that my wife stood out among others and refused to participate in husband-bashing, even though she knows my faults. 😉

Alan
 
Thank for the caution- I hadn’t thought of that! I don’t abide the gripe sessions.
I am definitely looking for something scripture-based (hoping there might be a book for a bunch of beginners!) And also suggestions of the saints who gave great examples in this area (maybe a little saint study thrown in!)
The lenten group sounds great. Will you be continuing afterwards?
God Bless,
Margarete
 
Mary Ann Budnik has a book and workbook You can be a Saint. A group of us did that once.

After Easter, we are going to do a book study on *The Mother’s Rule of Life * with an aim to develop our own rules of life.

The Great Adventure by Jeff Cavins is awesome, but hard to do if you plan to have kids near by.

Stacy Mitch has some good Bible studies, but it has a lot of prep work.

www.salvationhistory.com has some print outable Bible studies. It is a Scott Hahn site.

One rosary group I went to prayed a rosary using the meditations in the Rosary novena book. Then we read at random from The Apostalate of Holy Motherhood. It is private revelation.

I agree that you have to be careful not to fall into gripe. Also gossip. We have had trouble with our prayer intention time turning into gossip time. For example, “please pray for Loretta who is having an affair with John who is married to Ruth. What a terrible cross. And Ruth is suffering so. Especially since her teenage daughter is failing high school. Tsk tsk.”

Finally, we had to agree not share details. 😃
 
Would the Apostolate of Holy Motherhood be availble in most Catholic bookstores? Do you have the author handy?
I reallly love the idea of incorporating the Rosary into it!
Thank you so much!
God Bless,
Margarete
 
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margarete:
Would the Apostolate of Holy Motherhood be availble in most Catholic bookstores? Do you have the author handy?
I reallly love the idea of incorporating the Rosary into it!
Thank you so much!
God Bless,
Margarete
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No. I doubt it. not around here.

But, it is all over the internet. A google should find it right away.
 
We belong to a prayer group that meets once a week at home. An opening hymn will be sung, or said, depending on the vocal “talent”. We say a rosary after announcing intentions. Then maybe a spiritual movie, tape, article,etc, and end with the Liturgy of the Hours night prayer. Afterwards some light snacks and visit time.

Good luck.
 
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Danw:
You might also try this website, and look in the section, “small Chrisitan communities”.

presentationministries.com
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We are currently discerning in a group whether to form a community under presentation ministries. One thing I really like about it is that the whole family is involved in the community.
 
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margarete:
The lenten group sounds great. Will you be continuing afterwards?
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Not officially, but those of us in the group have discussed continuing on our own – if we do then we’ll also need to figure out what kind of format and material to use.

Alan
 
The Marian Movement of Priests offers free Prayer Group Materials for organizing centacles. They ask for a small donation.
Their website is www.mmp-usa.net.
 
Starting a prayer group is a wonderful idea. I suggest beginning with Eucharistic Adoration at a church that makes this holy prayer time available. If there are none in your area, try asking your priest is he would allow even just 30 minutes for Adoration for your group on a weekly basis. Afterward, you could study scripture, the life of a saint, or different methods of prayer.
A very good study on the Sunday scripture readings that works well with small groups is: Celebrating the Word.
celebratingtheword.com/
I am in a group that is using this study and it is excellent.

If you want to try studying a book at your own pace, I would recommend: Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis DeSales.

Good luck and may the peace of Christ be with you.
 
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margarete:
I am thinking about starting a small prayer group :gopray2: . There are some ladies in my homeschool group who are interested and some friends. I am looking for some guidance, suggestions, books, saints :getholy: , experiences, etc. to help us in pulling together some order for our group.
Thank you!
God Bless,
Margarete
Click to expand...
Did you have a specific goal or purpose in mind, or is this more of a generalized idea?

The reason I ask is that prayer meetings can be very specifically targeted toward a particular need or mission, or they can be more general and set up as a regular intercessionary avenue.

It is amazing what can happen, for example, if a parish is planning an evangelization mission, and a group gets together regularly, say once a week just for the purpose of asking God to prepare the ground, the hearts and minds of people, by the urging of the Holy Spirit. If this goes on for say six months prior to the mission, when the evangelist speaker arrives to sow the seed, people’s hearts and minds are so ready to receive, that the results can surprise everyone, even those who have been praying for that very thing to happen.

Even if the purpose is not a mission, it does help to have a specific target for prayer, because it helps to keep the group focussed and goal oriented. Perhaps this works better in the case of men’s prayer groups, but even with women’s groups, if you are trying to avoid the kind of gripe sessions others have mentioned, it helps to have a track to run on.

Just some thoughts.
 
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