“The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer”
(Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel [262])

catching our breath

A MINI RETREAT FOR YOU

AND COACHING TO ACCOMPANY
OTHERS IN PRAYER

Be refreshed with an experience of Ignatian prayer –
a taste for you and a practical way to share what you have received with others

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE ‘CATCHING OUR BREATH’ SERIES?

  • To support spiritual wellbeing as a community: pause, prayer, deeper relationship, to receive what God longs to give us in these demanding times​

  • To receive particular personal and communal gifts or fruits of the Spirit, such as delight, courage, and kindness​

  • Catching Our Breath draws life from God at the heart of our Catholic identity​

  • It offers a deep and light touch, a practical way to access these gifts and fruits​ in daily life

THE SERIES FOCUSES ON CATCHING OUR BREATH IN THREE WAYS:

  1. God’s Field Hospital Exercises
    e.g. delight, courage, and kindness​
  2. An Awareness Reflection (Examen)​
    Nuanced to the same given gift or fruit of the Spirit​, as above
  3. A Breath of Fresh Hope Blessing​
    Praying with the sign of the cross, nuanced to the same given gift or fruit of the Spirit
God’s Field Hospital Exercises and the Hope Blessings are attributed to the First Spiritual Exercises Ministry, Michael Hansen SJ
(www.first-exercises.com)

WHAT IS CORE GROUP TRAINING?

  • JISA offers core group training in Catching Our Breath to organisations, communities and schools who are looking to support the wellbeing of their staff

  • Those who participate in the series (a core group) begin by receiving the prayer methods, nourishing themselves first and then are trained to give the elements of the Program to others

  • The series is facilitated by JISA over 5 weeks – starting with a mini retreat for receivers, followed by core group coaching and accompaniment of participants as they learn how to give a Field Hospital Exercise, Examen and Breath of Fresh Hope Blessing

  • There are opportunities also for the core group to practice what they are learning with peers and the facilitators

  • Training includes tuition, coaching and practice hours in the content, dynamics, ethical use, safety net recommendations and code of conduct guidelines in relation to the giving of this material

TELL ME ABOUT GOD’S FIELD HOSPITAL EXERCISES…

“I see the church as a field hospital after battle. The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and warm the hearts of the faithful.”
(Pope Francis interview with Antonio Spadaro, SJ., published in America, 2013)
  • The Spiritual Field Hospital is a response to the image above by Pope Francis
  • A spiritual exercise is a simple, structured, refreshing way to pray. It was developed by St Ignatius Loyola nearly 500 years ago and has helped many people during times of feast and famine, enrichment and plague, inside and outside churches
  • Each Field Hospital spiritual exercise is a standalone prayer. Each will draw on an individual’s lived experience, present feelings and desire
  • The exercises have three uses:

1. to meet your immediate need, ​

2. to give you a spiritual resource for the rest of your life, ​

3. and for you to give to others with similar needs ​

  • They are created to ripple out into the community
  • Adapting and personalizing, making each exercise your own, helping others with them, is true to the recent thoughts of Pope Francis on life during the Covid-19 pandemic:
“I’m living at a time of great uncertainty. It’s a time for inventing, for creativity.
The creativity of the Christian needs to show forth in opening up new horizons, opening windows, opening transcendence toward God and toward people. Take care of the now, for the sake of tomorrow. Always creatively, with a simple creativity, capable of inventing something new each day”
(Pope Francis interview with Austen Ivereigh, published on Commonwealth Magazine, 2020)

WHAT DOES PRAYING AN EXAMEN INVOLVE?

The Examen sifts my day with gratitude and seeks to discern the traces of God at work in my life. It guides me along the right path with understanding. My awareness of God at work will grow with practice as I become sensitive to the divine presence.
(Michael Hansen SJ, 2013)
  • This prayer method, an awareness reflection, helps us identify God at work in our lives and to choose what is life giving
  • The Examen is prayed in five steps: Giving Thanks, Asking for Help, Making a Review, Offering a Response and Making a Resolution

WHAT IS A BREATH OF FRESH HOPE BLESSING?

  • This prayer method invites us to pray with the sign of the cross and can be done in several ways, as practiced in the training.
  • Hope blessings are a simple way to invite God into our day, to declare our desires and receive healing and to breathe in the gift of the Spirit

Each blessing a hope,
each hope a remedy,
each breath a new spirit,
each sign of the cross,
a prayer of Light in the dark.

“Hope is in fact like throwing an anchor to the other shore and clinging to the rope. Hope is humble, and it is a virtue that we work at – so to speak – every day: every day we have to take it back, every day we have to take the rope and see that the anchor is fixed there and I hold it in my hand; every day we have to remember that we have the security, that it is the Spirit who works in us with small things.”
(Pope Francis, Santa Marta Oct 29 2019)

WHO IS THIS SERIES FOR? WHAT IS POSSIBLE?

  • The spiritual gifts of Catching Our Breath are for you and your community to share
  • Receivers of these gifts become givers, and thus God’s grace ripples out into the community​
  • There are many people from within your community who may benefit from core group training in Catching Our Breath. Likewise, there are many ways in which the prayers can be shared by those who have received:
    • Frontline workers in school communities and management​
    • Individual staff, self-paced when it suits​
    • Working teams, in faculties, departments, leadership, pastoral care, admin and finance, grounds staff, canteen, parents, volunteers​
    • Students in the classroom, at the start and end of the day, in assembly, before competitions, exams, in an idle moment, in challenge and change, on the bus​
    • A Pilot Group
    • Meeting with a small group online, to experience the Breath of Fresh Hope blessings or the Field Hospital Exercises
    • Offering practical training to give these simple exercises in your schools and have a go together

HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION?

All enquiries are welcome at mf@jisa.org.au