School of Prayer returns for spring 2024

Have you ever felt stuck in your prayer life? Do you wonder if God hears you? Are you praying in the way God wants you to or enough? The Office for Evangelization wants to help allay all the fears and doubts about prayer with its School of Prayer series, which began last September and continues through spring. The course aims to help students gain confidence in their own prayer experience and provide tools to re-energize their prayer life.

The goal of the spiritual life is not prayer, it is union with God. Prayer is the privileged place of expressing and deepening that union with God. Just like any human relationship, it takes time and commitment to develop a relationship with God. Prayer is vital to living up to our baptismal promises and going forth as disciples tasked with the great commission.

School of Prayer is a seven-session course to enrich your spiritual life, offered every third Wednesday of the Month.

Led by Father John Gordon, the sessions encompass wide-ranging topics that build upon the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Scriptures to introduce a firm foundation of prayer from God to the believer.

They are held on Wednesdays beginning at 6:30 p.m. at John Paul II Youth Center – Sacred Heart Hall in Kearny. The session begins at 7:15 p.m. after food is served.

The faithful are welcome to register now for session 5:

Session 5 – Wednesday, Feb. 21: Who joins us in prayer: Schools of Spirituality. Registration is available here.

Upcoming sessions will host registration on Feb. 22:

Session 6 – Wednesday, April 17: Traditions of prayer: Piety and devotions of people and movements.

Session 7 – Wednesday, May 15: Prayer changes us: Personal Transformation and Home as School of Prayer.

Sessions will be released on video on the following schedule:

Session 1 – Why we pray: Man’s desire, God’s initiation (Held September 2023, available on our website and YouTube.)

Session 2 – To Whom do we pray: Jesus Christ: Embodiment of prayer, fully human, Fully Divine (Held October 2023, video release March).

Session 3 – How do we pray: Church, Mary, and Holy Spirit (Held November 2023, video release May).

Session 4 – Who Prays with us: The Saints and Prayer (Held January, video release June).

Father John Gordon is a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark and a highly sought-after retreat and pilgrimage director. Throughout his 34 years of priestly ministry, he has served at a number of parishes, been a high school chaplain, and was the formation director at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He currently serves as Secretary of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Newark, coordinator for the Charismatic Renewal, and the spiritual advisor for the Cursillo movement amongst other ministries and apostolates. He is a member of the People of Hope, a charismatic covenant community, and a secular Franciscan.

The $10 registration per session includes course materials as well as light refreshments, the company of 50 other like-minded individuals who are seeking a deeper spiritual life, and the opportunity to have all of your prayer questions answered. The faithful are still welcome to register for the entire seven sessions at the cost of $50 and will receive a course binder, all materials, and access to the videos of all the sessions before their release to the public.

Course details can be found here.

Jennifer D. Behnke is the Associate Director of Evangelization and can reached at jennifer.behnke@rcan.org.