The Prayer and Life Workshops are an ecclesial movement officially recognised by the Church. It offers a form of evangelization that is more alive and with a new positive vision.
The workshops are a service to the Church. But this service has a very precise goal : to teach others to pray in an orderly and progressive manner, in the sense that participants progress from the simplest experience of beginners to the heights of contemplation.
Christians, in general, reflect a good deal on the Word of God, but they are not taught how to pray, at least not in a systematic and practical manner.
The workshops do this through a course of fifteen two-hour weekly sessions. Rather than theoretical, the source is concrete and practical. It is designed precisely as a workshop where the participants learn by working and work by learning.
Our movement teaches prayer by praying.
Based on the Bible:
The Prayer and Life Workshops method is wholly based on the Word of God. The central focus in each session is reading and meditating on the Word. During four months, for each day of the week, the participants are given text from the New and Old Testaments so that they can meditate and pray them in their homes using the Brief Guidelines to meditate and live the Word.
Christ-centered:
In the workshops, Jesus Christ is the beginning, the centre and the end in order that the participants feel, act and love likeJesus did, with the eternal question in their hearts – What would Jesus do in my place?
Nursery of Apostolic vocation:
Every experience ends in a testimonial. The workshop not only wants to be a school of formation but an apostolic school as well – in such a way that the participants, once constituted into disciples and friends of Jesus, participate directly in the priestly, prophetic and regal mission of Jesus Christ and that wherever they make themselves present, by their conduct and deeds, they plant the Kingdom of God. In this fashion, the Workshops are an instrument of revitalization for the local Church.
Exclusively a lay service:
The Workshops, convinced that only with total autonomy they would be able to have a mature laity, opted from its beginning to have a s government: giving it the entire responsibility to organize and govern the workshops worldwide. Being eminently a lay service, the Workshops have always firmly insisted in maintaining fluid and cordial relations with the parish priests and Bishops.
Our Parish Prayer Guides, Maria and Tracey Murphy with Fr Andrew after their commissioning as PLW Guides in 2024
Step by step prayer activity – adapted to the person:
Praying – while a gift of grace is also an art. For this reason, it is subject to a methodical and progressive learning process. That is why we have made every effort to place in the internal organization of the Workshops, clear objectives, a progressive methodology and practice, clear contents and lots of discipline.
A life Workshop:
The Workshops are not a doctrine: neither are they theory nor theology. They work following the orientations of life and their applications. Living the life experiences throughout the course, combined with the prayer methods, enables a deeper spiritual growth than with either one alone.
A liberating and healing Workshop:
Through the life experience of Surrender, the participant nears a profound peace; and through messages and exercises the participant slowly is able to liberate themselves from sadness and anxiety; to heal all wounds; to surpass fears and complexes, while recuperating the meaning of life and the joy of living.
Prayer and Life Workshops take place every Tuesday evening from 7pm in Our Lady’s Parish Hall from September – December 2024. All are welcome.
Some feedback from the 2023 Workshops:
‘From the first introduction meeting before signing up I felt this was for me. I found each week built on the previous one. The group was so welcoming and I felt part of it immediately.’
‘The Prayer and Life Workshop has been the catalyst to deepening my understanding of the different and powerful ways in which I can pray, how the different methods can be used to grow closer to God and implementing them in my life has had a deep impact on my coping skills in life’s ups and downs. I have grown as a person and my spiritual life is now far richer. I am so thankful for the experience, being led by the wonderful Guides and learning from fellow guests on the course.’
‘The guides were gentle and compassionate in their approach, always respectful and generous with their time. There was also a sense in which we were all travelling this journey together and although at different stages along the way we had the same goal in sight.’
‘I would recommend the PLW to everyone no matter where you are on the path; there is always new revelations and things to experience and it is a wonderful opportunity to travel with others and explore together whilst also personally growing closer to Jesus.’