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Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parishioner Paul Venables, co-founder of its Random Acts of Catholics faith-sharing group talks about an online Lenten series that invites participants into forms of Ignatian prayer. He is pictured inside the Mill Valley church Feb. 2. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)
Feb. 4, 2021
Christina Gray
Catholic San Francisco
The Marin County co-founder of Random Acts of Catholics, a faith-sharing and service group active now in several local parishes said he was inspired by his own training at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos to create an online Lenten series guided by the elements of Ignatian-style prayer.
"I've seen people really come to life through Ignatian prayer," said Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parishioner Paul Venables in a Feb. 2 interview with Catholic San Francisco at the Mill Valley church. "Lent is a good time to try to include some new ways of praying.”
The Lenten series, which he named Shelter in Faith, will meet weekly online Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. beginning Feb. 10 through March 31. It is free and open to anyone at any time throughout the series.
The goal of the series, said Venables, paraphrasing the final lines of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “Spiritual Exercises” echoed in a famous 1970s musical, is to help participants “see Christ more clearly, love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly.”
Venables said he was also inspired by the words of Pope Francis almost a year ago to a pandemic-paralyzed world. In his "Urbi et Orbi" blessing March 27, 2020, the pope said this moment in history was a time of judgement -- not God’s judgement, but our own. “Now is a time to choose what matters and what passes away; a time to separate what is necessary from what is not," the pope said.
Lent and the continuing uncertainty wrought by the pandemic is “an opportunity to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others," said Venables, who co-founded RAOC in 2016. The program falls under the RAOC umbrella, with now-thriving chapters at OLMC and St. Brendan Parish in San Francisco.
The advertising agency executive is in the third and final year of the Pierre Favre Spiritual Direction Program offered by El Retiro Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos. The third year of study involves directing other people through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.
“The exercises are this big 10-month journey if you do it formally,” he said. “This series is just a glimpse of the little prayerful things you can do to get closer to God.”
Participants will get to experience Ignatian contemplation, imaginative prayer, the reflective Examen, and Lectio Divina. They will also get a sample the Triple Colloquy, a form of prayerful conversation with first Mary, then Jesus and finally God.
“We will also share our faith experiences and make personal petitions to support each other in prayer,” said Venables.
Venables said the Spiritual Exercises and Ignatian prayer have helped him “see the world with different eyes. You see things like obstacles that slow you down in a completely different way.”
When asked about his own prayers, Venables said he prays for Jesus to be loved more, “including by me.”
“I guess that I believe that with his grace and the Holy Spirit guiding me I can help in that way,” he said.
Visit randomactsofcatholics.org or contact PabloVenables@gmail.com for the series link.