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This week we’re continuing our series on prayer. In this segment, I would like to look at “faith sharing.” Essentially, faith sharing is the practice where you meet with a group of friends to share where God has been active in your prayer or your daily life. Usually the group is about four or five people, though it can be larger if it’s, say, taking place in a parish setting or being done on a pilgrimage or during a group retreat.
Faith sharing is pretty simple: each person offers their experiences of God’s activity in their lives, perhaps where they felt most moved, or noticed God’s presence, and especially what’s been going on in their prayer. Usually it’s better that there not be too much in terms of “response” from the other people in the group. Why not? Well, because often if someone is going through a hard time, or even a dry time in prayer, it’s tempting for someone else to offer advice, or say, “Oh I went through that, too,” or “Let me tell you what to do,” rather than simply listening and being present to what is going on in that person’s spiritual life.
Overall, faith sharing can be a great benefit to one’s spiritual life, not only because you accompany others in their spiritual journeys, but also because you can see the different ways that the Holy Spirit is at work. Even if your own spiritual life is dry at the moment, you can see the Spirit active in others. That can help you to feel more confident about God’s continuing activity around us. And in you. So why not give faith sharing a try? Gather together four or five friends, start with a prayer, and then see how God has been at work in your lives.
I would encourage sharing faith by connecting life with scripture, e.g. the Gospel for the coming Sunday, or, having previously selected a scripture theme, to proclaim the scripture for that day, take time to personally reflect, and then share how it connects with one’s life.. This practice provides context for sharing and helps members deepen understanding of scripture.