This prayer guide is aimed at those who have already started praying and praying most days. It aims to introduce you into the deeper prayer traditions of the Church and help you establish them in your life. 

DEEPER PRAYER

Read through the deeper prayer section. This will help you become aware of what the Holy Spirit can do in prayer. It is applicable for all prayer methods. You can then apply this to your current prayer method.

Examen

If you don't have a daily examen as part of your prayer routine, then it is now time to start. If you are already praying evening prayer than start it with an examen. Otherwise choose an appropriate part of your day and begin to pray the examen. It should be from 5 to 15 minutes. St. Ignatius suggested everyone should pray an examen for 15 minutes each day. For his Jesuits he expected them to do this twice a day.

MAYO EVENING PRAYER

The basic MAYO daily prayer is evening prayer with an examen at the start and a hymn to Our Lady at the end (preferrably the Salve Regina). 

RECONCILIATION

We suggest monthly reconciliation. Usually the local parish will have reconciliation after Saturday morning Mass. Whatever time or day it is go on the first occurance of it each month, eg first Saturday of the month. 

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

You should start spiritual direction once a month. Have a read of the spiritual direction guide for more information about it.

IGNATIAN RETREAT

The Ignatian retreat is really for Omega members but we need to learn and start to practice the skills for the Ignatian retreat. The aim of MAYO is for you to encounter Christ, be well formed in Christ and then do whatever Christ calls you to. That means discerning your true vocation. The ultimate retreat for vocational discernment is an Ignatian retreat which is normally done in 30 days of silence living at a retreat center, following the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius and talking with a spiritual director daily. We suggest this happen over 30 weeks with a weekly spiritual director time. The lessons learnt can be applied to our daily life to discern the movements and will of God in all we do. The best current books that explain the various aspects of the Spiritual Exercises are by Fr Timothy Gallagher and they cover Meditation and Contemplation, the Examen, Discernment of Spirits, Consolation and Discerning God's Will. We have (or will have) summaries of each of these books on this website. The short of this whole explanation is that you read through and practice what you learn from these books. Once you have read them and think you are ready then you are ready to start an Ignatian retreat and have completed the spiritual requirements to become an Omega MAYO member. 

Now you know all the parts of Deeper prayer it is time to choose what you will work on for the next term. Here are some practical suggestions. We suggest only making an increase of 15 minutes each term.

1) Daily examen for from 5-15 minutes each day.

2) MAYO evening prayer.

3) A meditation or contemplation for from 15 minutes daily to 30 minutes three times a week.

AND you can also take on one or more of these at the same time.

A) Monthly reconciliation.

B) Monthly Spiritual Direction.

C) Reading the Timothy Gallagher booKs

You will be ready to start the Ignatian retreat when you:

1) have a daily examen

2) MAYO evening prayer daily or its equivalent, eg Rosary.

3) 3 meditation/contemplation times of 30 minutes each week.

4) Monthly reconciliation

5) Monthly spiritual direction.

6) Read all the Timothy Gallagher books.

So time to choose what to work on for the next term!