St. Joseph the Worker

Men’s Group

Purpose:

To grow in virtue as brothers in Christ through fraternity, dedication, commitment, and prayer.

The Foundation:

• Why am I here?

• Who do I want to be as a Christian?

• What do I want to get out of this group?

• Should be reasonable, incremental improvements and goals

Requirements: 7 or 8pm in person. IF VIDEO TIME MANAGEMENT IS EASIER. 

• Meeting Frequency

30 Catch up, 1 hr Meet, Add Meal Night,

Week of Month

Meeting Type

Week 1

In-person (mission format)

Week 2

In-person (mission format)

Week 3

In-person (mission format)

Week 4

In-person (social event)

(Week 5)

In-person (mission format)

NOTES:

“Mission format” is the typical weekly group program

“Social event” is a gathering focused on leisure through a shared meal, prayer, volunteer, sports, games, etc

Commit to being available every week within reason

Program (Mission Format):

• Group

  • Journal

    • Daily journaling. Start small, start structured, until the habit is built. Refine gradually.

  • Lectio Divina

    • Daily commitment to practicing meditative, personal prayer through Lectio Divina. Use the same verses for the group. Consider using the Liturgical Calendar or some other structured sequence of scripture. 15-20 min daily commitment.

  • Accountability n

    • Share your goals, struggles, the group is confidential. Be respectful and understanding of the goals and progress of others in the group.

  • Presence

    • Do not skip weekly meetings without legitimate reason. Realistically, some members will be more committed and able than others. A group should have a Core Team, usually of 2-5 members, that can show up every week consistently. The group would ideally contain men from various age groups and states in life. There should be a confidential text group for easy communication.

  • Group Focus

    • Rotate a multi-meeting topic series for group discussion, goal setting, learnings. E.g. Rule of life, Rosary, St. Joseph book reading, etc.

  • Common Prayer

    • Have one common daily prayer that is said by all the group members. E.g. St. Joseph the Worker.

• Individual

  • Rise Early

    • Some goals are best accomplished before the world arises. Plan some of your goals to be done in the morning, such as Lectio Divina, Journaling, personal devotions.

  • Individual Goals

    • Have 1-3 personal SMART goals that you are actively working on and would like to share with the group to build in yourself.

End of meetings

• Like to add a component of team "homework" after every meeting.  It can be an ascetical practice or prayer for a specific cause or intention. 

Prayer 

• You both had mentioned Joseph the worker, I would to discuss making it "Litany of St. Joseph" prayer.  This would be consistent with admin working on the manual...as he is our patron for Sanctum Ioseph.   

Retreat

• Would like to add a Retreat once per year and during your retreat is a review of your journaling. 

• Retreat is an examination of past life

• Encourage - confession or general confession (1-3 years)

• After retreat - it would be great if the group had a annual "reset" with the program ei. get a new journal, discuss ones own progress, improvements or non-improvements.  

With groups under Sanctum Ioseph apostolate, I have been praying and asking myself - what are we going to call this?  Well, I wanted to share with you about something that came to me today.  

So I have been thinking how can we keep Matt and Joe happy b/c they might really like the prayer "St. Joseph the Worker" and I like the litany of St Joseph.  A beautiful little thought came to me today that I wanted to share.  The name of our group will be St. Joseph the Worker.  Funny thing is that I did not know that today is St. Joseph the Worker on the church calendar  lol!!  I believe that this might be a good meet in the middle here.  St. Joseph the Worker and group prayer when we meet every meeting will be the litany of St. Joseph.