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.