What is Discipleship
Discipleship, or following Jesus, can really be thought of as orienting your whole life around two goals:
Every spirituality emphasizes some form of prayer or meditation. While we believe that in the life of discipleship, times set aside for prayer are important, we also believe in the importance of spending our whole lives in the presence of God. There was an ancient Hebrew blessing that said “may you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi” meaning: may you spend so much time following your master that the dust from his feet literally covers your body.
This is called “practicing the presence of God.” The 17th century Carmelite friar Brother Lawrence wrote a beautiful book about this but the basic idea is to train ourselves to spend every minute with a constant, conscious awareness of God’s presence. This takes decades to master, not days, but we can start now. Try this simple practice:
Try, to the best of your ability, to make Jesus your mental resting place. Every time you have a spare minute, if you can remember, turn your attention back to Him.
Our other goal is to be so transformed by practicing the presence of God that eventually we learn to imitate the life of God. We study how He lived in the Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church and then we try to put those habits into practice in our day to day life. An ancient concept designed to help with this is called a “Rule of Life.”
A Rule of Life is simply a set of practices, habits, and relational rhythms that help us organize our lives around becoming like Jesus. As with practicing the presence of God, the imitation of Christ is not easy but with consistent effort over time in community and through His grace, we can become like Him. Try this simple practice:
Consider the habits, practices, and relationships that make up your life right now. Ask yourself if they are making you more like Jesus or less. Is there anything He is calling you to change?
Indexing our lives around these goals can be difficult and so to that end, we’ve developed what we call a “discipleship pathway.” While this pathway is laid out linearly, the journey of discipleship really isn’t linear, it’s more cyclical. When you look at this pathway, consider how God might be calling you to move through it and seek the advice of community. This is meant to be a resource to guide you, not a rule to follow.
The Pathway
Invited to Community
Holy Cross Chaplaincy Centre - SMU
The SMU Chaplaincy Centre is a drop in space on campus where we explore deep conversations over coffee and snacks. Weekly, we gather for Mass, confession, and Eucharistic Adoration. There's also a quiet space for prayer and study.
Find us in Loyola Academic, Room 183
Multifaith Services - Dalhousie
We work with Dal Multifaith to provide spiritual support to Catholic students on campus. We also provide free coffee out of the Multifaith Centre and offer weekly Mass.
Find us in the Dalhousie Multifaith Centre, located in the International Student Centre on Lemarchant Street
Mass Times Coming Soon
Formation Nights are our primary context to gather as a community for prayer and teaching. We gather monthly, check the events schedule to stay updated on what’s coming next.
Every month, we gather as a community for a time of guided personal prayer. Someone from our teaching team will walk through an aspect of prayer and then lead a communal reflection. Afterwards, we meet up for coffee and discussion.
CCO Faith Studies provide a simple but personally challenging look at the Gospel message.
You can sign up to take a study here: https://ccofaithstudies.ca/
Invited to Our Way of Life
Discipleship isn’t about doing more, it's about doing less to make space for God and for community. To that end, rest is a key part of our way of life as a chaplaincy community. Especially as young adults, the need to rest is essential and a countercultural protest against the obsession with work and success.
Baseline Practice: The weekly Sabbath or “Lord’s Day” is an ancient practice considered essential to the life of discipleship in the Catholic tradition. In it’s simplest form, it’s taking time to abstain from unnecessary work on Sundays and replace it with activities that lead you to delight and worship. To learn more check out this article.
Prayer is the primary way we practice the presence of God. The Catechism says that prayer is “the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God” (CCC 2559). Setting aside specific times for prayer can help us enter into a life of prayer, where we maintain a constant, conscious awareness of God’s presence.
Baseline Practice: We recommend a daily prayer rhythm including at least 15 minutes of meditation on Scripture in the mornings (the daily readings, found here, are a helpful place to start) and an evening Examen, or reflection on your day through God’s eyes. You can find more information on meditation here and the Examen here.
Community is one of the deepest joys and delights of the Christian life. It is also one of the most neglected in our hyper individualistic society. The General Directory for Catechesis says: “The faith is professed, celebrated, expressed, and lived above all in community.” By community, we mean deep relationships, where you are well known by a group of people who help draw you deeper into the life of God.
Baseline Practice: The weekly small group, while it’s a big commitment for some, is one of the best ways to get started with community. While you might be able to find community informally, it’s so much harder to really live out the deepest kinds of relationships without the consistency and commitment of a regular group. We provide lots of support for people as they start and join small groups, contact [email protected] to get started.
As Catholics, we have a small part to play in restoring the order of the Kingdom of God here on earth, where the lowly are esteemed, no one goes without need, and everything is imbued with divine beauty. There are many beautiful expressions of witness and evangelization, from proclamation of the Gospel to serving the poor to living your vocation well. Anything we do with the intent of restoring God’s will on earth falls under the category of mission and justice.
Baseline Practice: We recommend that seasonally, you get involved with some kind of missional or justice initiative. On campus, we work with CCO and Greater Love. Off campus, every parish in our diocese offers some kind of missional or justice initiative. Check out your local parish website to find more information.
Invited to Parish Life
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our identity and Christian life.
Find out when mass is happening in your local parish here: https://www.halifaxyarmouth.org/parishes/mass-times
Every parish offers an evangelization program that you can get involved in as a volunteer or invite your friends to. Many parishes in the diocese are also involved in a justice initiative like the Shelter Program. Find out more on your local parish website.
Every parish offers ongoing faith formation, usually in the context of small group faith studies. You can learn more by checking out your local parish website.