Course: Bible and Spiritual Life

The School of Mary

Intermediate Course First Level

Bible and Spiritual Life

London - September – November 2016

Lecturer – Jean Khoury

Many catholics are encouraged to use their Bible with fervour and to practise Lectio Divina. This is not an easy task! It takes time and practice! Support is needed as finding the Lord's light or "our daily bread" in the Bible can be a challenge – albeit very worthwhile.

This course is about deepening the relationship between the "Bible" and our "Spiritual Life": in a word, it aims at helping us view the Bible as the source of our daily nourishment.

What makes this course unique is, first, the choice of topics (substantial and rarely addressed topics) and, secondly, relating them to our Spiritual Life!

As always, Our Lady continues to lead us on our journey.

The classes will take place on Wednesday from 10am – 12am in the parish house of St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church, Moorhouse Road W2 5DJ. The entrance is located to the left of the church entrance.

Everyone is welcome to the course, also those who have not attended the First Level Course as the material is enlightening in its own right.

Cost: £120

For registration please email schoolofmarylondon@gmail.com with your name and contact details and we will be in touch with bank details OR send a check including your name and contact details made payable to Jean Khoury, sent to Maartje Skare, 3 Hereford Square, SW7 4TT, London.

Dates and Topics of classes

Wednesday 14 September	The new prophetical life inaugurated by Jesus for every human being: God makes of us a friend and wants to talk to us. The practical meaning and the fruitfulness of this new prophetism.
Wednesday 21 September	The relationship between the Theory of Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures and our Spiritual Life. The action of God in the human author and its practical consequences for us.
Wednesday 28 September	Structure and meaning of the Gospel in relation to our Spiritual Life. Reading and analysis of key passages from the Gospel.
Wednesday 5 October	Continuation of analysis of key texts and foundations of our spiritual life.
Wednesday 12 October	Questions of exegesis: The Holy Spirit Exegete of the Bible. The intelligence of Scripture in the Fathers of the Church.
Wednesday 2 November	Questions of exegesis: Examples from the Fathers of the Church. The relationship between the Old and New Testament. Rules for our spiritual life.
Wednesday 9 November	Mary and the Word of God. Mary as our model and help in our relationship with the Word of God.
Wednesday 16 November	The Bible is the soul of God's Revelation to us. The Bible is a treasure one learns to draw from on a daily basis. Practical advice.
Wednesday 23 November	Difficulties when confronting an archaic text, a different language and culture. What is to be done with "modern" exegesis? The Bible: doubt, power, pleasure and possession. Conclusions.

Christmas Wishes 2015

Dear Friends,

This Christmas is a very special Feast, taking place as it does during this very unique year that started on the 8^th of December 2015 and that will finish with the Solemnity of Christ the King, on 20^th of November. It is a year, in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father, in which the floodgates will be opened to allow the torrents of God's mercy to flow freely upon us all. Indeed, this year is dedicated to the discovery and deepening of God's Mercy, making it a year of inestimable value.

Christmas is the second major Feast in the Liturgical Year after Easter, and this means that each one of us – those who are both close to as well as far from God – is invited to receive a very special and powerful healing Grace. The Mercy of God is manifest in a very unique way each Christmas: again and again we can live that moment where humanity was expecting a Saviour, a Messiah. He is God's Gift, given freely, where He humbles himself and reaches out to each one of us. In the Baby Jesus, the Most High does not ask us to climb the heights to reach Him – He himself comes to us in an overwhelming act of Mercy.

This year, therefore, the School of Mary will follow the intentions of the Pope and do its best to deepen our experience of God's Mercy.

As you know the School is a place for teaching Spiritual Life. “Teaching” is an act of Spiritual Mercy. The School sees the great poverty of today's world, especially the First World which thinks it has the means and the power, which considers itself to be highly civilised, but does not know how poor it is spiritually, how needy it has become. The half-dead man of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is often before us in the First World, waiting for somebody to come and take good care of him, giving him the Spiritual Doctrine that can restore him to real Life, giving his life Light, Guidance and Meaning.

Let us, in the School of Mary, humbly renew our commitment to serve Spiritual Life and Spiritual Theology. It is a very hard mission, and even if the door is wide open very few undertake it. Let us entrust ourselves to Mary, as God the Father entrusted to Mary and Joseph his Eternal Son, incarnate as a little Baby.

May the Lord bless us all and bless our families, and may He give us plenty of Graces especially this year, day after day, so we can discover, deepen and dwell in God's Mercy for ever.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to read, meditate and put into practice the Pope's Letter on Mercy (please click here to find it); it embodies a very deep message which is essential and to the point for all of us Christians. Mercy is not optional in the Gospel, it is God's Face, it is our Way to Him...

The teaching this year in the School of Mary will pay special attention to Mercy in Spiritual Life. A new and very exciting Course on the Sermon of the Mount will be announced soon which will be open to everybody. Further courses for 2016 will be announced at the appropriate times.

Counting on your prayers as always, I wish each and every one of you a Happy Christmas filled with the choicest blessings, and graced by the Presence of Our Lady.

Jean