‘Pathways to Prayer’ CD series adds meditation on Holy Family and Christmas

Father James Farrell, the director of Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis, poses for a photograph on Dec. 2 with his “Pathways to Prayer” series of guided meditation CDs. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

Catholics and Protestants can meditate on the Holy Family and the Christmas story in a uniquely personal way during this Advent season.

Father James Farrell, the director of Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis, recently recorded “Pathway to Bethlehem,” the fourth volume in his popular “Pathways to Prayer” series of guided meditation CDs.

“This fourth volume was inspired by some days of recollection that I [presented] around the Advent and Christmas seasons,” Father Farrell said. “It was an invitation for those who were participating in the meditation to go back to Nazareth and Bethlehem in the time of Jesus, and to find themselves underneath the bright star that led them to the stable where the baby Jesus was born.

“They are invited by Mary to come and see the baby,” he said, “to hold the baby Jesus and to talk to Mary about her newborn infant.”

Father Farrell recommends that people not listen to the “Pathways to Prayer” CDs while driving because they can be emotional and even overwhelming prayer experiences.

“For those who pray this meditation, it will be an opportunity to really get in touch with the Incarnation, to sense and feel and appreciate the Word of God made flesh,” he said. “We often think of the Christ Child wrapped in swaddling clothes. But do we think about all the things that we know from the babies in our lives, the feeling of holding a newborn babe in our arms, close to our heart?”

To get a sense of the powerful imagery in this new guided meditation, Father Farrell said, “imagine taking the Child Jesus into your arms, looking into his eyes and feeling him opening his arms to you.”

After holding the infant Jesus, he said, there is an opportunity to have a personal conversation with Mary, who promises to take your prayer intentions to her Son as he matures.

“It is an opportunity, I hope, for people to feel the love of Jesus, the love that Jesus has for them, and the love that is reflected in God’s gift to the world of his Child,” Father Farrell said. “I hope people will find it enriching to their prayer life.”

(“Pathway to Bethlehem” is available for sale for $10 in the gift shop at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis, St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Jeffersonville. It can be ordered on the Internet at the Fatima Web site for an additional postage fee of $2. To order any of the prayer meditation CDs online, log on to www.archindy.org/fatima. Proceeds from the sale of the four CDs benefit the archdiocesan retreat house ministry.) †