“Building Colonies of Heaven” offers a sequence of self-guided activities intended to be prayerfully encountered through reading, listening and electronic immersion during a journey of spiritual exploration and self-enrichment. So, before beginning this pilgrimage of prayer and reflection, it is important that you consider the following requirements.
 

Time Requirements

This program is self-paced and flexible, involving four distinct parts:
— a consideration of the Celtic spiritual traditions and their significance to modern society,
— a three-part Celtic journey through The Spiritual  Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, made in virtual reality retreats,
— a sequence of prayerful activities designed to foster attentiveness to God’s presence and desire in your life,
— and an ongoing journey of vocational discernment, personal research, and actions.
This will require a substantial commitment of time and energy.

Using the suggestions for its various parts, you will need between six months (if you make the retreats in three nine-day increments) and one year (if you make the retreats in three nine-week increments) to complete the program.

So, before beginning this program, it is important for you to consider the demands of the program and the ways in which you wish to meet them. To do this, you will find it helpful to review the materials presented here and explore the rhythms of activity that best suit you and your personal situation. During this process, you should trust your own instincts and intuitions while remaining open to how the program may change you.
 

Cycles of Activities

The activities of “Building Colonies of Heaven” are presented through a series of cyclical reflections and prayer experiences. During the program, you will conduct a series of activities designed to build upon one another in a cumulative manner. So, it is important that you proceed through these activities in the order in which they are presented while taking the time that you need in each cycle within the program.
 
In practical terms, this will involve proceeding sequentially through the different parts of the program as independent activities – taking time to make diversions from the central spine of the program into each specific cycle of activities. Before beginning each cycle, you will need to review the instructions provided for it to decide the amount of time you want to devote to its completion as well as determine wind and how you want to proceed with the activities of the cycle. Also, at the end of each of these cycles, you should take time to review your experience both for what each cycle offers to you as well as the importance of the cycle within the overall progression of the program.
 
As you proceed through these various activities, you may find it helpful to record your experiences using a two-track notetaking method.

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Companions

While this program is designed to be self-paced and individualized, you can complete it with companions. This may mean a spiritual director working with you alone or a study group progressing through the program together. In both cases, you should conduct the activities of the program on your own and share the results of your experiences with your companions.
 
Even if you have companions in the program, it is important that you never forget that this is a personal journey. So, if you find your thoughts being inordinately influenced by your companions, you should expand the amount of time dedicated to your individual reflection and prayer so that you do not lose contact with God's voice in your own experiences.
 

Schedules

Since this is a self-paced program, you will determine the schedule for your completion of its activities – both the program as a whole and its individual components (e.g., timing for daily prayer periods, specific exercises, etc.). You should feel comfortable with the schedule you decide to follow, making provisions for the unique activities and concerns of each cycle within the program. It is very important that you proceed through the program at a pace which makes you comfortable and confident in being able to complete it even if this means taking periodic breaks during your activities within the program.
 
If you are proceeding through the program with companions, it is very important that you have periodic conversations with one another about these questions of scheduling so that all members of your group feel confident in their personal progress.
 

Books

The most important book in this program will be your Bible since the most of the prayers are scriptural. So, it is important that you select a translation which you like and find helpful. If you do not have a favorite version of the Bible, you may want to explore a favorite biblical verse (or couple of verses) in multiple online translations to find the right one for you.

Note: When exploring different versions of the Bible, you will find it useful to look for the one which offers you strong narrative pictures and dialogue since this will help you remember the main points of the biblical selections during your prayer.

Also, while you will find yourself reading a variety of materials (and likely acquiring several new books) during your journey through this program, only four books by Timothy J. Ray are required:

Nurturing the Courage of Pilgrims
From Loss to Love
From Disciple to Friend
From Passion to Resurrection

You will be asked to read and prayerfully reflect on Nurturing the Courage of Pilgrims in Part 1 of the program, and the remaining three books form the core of the sequence of virtual reality retreats presented during Part 2 of the program.   These books are available for purchase through Amazon in paperback and Kindle versions. If you become a member of Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program, you also will have access to the Kindle versions of these books.

Electronic Equipment

This program relies upon a variety of different physical and electronic resources, so it it important that you acquire the tools you will need to properly access these resources. Most of the equipment you will need to complete the program is readily available on multiple devices, but you should make certain that you have the appropriate applications for reading PDFs and ebooks as well as for listening to audio files on your devices before beginning.

Sound Files

When making guided audio-based prayers, you will want your equipment to be as unobtrusive as possible. One way to do this is to incorporate the use of your audio equipment into one of the rituals presented in “On Holy Ground” (in the resources section of Nurturing the Courage of Pilgrims) — or a ritual of your own — to consecrate the entire time devoted to this session.
 
Then, when you are ready, play this sound file. Allow yourself to relax into the session without worrying about “getting it right”. As much as possible, you should listen for the presence of God in the activities of the session since they are intended to guide you into prayer.
 
Finally, at the end of the session, perform the appropriate closing ritual to leave the special space you established for the session. Before rising from your seat, take a few moments to consider the parts of the session that were most pleasant and that were most troubling. Then use these reflections to help you decide how you might need to adapt the prayer styles presented during the session to your own personality and manner of prayer.

Downloadable Texts

You will be able to download texts in various parts of the program. Some of these will provide transcripts of audio files and others offer stand-alone documents for reflection. All of these files are formatted as PDF documents, so you will need to make certain you have the ability to read this format.

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