Pilgrimage to Easter: Day 46

Meditation for Saturday 25 March
... from the readings of the day:

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Psalm 51:19

THE NEW DAY (Romans 6)

When you send out your Spirit Lord, there is 
new life, and you renew the face of the earth.

The deal has changed, our reason for living remade;

we are not who we thought we were! Life has 

changed, death has changed; death brings life! We 

have joined our brother Jesus in his death - and, 

baptised in him, risen to a new life in Christ. 

Life has changed. Gone is our former life alone and 

ruled by fearful thoughts; we live now in Christ, one 

body, one spirit, in God. As children, we lived in fear 

of pain; adults now, we live in the mind of God. 

Free now, we live for love and unity and peace.

Don't you get it? Don't you see? We live a new life:

it's all new! We lived by rules, in fear. Now we see

more clearly: we live in the glorified body of our

messiah. Death and sin behind us, we live not for
ourselves, or in ourselves, but for God in Christ Jesus.

When you send out your Spirit Lord, there is 
new life, and you renew the face of the earth.

Suggestions for meditation

Always begin by offering your time to God and asking for the grace to grow closer: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time as I reach out to you, and ask that you guide me now, and each day, closer to you".

The exact words of the prayer are not important but you do need a firm intention to open yourself to God's input.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for the personal message for you. There will always be one word or phrase that will reach into your heart. Think of it as the personal meaning God has for you alone!

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation, try this from one of today's readings, Paul's letter to the Romans 6:3-11

Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him,
so that our sinful body might be done away with,
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;
as to his life, he lives for God.
Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus.

Focus on a significant word or phrase in this passage or the meditation for a few moments.

Is there a word or phrase that jumps out to speak to you?

Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 15 minutes with your word from Jesus, or the word LIGHT or SEPARATION.

You need a clear intention to empty your mind of random thoughts (you won't be entirely successful but you need the intention).

You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.

After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen.

Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock.

At the end thank God, and return to your day.