... from the readings of the day:
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, Matthew 20:24-28
Is there a word of 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 ONE or UNITY.
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.
"Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:27-28The glory of position and recognition
are traps of our evolved mind,
indicating only successes in conflict
and possible priority in reproduction!
But they are hard-lost mirages based on
a million hints and expectations from our world.
I am who I am - no more than a child
standing head bowed before my God,
human rank a phantom, a distant daydream.
See the fever dream of separation and rank
resolve into wholeness, connection and peace.
Our joy is in unity, not winning; community, not rank:
a single choir singing the harmony of Creation.
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, Matthew 20:24-28
But Jesus summoned them and said,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Focus on a significant word or phrase in this passage or the meditation for a few moments.
Is there a word of 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 ONE or UNITY.
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.
