Pilgrimage to Easter: Day 37

Meditation for Thursday 17 March
... from the readings of the day:

Yahweh brought his people out with joy, God's chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

Psalm 105:43

Psalm 105 
God keeps promises through all of history 

Yahweh brought his people out with joy, 
God's chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

Our Lord plants us here, waits the ages for the 
sapling to grow, then grafts to us the root of 
covenant, a seal of holiness, and waits again ...

Yahweh brought his people out with joy, 
God's chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

The Lord watches the small tree flourish, providing 
water, manure, carefully pruning wayward branches,
tenderly loving us, forgiving us, cherishing us.

Yahweh brought his people out with joy, 
God's chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

Serve the Lord at all times remembering the good 
things God has given, the miracles won, the many,
many times our God has forgiven us when we asked.

Yahweh brought his people out with joy, 
God's chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

The Lord knows us and watches the ages as we grow 
to our God. Our God holds us, our world, our whole 
universe in being, but still waits patiently, for us.

Yahweh brought his people out with joy, 
God's chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

Our Father loves the work of his hands, remembering 
his promises, waiting a thousand generations as we 
thrive and grow, patiently waiting for us to bloom.

Yahweh brought his people out with joy, 
God's chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

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, Psalm 105:4-9

R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations –
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

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 PROMISE or COVENANT.

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.

Pilgrimage to Easter: Day 24

Meditation for Friday 4 March
... from the readings of the day:

 

Says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots. 

Hosea 14:5-8

Our God loves us freely.

The Gardener planted carefully after tilling the 
soil and mixing in deeply, year-old manure. The seed 
cracked, the shoot grew to the light and warmth, 
broke through. The Gardener laughed with delight.

Our God loves us freely.

The Gardener watered the soil, weeded to ensure
the path to the light remained open and clear.
The seedling thrived under the Gardener's care
and in the ground chosen. The Gardener smiled.

Our God loves us freely.

The Gardener tended the sapling, always seeing
the final shape. Inward-growing shoots were rubbed 
off, branches crossing others pruned. The Gardener 
sat in the evening light and sighed with satisfaction.

Our God loves us freely.

The simple design established, sapling grew to 
tree, and in many many years to maturity, 
its great flat top spread to the light. The Gardener 
comes often to rest in the shade, to softly touch the trunk.

Our God loves us freely.

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, Mark 12:28-31

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
with all your soul, 
with all your mind, 
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

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 phrase GROW.

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.

Pilgrimage to Easter: Third Sunday of Lent

Meditation for Sunday 28 February
... from the readings of the day:

The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills,
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
The Lord is kind and merciful. 

Psalm 103:3-4

The Gardener knows and loves her trees,
seeing the perfection innate in each tree ...

... the tree cherished for flowers in Spring or its canopy
in Summer, the tree valued for bright Autumn leaves,
the resting tree loved for its bare tracery of crooked
fingers black against the pale blue sky of Winter.

The Gardener knows and loves her trees,
seeing the perfection latent in each tree ...

... shaping the tree's growth, pruning with clippers
and saw to encourage new growth, but sometimes
cutting down a dead or diseased or unproductive
tree, making space for others.

The Gardener knows and loves her trees,
seeing the perfection waiting in each tree ...

... and when the tree does not fruit,
the Gardener calls for patience: tilling air
to its roots, pruning, applying water
and compost for vigour and fruit and health.

The Gardener knows and loves each tree,
dreaming always of the perfection of its 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, Luke 13:6-9

And he told them this parable:
There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener,
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’

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 GOD or PRUNE.

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.