Pilgrimage to Easter - Day 32

Meditation for Saturday 12 March
... from the readings of the day:

   

Then each went to his own house.

John 7:53

I stand bound to my brothers and sisters: 

we thrive or fall together!

We think we stand alone: separate beings, separate
destinations, living solitary lives in separate houses.
We believe we think singly, make private decisions, and act alone, creating our own paths. 

I stand bound to my brothers and sisters: 

we thrive or fall together!

Too many stand alone, believing they are alone,
not understanding our unity in the incarnation, or our intimate connection as the body of Christ. 
Even religious people think they are saved separately.

I stand bound to my brothers and sisters: 

we thrive or fall together!

Pharisees manipulate words, people, history, thinking
they control events, believing they limit effects to
others, often too late in seeing that their own 
house stands alone at the top of a house of cards.

I stand bound to my brothers and sisters: 

we thrive or fall together!

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, John 7:45-53

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” 

Then each went to his own house.

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 phrase 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.

Pilgrimage to Easter: Day 4

Meditation for Saturday 13 February

... from the readings of the day:

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.

Luke 5:27

Jesus called ordinary flawed people like me,
people touched by sin and disapproval. 
His message was not for the career religious 
(who he always seems to disapprove of). 
It was for us. The ordinary. 

We are called to ...

... intimacy
   Called to be intimate with our Creator
     to know and love God 
     more than we know about God. 

... listen
   Called to hear the Spirit in our lives: 

     we are called to learn to listen.

     The Spirit is always with us.

... joy

   We are called to be people of joy

     and people who share joy.

     Not people of anger or judgment.

... heal

   Jesus is our inspiration, 
     teaching us to

     love, forgive, heal, reach out.

... share

   We are called to party, 
     to share food and company

     and joy and all our blessings.

... bless

   We are light: called to bless ourselves, 
     others, and each thing in Creation. 
     We see God everywhere.

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 when I am reaching out to you and ask that you guide me 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 5:27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.  

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. 

The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  

Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

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

What word of phrase 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 LOVE. 

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 1

Meditation for Ash Wednesday 

... from the readings of the day: 

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6: 6

In the very deepest part of me:
past the electric wonder of my mind, 
through the tangle of my blood,
in a place surgeons will never find,
I have a sturdy secret space I hurry to meet my love.

In my daily life I see that my love walks among us 
   in the beauty of birds
   the laughter of babies 
   the play of light on dew. 

But to meet, we need a space outside time
where I live, 
a cabin on the boundary of the eternal moment 
where my love is
... a secret place where time is made of moments.

We are two - but in this room there are moments we are one
in our intimacy.

In this room, there are moments when
with the the tip of one finger I can, 
sometimes, 
reach out to tap on the door of eternity, 
sometimes,
feel my cheek kissed by the most gentle touch of light

... moments I feel
   the gentle breeze of my love's Spirit
   the whispered voice of my love's Word, 
   the faintest glimmer of my love's 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 when I am reaching out to you and ask that you guide me 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 Matthew 6,5-6

When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

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

What word of phrase 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 TOUCH ME. 

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.