Pilgrimage to Easter: Day 15

Meditation for Wednesday 24 February

... from the readings of the 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 20:27-28

The 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.

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.

Meditation: Learning the language of God, part 2

So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 

After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. 

And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah? 

1 Kings 19,11-13 

God does not speak with words,
does not deal in logic or argument.
So we must learn the language of God; God
does not speak my language.

   God touches us in the gentle
   movements of silence.
   We open to God in our empty silence.

In moments of love and wonder

my throat closes, 

my breathing is suspended, 

my eyes water, 

my heart flowing over with rising warmth. 

Aware - but outside time and touching eternity,

I become a living soul.

My heart lifts 

to moments of sudden beauty, the subtle 

and jubilant rightness of a decision or action

in moments of joy - God's nod of approval!

The coincidental word or action dropped on me.

The perfect moment, two or three or a thousand wholly aligned, 

caught in the moment, struck by sudden perfection.

   In the movements of our hearts

   our God speaks to us; 

   in the gentle movements of silence 

   touches us, lets us feel our Father's love.

Suggestions for meditation

Always begin by offering your time to God: 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 then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for 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 Jesus' personal message for you.

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation try Elijah's story above.

Focus on this passage or the meditation slowly a couple of times.

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 20 minutes with those words, or the word AWARE or the word GOD. 

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.

Meditation: The ripples

Everything is connected. The often imperceptible ripples from each thing we do, each thought, every word we say - these ripples spread and touch, in some small way, each other person. 

We see some of our ripples obvious before us as small waves, splashes and deflections - but most are unnoticed, too small or distant. Too insignificant to care about.

Or they are behind us, beyond our peripheral vision. 

All ripples begin as rings
spreading in a circle always
from a point of contact, all changed 
or deflected by winds and barriers.

God has no substance, and lives 
here with us only in love, 
only in human contact and 
in whatever love and forgiveness we offer.

We work together in each human act:
we create the waves -  
our role as God's co-creators.
The shape and height of the wave, 

its longevity and effect are not
in our control, spreading
in front of us, or a wave surging behind
rolling directly across clear space or 

deflected God only knows where, 
to touch, to baptise, to remind, 
to heal another person I have never met, 
will never meet. My brother, my sister.

My role is the contact: the word of love
the touch of hope, the gift of charity,
the smile. These contacts are mine. The ripple 
is our Creator's continuing act of creation.

Sometimes a ripple touches me 
and I am a hard flat surface
deflecting or directing the energy 
and doing God's work.

Sometimes I am broken coastlines, 
absorbing all of the energy and love 
rolling in the wave and doing God's will. 
Accepting God's flood of love.

Ripples go out from every human contact
every prayer, every touch, every feeling;
every act of love, of faith, of trust, of forgiveness, of joy, 
to we know not where - God's hand upon the world.

My acts send little ripples
not giant tsunami - that is not my calling.
But tiny ripples amplify other ripples
and become breakers on the shore.

Suggestions for meditation

Always begin by offering your time to God: 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 then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for you.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for Jesus' personal message for you.

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation try Isaiah 55:8-9

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

or these famous words of Teresa of Avila

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion
is to look out to the earth,
yours are the feet by which He is to go about doing good
and yours are the hands by which He is to bless us now.

Read one of these passages or the meditation slowly a couple of times.

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 20 minutes with those words, or the word ACT or the word GOD. 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. 

Meditation: Joy

My heart lifts as the golden finches rise
beside my bike and pace me for seconds at a time.
My heart soars when a baby without words
sees me and beams in recognition.

I am more than me when God
paints the sky in gold and purple. My breath
stops. My heart flies beyond the package that I
normally know as me.

A stranger smiles, a dancer hits the mark and beat,
a moment of perfect prowess, sun sparkling on
tumbling brown water framed by new green leaves
and black trunks and glowing moss rocks.

Heaven is all around us, glimpsed in the moments
of perfection - infinite moments savoured
and stored. Reminders that we live in a world half
seen, a creation barely noticed, but always there

to reassure and sustain us when we dare to
share your joy.


Suggestions for meditations
Always begin by offering your time to God: 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 then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for you.
Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.
These are things that bring me joy - what brings joy to you?
If you would prefer a Bible reading I suggest Luke 12, 22-32.
You can begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.
Then spend 5, or 10, or 20 minutes with the word Joy. Every time you drift off the word, gently remind yourself and come back to it ("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.