Meditation: More than it seems

On Friday this week I joined a group of people on a day of silent retreat.

Being beautiful winter weather: clear, still, and crisp, we took a couple of hours on our own to wander the Gardens of the World at Brightwater.

It was in that time that I was given two moments where time stopped and I experienced the perfection that lies just past the surface of everything we see; the perfection of Creation when we are able see past the filter of our senses into the very heart of things.

1

Golden leaves fall singly
onto a still pond -
still except for the tiny
ripple as each leaf
tumbles gently onto the water.

I gaze at the shining flecks of yellow
scattered over serene water
dark in the shadow of the trees
around me.

My awareness shifts.

Behind the leaves, 
but painted on the water,
floats the tree above,
other leaves reflected behind the real leaves scattered
below.

2

My awareness shifts.

Three white ducks rest
on the bank by the real tree.
One - fussy, active, pushing oil along feathers
with a blunt golden beak, 
as perfectly designed for this as for sifting food
from the floor of the shallow lake. 

The second, mostly still, but aware.

But the third, completely still and separate,
transfigured in a shaft of winter sunlight
glows, radiant, the only movement
a single feather so thin and fine, fluffed, 
ruffled by a breath of gentle breeze.

There is also a fourth duck, in shadow,
unnoticed at first in dappled greys and browns, also
perfect as itself - but getting on with its duck life 
not seeing the luminous perfection so near.

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 Friday's readings, from Psalm 139

O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar. 

R. I praise you for I am wonderfully made.

Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works. 

R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth. 

R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

Re-read the passage or the meditation - maybe read it slowly aloud.

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 SPIRIT or TRUE.

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: Easter Sunday

Meditation for Sunday 26 March: Easter Sunday
... from the readings of the day:

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
Psalm 118:24

The Empty Tomb

MARY
I couldn't sleep, just wanted to be near. I knew
I wouldn't get in: that huge rock at the opening!
But needed to be on my own, to be close.
It was a full moon, quite bright for walking,
but the black of the entry was all the darker.
Suddenly I needed the others. It was so silent.
It was only later, in the light, he said my name.

PETER
I was still awake. The sun was almost up, first
cockerels crowing, when Mary burst back in. John
and I ran down first. The boy waited, and I went
in. Just enough light to see now. He was gone.
All the cloths rolled and neatly stacked, but where
was the body? Stolen? Had I let him down? again!
But he knows I love him. I love him. I love him.

JOHN
I won, but waited for the old man. The first ray 
of the sunrise hit the wall as he went in, so we 
could see clearly. Peter was an elder, examining
the evidence - but I saw it was empty, and knew,
knew! in that instant, it was full! The universe 
froze, anchored in a moment touching eternity,
blinding white light whirled in new dawning.

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 first letter to the John 20:1-9

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead. 

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 DAWN.

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 42

Meditation for Tuesday 22 March
... from the readings of the day:

Hear me, O islands, listen, O distant peoples. I was born for this. Isaiah 49:1

AND IT WAS NIGHT John 13:30

And it was night. Dark. Don't think of the dark as 
evil; it is not. The dark is not evil - but there is the 
absence of light. And that is the choice: light or not 
light. That was Judas' choice, our choice. Daily.

It was night. Shutters closed, lost and alone; good
mind in control, but direction gone with the sun. 

It was dark. He had turned off the light: pinched 
the wick, snuffed the flame, closed the lantern ... 
all sorts of ways; but somehow he had light - and 
then he didn't. Dark: colours faded to shades of black.

It was night. Shutters closed, lost and alone; good 
mind in control, but direction gone with the sun. 

There are times we each choose that. But there 
is always a glimmer: torch held aloft, cellphone 
screen lit for a call, a star, God's brightening horizon. 
And if we turn that way, and walk, the light sparkles. 

Opening to the light, at peace with Creation.

Light is always there - but the choice to turn, 
or turn away, is ours. The choice to walk, is ours.
It is possible to turn our backs - but take just 
one step to the light; light does the rest.

Opening to the light, at peace with 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, John 13:21-30

“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

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 NIGHT.

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: 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 3

Meditation for Friday 12 February
... from the readings of the day:

Your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed.
Isaiah 58,8

Spirit am I

animating a body of nerve-endings,
in thrall to a world of instant response
and pleasure, barely aware of my heart.

You too are Spirit:

my brother, my sister, a being of light

invisible to me in the package you wear: 
your wrapping hiding the light inside

disguising your true beauty. 
I must reach past your disguise of difference:
race and class and poverty, to finally see
and touch your light.

Only then will my Spirit begin
to glimmer for others. Only then 
can my light shine. Only then will 
God-in-me be seen on Earth again.

Only then can I be truly whole.

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, Isaiah 58,6-8

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly,untying the thongs of the yoke; 

Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; 

Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; 

Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. 

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed.

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 0

Meditation for Shrove Tuesday
... from the readings of the day:

The Church's Psalm for today is Psalm 84, a song celebrating of our place in God, a song to sing as we walk our ways to Easter.

My soul yearns and pinesfor the courts of the LORD.

   Every thing you created longs to come home

   to the glory and light of your mind.

My deepest desire is to rest in you;

to leave behind my mind's 

angers and envies and pains;

my small glow hidden again in your light.

   Every thing you created longs to come home

   to the glory and light of your mind.

The tiny bird, the huge fish of the sea,

the orchid clinging to forest giant all know

and follow your path. But I must choose,

moment by moment, to make your path my own.

   Every thing you created longs to come home

   to the glory and light of your mind.

I long for the peace that comes only from you,

the quick moments of joy when I know 

that despite all the demands of my life and

this world, you walk my step, breathe my breath.

   Every thing you created longs to come home

   to the glory and light of your mind.

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 to come 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 Psalm 84:3-5, 10-11.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young—
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of your anointed.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

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 PEACE. 

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 sun rises

One of the many joys of winter:
rising to be with the sun rising.
Rising in darkness to see the sky
darken as the first glow of day
colours the line between sky and sea
between land and cloud
between heaven and earth.

   Rising in darkness
   knowing the light is coming
   in glory 
   to bring new life to my world,
   in glory
   to touch the dark corners,
   in glory
   to fire my heart with joy.

Standing in the cold darkness feeling 
the chill, but knowing that warmth
is rising to fill the cold,
pouring in to overflow the emptiness,
bringing new life to all green things
new life to everything of cold blood
new life to those standing alone in the dark.

   Rising in darkness
   knowing the light is coming
   in glory 
   to bring new life to my world,
   in glory
   to touch the dark corners,
   in glory
   to fire my heart with joy.

We stand cold and without light;
lonely, separated, waiting in darkness, 
in the cold darkness of illness or depression,
in dark and cold uncertainty waiting
for purpose, for meaning - and then
it starts, a glow, a glimmer, a beacon of fire

   rising in darkness -
   the light is here 
   in glory 
   to bring new life to my world,
   in glory
   to touch my dark corners,
   in glory
   to fire my heart with joy.

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 Genesis 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.”And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

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 hear Jesus speaking, and reply.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 20 minutes with those words, or the word LIGHT or the word RISING. 

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: We are one

You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2, 19-22

We are many different packages but, if we can see it,
all, one at heart.

Many drops of rain but, if we can open our eyes,
one river flowing to one sea.

Many perfect unique snowflakes but, if we look,
one glacier collecting the weight of each and grinding to the ocean.

Many perfect people in lives of solitary pain but open your eyes,
throw aside your dark dream of individuality, 

see our one spirit, already redeemed.

Individual grains, ground together, quickened and baked, now we are
one bread, one body, one sacrament of grace and life.

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 Paul speaking to the Ephesians 2, 19-22

You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

OR listen (and maybe sing) One Bread, One Body: https://youtu.be/R6xIdDYiA9A 

Focus on 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 ONE 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.