"Lazarus, come out!"
We invite you to a few minutes of silence before we begin our prayer time together.
Take a deep breath and breathe in the breath of God, knowing by faith that God breathes into us the breath of life.
CONTEMPLATIVE / SILENT PRAYER
Our Centering Prayer sit is 20 - 30 minutes sounded by the chime/chant. At the end of the Prayer sit, we will linger in silence a few minutes, then follow by praying together the Our Father.
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First reading & silent reflection: Reflect in silence.
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LECTIO: from John 11: 1-45
Mary and her sister Martha sent a
message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he
said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus
loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was
ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. . . . Martha said to
Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” . . . .
Jesus
said to her, “Your brother will rise again. . . . I am the resurrection and
the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” . . . [H]e cried with a
loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet
bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to
them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Second reading & reflection: What word or phrase catches your attention? Share or pass...
Third reading & reflection: How does this word or phrase touch your life? Share or pass.
Fourth and last reading & silent reflection: How is God inviting you to grow? We will reflect in silence for a few moments before we move from Lectio Prayer to the teaching by Father Keating or another contemplative guide.
Teaching:
What
was the mysterious illness from which Lazarus suffered and died? it was the
death of his false self. Death is the only cure for the false self. That is why
Jesus did not come. Only the death of the false self brings liberation from the
drives for survival, affection and esteem, and power and control, and from the
overidentification with a particular group or role. . . . Lazarus, then, is a
paradigm of Christian transformation. The spiritual meaning of Lazarus for us
is that we cannot enter into the transforming union (or heaven) with our false selves.
Lazarus in the tomb represents someone in the Night of Spirit who feels
imprisoned [and] forgotten by God. . . . God returns at the appropriate time to
call us forth from our darkness, confinement, loneliness, dereliction, and
grief
--Thomas Keating, The Better Part, 22-23, 25.
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We now take some time to share our thoughts and reflections on our own spiritual journey and our prayer practice. Followed by brief prayers of intercession. Share or pass.
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Go in the name of Christ Jesus to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
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[This is an adapted format courtesy of Martha Johnston, Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington, DC]
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