"Those who lose their life for my sake will find it."
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...
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LECTIO DIVINA: Listening to the Word of God with the ears of our heart [See Chopping Wood (or Carrots) Under the Gaze of God for a discussion of Lectio Divina].
First reading & silent reflection: Reflect in silence.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Everybody is culturally conditioned to some degree. Even the greatest saints only reach a certain degree of freedom from cultural identification. That overidentification is challenged in Centering Prayer. We spend the first part of our lives finding a role – becoming a mother or father, a professor, a doctor, a minister, a soldier, a business person, an artisan, or whatever. The paradox is that we can never fully fulfill our role until we are ready to let it go. Whoever we think we are, we are not. We have to find that out, and the best way to do so, or at least the most painless way, is through the process that we call the spiritual journey. This requires facing the dark side of our personality and the emotional investment we have made in false programs for happiness and in our particular cultural conditioning. Rest in Centering Prayer provides us with profound healing. To be really healed requires that we allow our dark side to come to full consciousness and then to let it go and give it to God.
LECTIO: from Matthew 16: 21-28
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 Divina to Centering/Silent Prayer.
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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.
Celtic Version of the Lord’s Prayer – John Philip Newell
Holy One beyond all names
Eternal Wellspring
May love rise in us again today
With food for every table
Shelter for every family
And reverence for every life.
Forgive us our failings in love
And free us from all falseness
That the light of our souls may shine
And the strength of our spirits endure
For Earth and all its people
This day, tonight, and forever,
May love rise in us again today
With food for every table
Shelter for every family
And reverence for every life.
Forgive us our failings in love
And free us from all falseness
That the light of our souls may shine
And the strength of our spirits endure
For Earth and all its people
This day, tonight, and forever,
Amen.
Teaching / Reflection:
Everybody is culturally conditioned to some degree. Even the greatest saints only reach a certain degree of freedom from cultural identification. That overidentification is challenged in Centering Prayer. We spend the first part of our lives finding a role – becoming a mother or father, a professor, a doctor, a minister, a soldier, a business person, an artisan, or whatever. The paradox is that we can never fully fulfill our role until we are ready to let it go. Whoever we think we are, we are not. We have to find that out, and the best way to do so, or at least the most painless way, is through the process that we call the spiritual journey. This requires facing the dark side of our personality and the emotional investment we have made in false programs for happiness and in our particular cultural conditioning. Rest in Centering Prayer provides us with profound healing. To be really healed requires that we allow our dark side to come to full consciousness and then to let it go and give it to God.
~Thomas Keating, The Human Condition, 35.
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We now take some time to share our thoughts and reflections on our own spiritual journey and our prayer practice. This may be 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 Richard and Linda Hall, Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington, DC]
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