Contemplative at Home

A 22-minute audio guided meditation, referencing Isaiah 43. Spring is a season of new beginnings, new life, renewal and hope. As the northern spring begins to find its stride, birdsong and flowering bulbs hint at a waking world. In this meditation you are invited to imagine yourself in this ‘waking world’ -to breathe in this new life, and to listen to what this first flush of generative energy may have to say to you. “See I am doing a new thing – now it springs up – do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness, a stream in the barren land.” Isaiah 43:19 Are you ready to emerge from the dark emptiness of winter? If not there is room to notice what might be around that for you, as well. As always, blessings as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo: Rachel Tweedale The post Meditation: The Gifts of Spring appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

This 16-minute guided meditation invites you to review your Advent meditations, to hold silence on the threshold between Advent and Christmas, and to imagine God’s new life being born again within you. Dear Ones— This guided meditation is for anyone who has been praying throughout Advent and would like to hold a moment of stillness between the longing and hope of Advent, and the celebratory feast of Christmas. You are invited to be still, to wait, to remember, to imagine. We are held in the paradox between what is and what is to come, the paradox between our poverty, our dependence, our frailty and the fullness of life that is poured out to us each and every day. We pause here to acknowledge that tension, to attend to the Holy One who comes anew in us. References in the meditation: Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Isaiah 43:19 See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Prayer of Teilhard de Chardin (excerpted from Hearts on Fire, Praying with the Jesuits) Above all, trust in the slow work of God.We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.We should like to skip the intermediate stages.We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progressthat it is made by passing through some stages of instability—and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you;your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,let them shape themselves, without undue haste.Don’t try to force them on,as though you could be today what time(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spiritgradually forming within you will be.Give Our Lord the benefit of believingthat his hand is leading you,and accept the anxiety of feeling yourselfin suspense and incomplete. Blessings, Dear One…. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or find out about upcoming retreats here. You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Pause for Christmas Eve – A Guided Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 22-minute audio guided meditation with the teaching of St Ignatius. “I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.” Last week we had a meditation on the ‘Principle and Foundation’ of St Ignatius of Loyola, and today I offer you a meditation with a more contemporary translation of the text. You may find this translation easier to connect with in places. The closing phrase “I want and choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me” comes to me regularly, offering a rudder as I navigate questions of discernment or direction. I hope you’ll find a phrase or two here that nourishes you. Blessings as you pray. “The Principle and Foundation” God who loves us creates us and wants to share life with us forever. Our love response takes shape in our praise and honor and service of the God of our life.  All the things in this world are also created because of God’s love and they become … gifts, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.  As a result, we show reverence for all the gifts of creation and collaborate with God in using them so that … we develop as loving persons in our care for God’s world and its development. But if we abuse any of these gifts of creation or, on the contrary, take them as the center of our lives, we break our relationship with God and hinder our growth as loving persons.  In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all created gifts…. We should not fix our desire on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a more loving response to our life forever with God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.  David L Fleming, Draw Me into Your Friendship: The Spiritual Exercises, A Literal Translation and A Contemporary Reading Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” All music by Pete Hatch.  The post God’s Deepening Life in Me: Lectio Divina: Teachings of St Ignatius appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 19-minute audio guided meditation on the Ignatian ‘Principle and Foundation,’ using Lectio Divina. In his “Spiritual Exercises”, Ignatius invites us to consider who God is, who we are, and how we therefore invited to relate to God and all of the created order. In the Principle and Foundation, with which you are invited to pray in this meditation, Ignatius assumes that the pilgrim is already comfortable with the fact that God is the source of all love, life, goodness and flourishing. With this in mind, he infers that the path to human flourishing is to be as free and open to relationship with God as possible. Therefore, he invites us to consider how our other relationships might be helping or hindering us on this path to flourishing. He invites us to be ‘indifferent’ to all created things – not with a lack of care – but with a mindfulness about our attachment, and how our attachment may be encouraging an increase in the flow of Divine Love in our lives, or hindering this flow. Ignatius is big on discernment, and here we get one of his keys to good discernment: does it help or hinder the growth of my true aim: the love, service and praise of the Source of Life? As you pray with this text, I’m not asking you to agree with it all, or even to fully wrap your head around it today. I’m simply offering these words to you as a potential vessel through which the Holy may have something to say to you. I invite you to pray with an open heart. Every blessing. Today’s text: “Human beings are created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by means of doing this to save their souls. The other things on the face of the earth are created for the human beings, to help them in the pursuit of the end for which they were created. From this it follows that we ought to use these things to the extent that they help us towards our end, and free ourselves from them to the extent that they hinder us from it.  To attain this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, in regard to everything which is left to our free will and is not forbidden. Consequently, on our own part we ought not to seek health rather than sickness, wealth rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long life rather than a short one, and so on in all other matters. Rather we ought to desire and choose only that which is more conducive to the end for which we are created.”  The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, SE23: Translated by George E Ganss SJ Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s monthly-ish newsletter “The Contemplative Window” You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash The post The Principle and Foundation : Lectio Divina : Teachings of St Ignatius appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 23-minute audio guided meditation with Exodus 3:1-15, using Lectio Divina. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post I Must Turn Aside: Lectio Divina: Exodus 3 – The Burning Bush appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

An 18-minute audio guided meditation with the letter to the Philippians, Phil 2:4-16, using Lectio Divina. When we read Paul we get a sense of his intensity, his high energy, his focussed mind. But he can also be read contemplatively. Here you are invited to connect with Paul’s faith, the great experience he has had with the love and life of Christ. This Love sees and holds and knows him, and that has become more compelling to him than any other thing in all creation. What is your vision of Christ? Of Love? At this moment in your life, what desire do you have to journey further into the love and life of Christ? Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post The Surpassing Value of Knowing Christ: Lectio Divina: Philippians 3:4-16 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 20-minute audio guided body scan, resting in God’s love, Psalm 46:10 A deeply restorative meditation in the body, for the mind and spirit. You will emerge feeling calmer, more centred and more deeply connected with the Spirit of God. This kind of meditation is known as yoga nidra, and I love to offer it to groups in-person. It is best experienced lying flat on your back. Tuck up with a blanket if you’re in a cool environment. If you can stay awake you’ll get the most benefit! This recording has been much-requested, and I trust you will find it beneficial. Every blessing.Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Twenty Minute Body Scan – Be Still and Know That I Am God appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 21-minute audio guided meditation, with text from John 19:38-42 Though it is wildly tempting to rush to Easter morning, I invite you to tarry a while with me, to stay here in the holy, devastating moments as the body of Jesus is removed from the cross. As Michael Rosen so wisely said: we can’t go around it, we can’t go over it, we can’t go under it. We have to go through it. My prayer is that we will all gently grow in our capacity to attend the loss, absence, and bewilderment that will inevitably consume us from time to time. Not because the wilderness is an end in itself, but because our healing and our hope, can only be as deep as the depths to which we have explored our pain. In this meditation I use the text from John 18:38-42 NRSV. I also quote Etty Hillesum, who died at Auschwitz, from her book An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork “And that is all we can manage in these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves. And perhaps in others as well. Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much You Yourself can do about our circumstances. About our lives. You cannot help us. But we must help You, and defend your dwelling place inside us to the last.” A profound reflection for the darkest of days. Thank you to Val for sharing this with me last week. In the closing blessing, I use words that are very close to Jan Richardson’s poem Beloved is Where we Begin. This poem lives inside of me and sometimes emerges. Jan has lots of helpful blessings for Holy Week and Easter. Do sit with them.  Thank you for trusting me to accompany you on your journey, in your sacred moments. It is a great honour to be here with you.  All blessings. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post When God is Absent: A Meditation for Holy Saturday appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 18:1-14, using Lectio Divina. A meditation with John’s account of the arrest of Jesus. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Art: Duccio di Buoninsegna, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The post Arrest: Lectio Divina: John 18:1-14 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 23-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 13:21-30, using Imaginative Contemplation. Everyone has gathered in Jerusalem for the passover, and Jesus knows that his hour has come. As he sits around the table with his disciples, he becomes visibly distressed before he says aloud “One of you will betray me.” This meditation brings us to this room, to this table, joining Jesus and his friends for 10 minutes, as a moment between Jesus and Judas unfolds. Blessings as you continue on through Lent. Blessings. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Pedro Domingos on Unsplash The post Jesus and Judas: Imaginative Contemplation: John 13:21-30 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 13:1-17, using Imaginative Contemplation. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Here we have Jesus, at a meal with his friends just before the passover. He knows that his hour has come, that Judas intends to betray him. He gets up from the table, takes off his outer robe and ties a towel around himself, and begins washing the disciples feet – a task typically undertaken by the servants of the house as you enter. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. I invite you to a way of unknowing, a place of deep being.  Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Are You Going to Wash My Feet?: Imaginative Contemplation: John 13:1-17 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 12:27-28, 34-36, and 42-43, using Lectio Divina. Glory. Light. An access to eternity that doesn’t look like the power and longevity we might have imagined. I think that Jesus is inviting us to listen very deeply here. I remember my high school French teacher setting out to teach us a tense that doesn’t exist in English. “I need you to open your minds and put aside your current understanding of language,” she began. Jesus asks us to open our minds and put aside our understanding of glory. This glory is not about power, control or success. When have you tasted the glory of the Lord? What did it feel like in your heart? What did it feel like in your bones? To me it is a kind of deep down resonance with goodness and mercy and love. A wholeness and fullness that comes from the bottom up, not something that can be applied to the surface of things like a sticking plaster. It has to do with true healing and generous justice. A hopeful, grace-filled reverberation. How would you describe it? Blessings as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Thomas Kinto on Unsplash The post The Glory that Comes from God: Lectio Divina: John 12: 27-43 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 19-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 8:12-20, using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. I invite you to a way of unknowing, a place of deep being.  Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Anita Austvika on Unsplash The post We Want to See Jesus: Lectio Divina: John 12:20-26 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 24-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 12:1-11, using imaginative contemplation. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. I invite you to a way of unknowing, a place of deep being.  Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window“ You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Anna Keibalo on Unsplash The post Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet: Imaginative Contemplation: John 12:1-11 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 16-minute guided audio meditation on 2 Corinthians 4:5-11, using Lectio Divina. This meditation emerged as a reflection on the human capacity for bringing both beauty and pain into the world. While this is true collectively, it is also true on an individual level. We are all capable of bringing forth beauty and harm, and I would imagine that if you took a few moments to reflect, you could several examples of your own action or inaction for each category. Perhaps this is something of an early meditation for Lent. I hope that you find it illuminating and hopeful. All blessings. Lissy  2 Corinthians 4: 5-11 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by roberta errani on Unsplash The post Jars of Clay: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 20-minute meditation with the writings of Julian of Norwich, using Lectio Divina. You are probably familiar with Mother Julian’s saying “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” On her deathbed, Julian was given a vivid and powerful vision of Christ on the cross. She revived from this extreme illness, and went on to spend the rest of her life as an anchoress, enclosed in a cell, that she might meditate on the meaning of this vision. She lived in medieval Norwich and her writings are the earliest English language writings attributed to a woman. In this meditation we listen prayerfully to some of these words, describing the understanding she was given after many years of meditating on the vision (see text below). I am relatively new to Julian of Norwich and so I invite you to begin to explore her insights together with me as a beginner.  If you’d like to explore more about Julian, I did read the fictional autobiography “I, Julian” by Claire Gilbert last year and can heartily recommend it. My friend Nikki, who has a great devotion to Julian, also commends “Anchorhold: Corresponding with Revelations of Divine Love” by Kirsten Pinto Gfroerer, a book of meditations on her words. Blessings as you meditate with her words here today and thank you again for being here. Text for meditation: “Throughout the time of my showings I wished to know what our Beloved meant. More than fifteen years later the answer came in a spiritual voice. This is what I heard: Would you like to know our Lord’s meaning in all this. Know it well. Love was his meaning. Who revealed this to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why did he reveal it to you? For love. Stay with this and you will know more of the same.  You will never know anything but love, without end. And so what I saw most clearly was that love is his meaning. God wants us to know that he loved us before he even made us. And this love has never diminished and never will. All his actions unfold from this love and through this love he makes everything that happens of value to us. And in this love we find everlasting life. Our creation has a starting point. But the love in which he has made us has no beginning and this love is our true source.  Thanks be to God!” Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 86 (Mirabai Starr translation) Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Love was His Meaning: Lectio Divina with Julian of Norwich appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 19-minute guided audio meditation with Job 11:8-9 and Ephesians 3:17-19, using Lectio Divina. I came to this text hoping to bring you a meditation on the depths of the love of God (Eph 3:18-19), but as I sat with a handful of translations, Greek words and Hebrew references, I was taken more mystically into the presence of God than I had imagined going. I have knit a few verses together here (Job 11:8-9 and Eph 3:17-19), pulling from various translations and expanded Greek definitions, mixing the words from Ephesians into combinations that spoke most vividly to me. Please note that while I feel that I have been very faithful to the text, I am not a biblical scholar and this is not an authorised translation. The words I have gathered from the NRSV, the Orthodox Jewish Bible and the Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament (at biblegateway.com) for this meditation are here: Job 11:8-9 Can you find out the deep things of God… Can you find the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than the heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. Ephesians 3:17-19 I pray that Christ may inhabit, make his dwelling place in your heart. I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in (agape) love, may be empowered to grasp the height and depth, the length and breadth… and have knowledge of the Love of Christ, this Love which surpasses knowledge that you might be filled, fully pervaded, with the fullness, the plentitude, of God. Please note that I read the above text three times in this meditation, rather than the usual two. I hope that this meditation transports you in the way that it has transported me, but more than that, however you find your prayer today, may the Lord accomplish the Spirit’s intentions through your faithfulness to prayer. BLESSINGS and much love!! Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up here for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window“ You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Thibault Mokuenko on Unsplash The post Filled with the Unknowable: Lectio Divina: Job 11 and Ephesians 3 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 19-minute guided meditation blending gentle physical movement (yoga), breath and the Ignatian Examen. Ignatius of Loyola taught his followers that the one prayer they could never eliminate from their daily practice, is the prayer of review, or the Examen. As Teresa of Avila (who for some time had a Jesuit confessor) said “I’ve gone on and on, here and elsewhere, about the damage we do to ourselves by failing to cultivate humility and self-awareness. Just remember: it is your most important task.” – The Interior Castle, First Dwelling, translation by M Starr The Examen invites us to look back over the day, to notice when we felt most alive in Love, and when we felt least alive in Love, to see how God was travelling with us throughout the day, and to intentionally ask God to be near us tomorrow. I personally find end of day prayer so difficult. I am usually well past the point of attentive concentration by the time I’ve settled the house and the teenagers and am getting myself in the direction of bed. What does help me, however, is bringing some physical movement or embodiment to my prayer. Here for the first time, I am incorporating some simple yoga postures into an audio meditation. So this mediation is a little bit different. It is yoga asana (postures), breath awareness and the prayer of examen all folded together. This is something like my own personal practice, and I hope you find it helpful. You may be helped by a couple of rolled or folded blankets to hand, and I recommend moving through these postures on the floor rather than on your mattress. You don’t need special clothes or a mat, just come as you are. This prayer is traditionally prayed at the end of the day, but if the end of the day doesn’t work for you, feel free to pray it at noon, or 4pm, or just before or after dinner, or in the morning. Find what works for you in this particular season and go with that. Blessings, blessings, blessings. And much love Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Lissy Clarke is a Spiritual Director and yoga teacher (200CYT). Sign up for Lissy’s monthly-ish newsletter “The Contemplative Window” for more contemplative nourishment, and to find out about any upcoming retreats. You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash The post Embodied Examen appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 15-minute audio guided meditation with Song of Songs 2:8. Song of Songs 2:8 The voice my beloved! Look, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. In this guided meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to imagine that you are in the mountains, and that the beloved comes towards you with playfulness and joy. You are then invited to imagine an encounter between yourself and the Beloved. May this open up a new understanding of how the Lord sees you and how the Lord is inviting you forward today. All blessings. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post 15-Minute Meditation on Song of Songs appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 16-minute guided meditation, linked to Isaiah 42:1-3 This is what the Lord says…. “I have called you by name…” This meditation is designed to help you pause, connect deeply with the Beloved, to imagine yourself beholding the LORD beholding you, and to hear the LORD calling you by name. It asks you to listen to your deep self, to hear “by what name do I call the LORD?” and “by what name does the LORD call me?” You are invited into an intimate encounter with the LORD. Come and see what might be in store for you here. As with any guided meditation, please ensure that you keep yourself safe. If at anytime during the meditation you feel uncomfortable with where it is taking you, then please gently return to a place where you do feel safe. Isaiah 43:1-3 But now, this is what the Lord says—    he who created you, Jacob,    he who formed you, Israel:“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;    I have summoned (called) you by name; you are mine.2 When you pass through the waters,    I will be with you;and when you pass through the rivers,    they will not sweep over you.When you walk through the fire,    you will not be burned;    the flames will not set you ablaze.3 For I am the Lord your God,    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. All blessings dear ones! Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Ilja Tulit on Unsplash The post Intimate Encounter: Finding Your Name in God’s Love appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

This guided meditation offers you a quiet pause to reconnect with your breath, the Presence of Love, and the question “What is Your will for me for the next few hours?” This might be a little prayer you make at midday, or a few times throughout the day, though there is no incorrect time to pause for this prayer. The meditation has three movements To check in with yourself, feel your breath and your grounded connection in this moment To gaze at God as God Lovingly gazes at you To ask God: what is your will for me for the next few hours? It is a little check-in, informed by these words which have caught my attention this week: “A contemplative is never to be resigned to God’s will, but to will It. That is, to want It.” – Finbarr Lynch, SJ, “When You Can’t Pray” “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 “Planted like a tree in the spring of life, a deeds of a soul in grace delight both the human and the divine.” – Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle (Tr Mirabai Starr) Sometimes we think of our our “deeds” or God’s “will” as pertaining only to big, sweeping actions, but as I navigate the movements of my ordinary days, I find that there is often a deep yes to be found in even the tiniest of decisions. All blessings dearest ones. Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up here for Lissy’s monthly-ish newsletter “The Contemplative Window” You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! 🙏🏽💙 All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by David Clode on Unsplash The post A Moment Aside with the Beloved: 12-minute Guided Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 22-minute guided meditation with Psalm 96, using Lectio Divina. Psalm 96 is a Psalm of rejoicing, celebrating in the greatness of the Lord. It is a Psalm for Christmas. This guided audio meditation invites you to be aware of your body and your breath as you meditate, allowing the words of the Psalm to wash over you and through you. “Tell it out among the nations: “The Lord is King! he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved;he will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;let the sea thunder and all that is in it; let the field be joyful and all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joybefore the Lord when he comes, when he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.” – Psalm 96:10-13 May the joy of the goodness of God infuse all of your days, Christmas or otherwise. Blessings! Lissy Click here for more meditations on Christmas, click here for more meditations with the Psalms. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here. You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash The post Let the Earth Be Glad: Psalm 96: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 15-minute guided meditation for Advent. The Antiphons are short chants which appear throughout Christian liturgy, and feature in Ambrosian chant and Gregorian chant. The O Antiphons are sung in the final seven days before Christmas. Each short verse – one per day – calls on the Lord by a specific name (O Wisdom, O Adonai, O Key of David..), describes God’s character and attributes, and calls on the Lord to come and bring a gift anew. The modern version of these verses is the hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel. There are many beautiful recordings of the O Antiphons, I always return to this one during Advent. In this meditation I invite you to connect with your own O Antiphon – by what name do you address the Holy One? Why? And what do you hope the Lord will come and offer now? By the end of this meditation you will have your own simple O Antiphon, and there is even an invitation to find a tune to hum it to if you wish. “The one who sings prays twice” St Augustine is credited with saying. So as the birth of Christ draws near again — all blessings, dear ones. For more Advent Meditations click this link. For Christmas Meditations, click this link. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Kent Henderson on Unsplash The post Finding Your O Antiphon: An Advent Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 19-minute audio meditation for Advent. The opening image of Caryll Houselander’s book The Reed of God, describes Mary’s “virginal quality” as emptiness. Not a formless or useless emptiness, but a shaped emptiness, prepared to hold something specific. She relates this emptiness to the hollow of the reed, which is prepared to “receive the pipers breath, to utter the song that is in his heart”, or the space within a cup shaped to hold water or wine, or the hollow of a nest, prepared to shelter little birds. The invitation here is to reflect on ourselves. Do we have desire to be available for the Christ to be brought forth in our own lives? What shape might that availability, that emptiness take in us? This meditation will guide you through some gentle movements and interior reflection on this, and other questions. May we say with Mary “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) All blessings this Advent and always. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Preparing Space: A Guided Meditation for Advent appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 15-minute audio guided meditation for Advent. During Advent, we remember that Christ has come, Christ is coming (now, among us) and Christ will come again. For those who seek to follow Christ, this meditation offers space to reflect on the Kingdom of God: what it is, what it does and how you are uniquely invited to participate in its coming. Opening Scripture is from Romans 14:17, Matthew 5: 1-10, and Isaiah 11: 6-9. The Kingdom of Heaven is a matter of righteousness, peace and joy. Blessings as you pray. More Advent meditations from Contemplative at Home can be found here. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Rebecca Peterson-Hall on Unsplash The post Thy Kingdom Come: Advent: A Guided Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 13-minute guided meditation to help you settle on how you will observe Advent this year.  If you’re not quite sure what your advent observance will look like this year, or how to balance the sacred time of waiting with the jolly buzz of December, let me accompany you as you pray through these questions. This guided intention-setting meditation came to me after I listened to a conversation with Tish Harrison Warren entitled Advent: The Season of Hope. I commend it to you.  Contemplative at Home has meditations to accompany you throughout Advent, and you can find links to all of them here.  Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window”  You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch. The post Preparing for Advent: A Guided Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 11-minute audio guided meditation with mindful breath awareness. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning Great is Thy Faithfulness. All blessings as you pause with these profound verses. May they be new to you as you pray. Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Steadfast Love : Lamentations 3 : Guided Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 25-minute audio guided meditation in Luke’s Gospel, Luke 10:38-42, using Imaginative Contemplation. “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” I hope this meditation does justice to this rich and most familiar text. May you have the grace to encounter the Beloved in a new way as you pray here today. All blessings and thank you so much for choosing to share your sacred space with me. I’m honoured to be here with you. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Mary and Martha: Luke 10: Imaginative Contemplation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 19-minute audio guided meditation with text from Mirabai Starr’s translation of The Interior Castle.   In this meditation I invite you to pray with the wisdom of St Teresa of Avila. Listening prayerfully to the text, you are invited to ask: How is the Lord speaking to me in these words? Teresa was given a picture of her inner self, her soul, as mansion, a palace, with many rooms. At the center of this palace is the holy of holies, a place where the Holy One dwells, abides, resides. The text we pray with is this: “Always visualise your soul as vast, spacious, plentiful. This amplitude is impossible to exaggerate. The soul’s capacity far transcends our imagining. The sun at the centre of this place radiates to every part.” (p45) “As long as we are on this earth there is nothing more essential than humility. Enter the room of self-knowledge first, instead of floating off to other places. This is the path.(…) It seems to me that we will never know ourselves unless we seek to know God. Glimpsing his greatness, we recognise our own powerlessness: gazing upon his purity, we notice where we are impure: pondering his humility, we see how far from humble we are.” (p47) “Cultivate humility and self-awareness. Just remember: it is your most important task.” (p49) (And) “Guard yourselves… against the spirit of evil. It’s aim is to undermine charity and cool the love the friends have for one another.(…) Let’s understand that true perfection means loving God and loving our neighbour. (…)All spiritual rules are nothing but means toward the end of spiritual love.” (p50-51) The shape of our meditations at Contemplative at Home are very much informed by Ignatian Spirituality. Teresa was alive at the same time as Ignatius of Loyola, and she had a Jesuit Spiritual Director for some of her years, so shared in that formation. I hope that their combined wisdom in this partiuclar format will take you deeper in to the heart of Christ. All blessings as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post The Interior Castle: The First Dwelling: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 17:1-4, 10-11, 13, 23, 26, using Lectio Divina. In Jesus’ final prayer/teaching before he arrested, in John’s Gospel, there is both a summary and climax of the primary messages of John. These messages include: the intimacy or one-ness that exists between Jesus and the Father, the invitation to all Jesus’ followers into this Divine Intimacy and Love, and Jesus’ great desire that his followers will know the joy of living in this relationship. I hope that you hear the invitation, afresh, to you. You are invited into Love beyond your wildest imagination. May you have the courage to receive it, to step in. All blessings. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post We Are One: John 17: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

An 18-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 16:16-27, with questions for reflection. This meditation takes on a slightly different pattern as we allow the text to open up questions for our spiritual journey. Firstly we see how Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure, for a radical shift in their relationship to him. All enduring relationships go through multiple stages of change and development. Some relationships grow, some relationships atrophy. Sometimes what feels like crisis or loss is actually a movement towards growth, a deepening development. Secondly Jesus desires to instil a sense of hope, and we use these verses to reflect on our own vision and desires. This is an invitation to name what it is that keeps you moving forward. In this meditation I invite you to consider the following questions as we journey through the text: John 16:16-18 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.” When have you felt a sense of disorientation or confusion in your relationship with Christ? Where are you just now – are you able to see Christ, or is Christ hidden from you? If Christ is hidden from you, are you able to access any kind of faith, hope or curiosity about where this is leading? How would you describe the texture of your relationship with Christ in this season? John 16:19-22  Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’?  Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. What future are you hoping for? In a spiritual sense, what is your direction of travel? John 16:23 On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. Can you imagine a state of being in which you have nothing you need to ask for? What are the deepest longings and cries of your heart? John 16:26-27 On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you. You are loved by the Father. Rest in that love, dialogue with the One who Loves you. ***** Any of these questions could take quite some time to answer. Many of them are key questions for spiritual direction. You may wish to revisit them in your journal, or with a soul friend. Don’t feel you need to answer all of them thoroughly today. Let one or two stand out to you, and linger over these. As the meditation concludes I invite you to notice what stays in your mind and heart. Give that your attention in prayer. All blessings. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Reflecting on Your Relationship With Christ: John 16:16-27: Guided Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 16:7-13, using Lectio Divina. John 16:7-13 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.12  I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. In these verses, just before his crucifixion, Jesus is preparing his friends for life without him. He has given them a vision, in John 15, of the depths of love that they are invited into, and then warns them that they won’t always be understood or appreciated. That in fact, those who think they know God may even put Jesus’ followers to death, in the name of God. Then – he encourages them with the verses in today’s meditation (see above). The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will bring the voice of the Father, as Jesus had been doing while he was alive. For me the primary question this leaves us with is: how do I know when I am hearing the voice of the Advocate? How can I be sure that my own convictions come from the Spirit of truth? This is a question of discernment, and I hope you have wise and grounded people in your life who help you to discern. Any time you’re feeling full of love, and open to correction, I think you’re likely in a good space. May the Spirit of truth lead into all truth, and all love. Blessings as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post The Spirit of Truth: John 16:7-13: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 15:12-17, using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. I invite you to a way of unknowing, a place of deep being.  All blessings as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Love One Another: John 15:12-17: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 15:1-11, using Imaginative Contemplation. We continue our series in John 15 with an imaginative contemplation on the vine and branches, exploring the notion of abiding in God. Imaginative Contemplation invites us to see the scripture in new ways, to attend to it with different parts of our mind and heart so that the Lord might reveal fresh insights through it. Imaginative Contemplation is a gift of Ignatian spirituality. This is the third of three meditations on John 15 for July 2024, and probably my own favourite. I hope that it deepens and enlivens your understanding of what it might mean to abide in Christ, to abide in Love. In this meditation I read John 15:1-11 (I say “verses one to fifteen” but it’s actually eleven – apologies!), and then we move in to a guided meditation on the verses. If you find it difficult to pay attention to every word of the scripture reading don’t worry – you’ll hear the verses you need to hear. All blessings as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by Flor Saurina on Unsplash The post Imagining The Vine and The Branches: John 15:1-11: Imaginative Contemplation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 20-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 8:12-20, using Lectio Divina. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” “Abide in me.” “Abide in my love.” “I have said these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.” This meditation is in the second half of Jesus’ sermon on the vine and the branches. All blessings as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Photo by whoislimos on Unsplash The post Abide: John 15:5-11: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 15:1-5, using Lectio Divina. There are so many layers for reflection in this well-known passage and I invite you to come to it fresh today, open to what nuggets of wisdom might be waiting for you in these images today. Abide in me, as I abide in you. Perhaps you’d like to link this phrase to your moments of mindful breathing today. Inhale: You abide in me, Exhale: I abide in you. This episode is specially dedicated to supporter and friend of the show, Ian A. 🙏🏽 All blessings as you pray today. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post The Vine and The Branches: John 15:1-5: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 23-minute audio guided meditation on the Gifts of Summer. The summer is a time of ripening and fullness, a time to allow the long, warm days to ripen the fruit of the labour of spring. To contemplate, according to Walter Burghardt SJ, is to “take a long, loving look at the real.” Summer, with its warmth and heat is just the time for such activity. Long, slow, loving moments to gaze at what is growing and ripening, both in the natural world, and within our own selves. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have the light of life” says Jesus (John 8:12). May you enjoy this time to bask in the light of Christ, allowing its warmth to ripen what is growing within you. Breath Awareness: If you have any heart issues or if you are pregnant, it is not advised to hold your breath, so please do not do so if this applies to you.  Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Meditation: The Gifts of Summer appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 11:45-54, using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, we consider the variety of responses people made to the radical and astonishing life that Jesus brought. I invite you to consider the ways you resonate with those who respond with suspicion and concern, as well as those who respond with openness and joy. Breath Awareness: If you have any heart issues or if you are pregnant, it is not advised to hold your breath, so please do not pause between the inhale and exhale for a length of time.  Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post What are we to do?: John 11:45-54: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 25-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 11:32-44, Lazarus is raised from the dead, using Imaginative Contemplation. There are so many feelings in this story: Mary and Martha’s great grief mixed with feelings of profound disappointment with Jesus. Their angry confusion that he hadn’t come to heal Lazarus. Their apprehension when Jesus asks them to open the tomb. The feeling of the community, again grief, amazement at how much Jesus loved Lazarus, and disappointment and anger that he hadn’t come earlier. Jesus’ own feelings of deep sorrow, distress, disturbance. And of course the feelings of those who are silent in this story: the disciples who were with Jesus, who were perhaps the ones to come forward to roll away the stone, and unbind the cloths. So I invite you to be aware of your own feelings as you listen: noticing without judgement, but with simple curiosity and acknowledgement what stirs within you. This imaginative contemplation invites you to allow the scene to come to life in your imagination, and then to imagine these events taking place in some aspect of your own life. Every blessing as you pray. Closing blessing: Ephesians 3:20 Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  The post Imaginative Contemplation: John 11: Lazarus appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 10:31-42, using Lectio Divina. The text in this meditation comes from the NRSV and NIV, and includes most but not all of the verses in John 10:31-42. See below for verses in today’s meditation. 22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there // gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, …  30 I and the Father are one.” 31 Again [they] picked up stones to stone him,  32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” 34 And Jesus answered Can you say that the one who the Father sent into the world is blaspheming because I said I am God’s Son? 37  even though you do not believe me, believe the works I do of my Father, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”  39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. 40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. And in that place many believed in Jesus. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch.  Image: Jesus Walks in the Portico of Solomon By James Tissot – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, 00.159.177_PS2.jpg, Public Domain. The post I am in the Father: John 10:31-42: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.