Tag: contemplation (Page 3 of 5)

Happy watching and waiting!

December 3, 2017 / MSFriend / 0 Comments

Blessed Sacrament

Happy watching and waiting! Today begins the season of Advent, one of my favorites of the liturgical year – perfect for stillness and quietude. Remember to take time during this season to slow down. Take some time to sit before the Blessed Sacrament in the middle of your busy day or give Jesus an hour of your week to sit during Eucharistic Adoration at your parish. Remember how saddened Jesus was when his disciples couldn’t stay awake during his agony in the garden. “Could you not watch one hour with me,” he said. (Mt 26:40) He’s probably saying the same to us.

This Friday was the first Friday of the month and I spent a few hours in adoration at my parish. We are blessed to have all night adoration on the first Friday of every month. So there I sat, with Jesus, for a few hours – sitting, praying, reading and writing. As I sat, just past midnight, I decided to open the missalette to Sunday’s readings and do Lectio Divina.

The first reading for this weekend is from Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b, 64:2-7 – it starts off talking about how God is our Father and asking why He let’s us wander. It continues with how sinful we are and how angry He is. “Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter; we are all the work of your hands.”

There’s that reason to HOPE again! No matter how sinful we are, He’s “got” this! Those words from Isaiah stopped me in my tracks. I read them over and over with a smile because it reminded me of how God truly IS in control of everything. Answered prayer, unanswered prayer, suffering, joy – it’s all there to teach us, to mold us into the people he would have us become and to help us recognize His Presence around us. In other words, the good, the bad and the ugly……..there He is in the midst of it all. Wow! What a comfort.

I continued to read the reading for Sunday and finally came to the Gospel, taken from Mark 13:33-37. I guess you could say it was appropriate for the season: Advent waiting and the message: WATCH! “Be watchful, be alert” said Jesus to His disciples. I’ve heard many homilies on this Gospel and the message is usually the same – we don’t know when “our time” will come or when Jesus will come again so we should never lose our focus, we should always be prepared to enter the Kingdom. We should always be working toward an increase in holiness, growing in grace and being ready to meet Him when He comes again.

In the past, my own understanding and interpretation of this Gospel and the many homilies I’ve heard proposed that same message. However, after reading it this week, my interpretation was a bit different. It may have to do with my focus on contemplation these days, but I think it also has to do with the connection I made to the first reading. You see, if God is the potter, we the clay, I think we are being called to watchfulness and awareness of Him. “Be watchful and alert” for His Presence in the here and now and how He is working to purify us.

In other words, I think this Gospel is telling us to be on the look out for God’s action and presence in our lives. To recognize it, surrender to it and to open our hearts to it. Basically, go with the flow of the potter’s wheel and don’t resist. We all know what happens to the clay when it encounters resistance! Surrendering to God’s action and presence in our lives is the only way we will be able to experience true union with Him in this life. The best part of this message is that we don’t have to wait until we die or for Him to come again to experience true union with Him.

This Advent, let’s challenge ourselves to be still and quiet long enough to recognize God’s presence and action in our lives, to accept it and be transformed by it! What will you do differently this season to make that happen? Share your thoughts with me! Happy watching and waiting. God bless you!

The Would Be Followers of Jesus – Luke 9:57-62

October 23, 2017 / MSFriend / 1 Comment

The Would Be Followers of Jesus – Luke 9:57-62

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him: “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said “Follow me.” But he replied “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him “Let the dead bury their dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said “I will say farewell to my family at home.” To him Jesus said “No one who set a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In this passage Jesus warns his disciples that the road ahead is not going to be easy. Even He did not have a place to rest his head. He admonishes the followers who want to handle their business first before proclaiming the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, he says they’re not fit for the Kingdom of God. Those are strong words!

The term “would be followers” implies that a desire to follow is present but the action is lacking. Sound familiar? It does to me. When I read this passage, I immediately thought of all the times I get the sudden desire to pray or meditate. Unfortunately I give in to the pressures of daily life and fail to ACT on the desire.

What upsets me most about myself is the fact that I KNOW where the sudden desire to pray comes from. It is actually the Holy Spirit prompting me from within. It’s His calling out to me. When I ignore that prompting, I ignore God’s calling. In that moment I’ve lost the opportunity for God to reveal Himself to me. When I think of all the lost opportunities…………………I’m disappointed.

Sometimes I’m on a roll and consistent with my practices. At other times I’m being pulled away by thoughts, activities and responsibilities. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt the desire to contemplate or write in recent months but ignored it because I have other things on my mind. How horrible is that? Ignoring the Spirit even though I know how fruitful His action and presence will be. Today I refused to be sidetracked and Lord knows how many distractions there were. It was interesting for me to witness the distraction and then get myself back on track when I realized THAT was exactly the topic of this post. A lesson in perseverance for sure!

I have read many books on the practice of contemplation. Contemplation is just sitting in God’s presence and surrendering to His action and presence.. The beauty and benefits of simply sitting and allowing God’s presence to envelope us described in these books makes me DESIRE to contemplate more often than I actually do. It’s what I believe Jesus is getting at in this Gospel.

I would venture to say that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, moves within each one of us as He moved through the Samaritan town on His way to Jerusalem. In those days the Samaritans didn’t welcome Him because they were more focused on His destination (Jerusalem) and not His journey. At times we refuse to welcome Him as well. Maybe because we hope to create the perfect environment and perfect life for ourselves before we can bask in His presence. It’s quite possible that, like the Samaritans, we get so caught up in the destination (where we want to be spiritually, emotionally, financially) that we ignore the journey, the in-between, the lessons and our relationships (with others and ESPECIALLY with Jesus).