Contemplative at Home: Recent Episodes

Lissy Clarke

Contemplative at Home offers guided prayer, Christian meditation and contemplation. This space will help you 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, with episodes from the Gospels and the Psalms.

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.

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.

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 progress that 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 spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in 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.

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.

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 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 one 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 words as a potential vessel through which the Holy may have something to speak to you today.

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.

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.

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.

An 18-minute audio guided meditation with the letter to the Philippians, Philippians 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?

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.

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.

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 She writes: "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.

A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 18:1-14, using Lectio Divina.

An audio guided lectio divina 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 words 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.

A 19-minute guided meditation using 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 joy before 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

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.

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.

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 appear one each day in the final seven days before Christmas. Each short verse calls on the Lord by a specific name (O Wisdom, O Adonai, O Key of David..), naming God's character and attributes, and calling on the Lord to come and give of 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

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.

For more advent meditations from Contemplative at Home, follow 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.

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.

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 you will make time to fit prayerful reflection into the busy month of December, or how to balance the sacred time of waiting with the jolly buzz, let me accompany you as you pray through these questions.

This guided intention-setting meditation came to me after I listened to this conversation with Tish Harrison Warren, 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.

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.

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 might resonate with those who responded with control, as well as the ways you resonate with those who responded with openness.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 answeredCan 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 .

A 20-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 10:11-15, 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.

Distraction is a normal part of meditation, so don't be worried if you hardly pay attention to this meditation at all. That is nearly to be expected, depending on how things are for you just now. You might be helpful to write down the thing that is distracting you on a piece of paper, giving your mind the assurance that you'll pick it up later, and the permission to leave it for the time 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.

A 23-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 10:1-10, using Imaginative Contemplation.

In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to imagine that you’re on a Galilean hillside, listening to Jesus speak.

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 Imaginative Contemplation: I am the Gate: John 10:1-10 appeared first on .

A 10-minute meditation on the love of God with breath awareness and verses from the Psalms and prophets.

This is an updated version of a meditation released in 2022, with more space to let the verses settle in to your psyche. Listeners to the previous meditation responded in the following ways:

“Deep deep thanks. I really struggled today but I’m in a beautiful calm place after this”

– Janine

“Might become a go to meditation for me these next few weeks.”

– Ian

“So thankful for God’s tender love and understanding”

– Anon

This meditation is ideal is for moments when you need grounding, centering, comfort or peace.

Verses include Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 86:15, Zephaniah 3:17, Psalm 36:7 (various translations).

You are loved with an everlasting love.

Grace and peace.

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 Meditation – Soaking in the Love of God – Updated appeared first on .

A 10-minute meditation on the love of God with breath awareness and verses from the Psalms and prophets.

This is an updated version of a meditation released in 2022, with more space to let the verses settle in to your psyche. Listeners to the previous meditation responded in the following ways:

"Deep deep thanks. I really struggled today but I'm in a beautiful calm place after this"

Janine "Might become a go to meditation for me these next few weeks."
Ian "So thankful for God’s tender love and understanding"
Anon This meditation is ideal is for moments when you need grounding, centering, comfort or peace.

Verses include Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 86:15, Zephaniah 3:17, Psalm 36:7 (various translations).

You are loved with an everlasting love.

Grace and peace.

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.

A guided meditation with John 20:11-18, using imaginative contemplation. 23 minutes.

This is the re-release of a meditation first published in 2022.

This passage has meant so much to me and helped me, in a crisis of faith, to see that what feels like The End may in fact be a beginning, an invitation to something much bigger.

Here are some thoughts I shared in 2022:

"In today’s meditation, based on John 20:11-18, Mary isn’t ready to see that she is in transition. She still clings with all she’s worth ... to Jesus of Nazareth as she’s known him and loved him.

Jesus, however, is ushering her in to a different, but deeper relationship with both himself and the Father. She’s now being offered the same intimacy and access to the Father that Jesus has had himself. “I’m going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” To step into this, she must let go of Jesus as she’s known him.

As you travel to this moment in your imagination, may you encounter the risen Jesus, and may this speak to whatever transition, or liminal space, you find yourself in just now."

Every blessing.

For further meditations on encounters with the risen Christ from John's Gospel, check out these links:

Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room, speaking “Peace” and breathing the Holy Spirit into them. (18 minutes - John 20:19-23)

Thomas, who needs to see to believe. (18 minutes - John 20:24-29)

Breakfast on the Beach (21 minutes - John 21:1-14)

Do You Love Me? (20 minutes - John 21:15-22)

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.

A 16-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 20:1-10, using Imaginative Contemplation.

Christ is risen. Alleluia!

In this meditation we are reminded that the resurrection of Jesus broke over his friends and disciples slowly, amidst confusion and stress.

As I reviewed this meditation for editing, I was surprised at how vivid the experience at the empty tomb was for me, and found a beautiful new light lit in my heart.

Enter this story for yourself and discover a new perspective on your faith in the resurrection of Christ.

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

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.

A 19-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 19:13-42, using Lectio Divina.

I am struck by two key invitations as we meditate on the suffering of Jesus in Holy Week.

The first invitation is to see how full and completely Jesus offered himself in love.

And the second invitation is to attend to pain, to difficult emotions and circumstances. Our public and private lives give us more than enough pain to come to terms with and it is often easiest to ignore or numb in the face of it all. But at the cross Jesus seems to suggest that the only way is through (as the adventurer's in the children's rhyme "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" knew so well). The only way to resurrection and eternal life, is through the grave. The only way to wholeness is through the heart centre of all that is broken. The only way to healing is through the pain.

May you have the grace to open yourself more fully to this mystery this week.

This meditation covers several moments in the crucifixion and death of Christ, and each section is read just one time. If you'd like to repeat a particular section or the entirety of the passage you will find the relevant times below.

6:24 Pilate hands Jesus over to the Jews - John 19:13-16

8:11 Jesus is put on the cross - John 19:17-25

11:09 At the foot of the cross "Here is your son, here is your mother" - John 19:25-27

12:13 Sour wine and "it is finished" - John 19:28-30

13:27 Jesus side is pierced - John 19:31-37

15:17 Jesus is buried - John 19:38-42

In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at the passion of Christ, 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.

A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 19:1-9, using Lectio Divina.

In this Holy Week meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at Jesus as he endures these grim moments of his arrest, 'trial', and conviction to crucifixion. Notice the way he remains present and attentive even while circumstances become frayed and harried around him.

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.

A 22-minute audio guided meditation on John’s Gospel, John 18:33-40 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.

Here is the text for todays meditation, from the NRSV:

John 18:33-40

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” They shouted in reply, “Not this man but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a rebel.

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.

A 22-minute meditation with John 18:12-27, using breath work and Lectio Divina.

A meditation for Lent as Jesus is arrested and interviewed by Annas.

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

A 16-minute guided audio meditation with John 8:31-36, using breath work and Lectio Divina.

"We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying 'You will be made free'?" John 8:33

Jesus invites his followers into an interior freedom. We could devote our entire lives to the exploration of this invitation. You might find it useful to reflect on these questions:

Where and when do I feel lack of freedom around my choices or my reactions?
When and how do I feel an inability to give and receive love?
In what ways do I feel stuck?
Am I free to express my needs and opinions with confidence and grace?
Where do I feel most alive? Where do I feel least alive?

Every blessing as you reflect and pray.

You are more loved than you can ever imagine. May this be the truth that sets you free.

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.

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 8:12-20, using Lectio Divina.

My invitation to you, always, is to engage with scripture through your creative, non-rational self. Rational engagement with scripture is equally important - we usually call it bible study - and I hope there is a dose of it in your rhythms. But my invitation is to help you engage with this sacred text through the non-thinking parts of yourself. With your intuition, your soul, your inner knowing.

In this passage, there is debate. The pharisees are pushing Jesus, prodding with questions and asking for how he measures to the framework of their law.

You will have your own responses to this, and as you listen I invite you to stay in your deep inner knowing, to allow one word or phrase to open meaning for you, and to let the rest fall away.

I see Jesus here deep in his own inner knowing, profoundly connected with his Source, and focussed wholly on that alone.

May you come close to Jesus as you pray with this text.

All love, all Light, 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.

A 23-minute audio meditation with John 8:1-11, 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.

In imaginative contemplation we invite the Spirit to speak to us through the faculty of the imagination, allowing the text to come alive as we fill in the sensory details in our minds (eg what do I hear, how does she appear?), as we allow the story to become our own in some way.

As always with guided meditation, keep yourself in a safe emotional space - if you don't feel comfortable with the experience, gently come back to your breath.

Deepest blessings as you pray 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.

A 16-minute meditation with John 7:37-39, using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation.

In chapers 7 and 8 of the book of John, politics are whirling and public opinion around Jesus is intensifying. In these choppy political seas - with which we are all familiar in our own way - Jesus speaks these words: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ (John 7:37-38 NRSV)

To learn more about the celebratory water drawing festival that Jesus is attending in Jerusalem, and the ritual of the "last, great day" (Jn 7v37) you might find this article interesting.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A 19 minute audio meditation with John 7, verses 14-18 and 25-31, using Lectio Divina and breath work.

In John 7, the public opinion of the Rabbi Jesus is becoming fraught, with many following, many criticising and others wanting him out of the way.

In todays text Jesus has made his way to Jerusalem for the festival of booths, but has come quietly, on his own, without an entourage or public entrance. In the middle of the festival he stands up and speaks and many are moved by his teaching. What John reports here is around Jesus' authority, which is very much under scrutiny by those present (and presumably by those amongst and for whom John was writing, decades later).

Jesus reasserts, as he does throughout the book of John, that he is from and of the Father, that he speaks not his own words but the words of the One who sent him, for the glory of the One who sent him.

I am revisiting Teresa of Ávila at the moment, and her teaching takes us to contemplation of the great mysteries of the Divine indwelling in our deepest selves, and the profound union with God of the soul in its most interior places. I can't help but read this text with that in mind. Jesus is entirely centred in and confident of the profound one-ness between himself and the Father.

In verse 18 he talks about what is true and false in a person, and Thomas Merton, a modern contemplative teacher, talked about the true self and the false self. To Merton the false self is the ego attachments to success, power and status. The true self is the deep, inner, soul-dimensions of the self where I am free to give and receive love purely, where I experience and rest in my belovedness.

Perhaps these thoughts will enrich your reading of the text. May you receive from this meditation whatever it is our Lord would offer 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A guided audio meditation with John 6:52-60, 66-69, using Lectio Divina.

"Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

The language here is definitely alarming at face value, but I'm very confident that our Lord is not promoting cannibalism.

What then might it mean, to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ?

His flesh and his blood point, of course, to his life and his death, and all their layered symbols.

And the invitation here is to partake, to share, to step in.

Christ's invitation is truly so intimate.

He speaks of abiding in you, and you abiding in Him (v56). This hints of union (v56), of shared being (v57), of an eternal oneness (v58).

I have now come to see the communion or eucharistic meal as something that nourishes all my energies with the very presence of Christ. He in whom I live and move and have my being.

“This [eucharistic] sacrament is operative to produce both love and union with Christ. The greatest showing of love is to give oneself as food.” – St. Albert the Great

I can only pray that my ongoing transformation through this deepening union enables me to bring some shard of His presence, His light, His food to those near me, to the world.

These are a few of my own meandering thoughts.

May the meditation with these words lead you more deeply into your own reflections.

And may it lead you into deepening intimacy with Christ.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 6:30-35, 38-39, using breath work and Lectio Divina.

This passage is so beautiful.

I know that bread has taken many different forms in different times and places, but I can't help but see a loaf of sourdough rising in the oven - expanding, filling, bubbling, opening.

There is so much language in these verses about giving life. Manna. Nourishment. Food. Satiation of hunger and thirst. Being raised up.

They said to him "Sir, give us this bread always" I imagine it sounding like "Rabbi - we always want this bread."

Don't we though? Life. To the full. Yes, please.

Blessings as you pray, loves. 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 6: 24-29, using Lectio Divina.

In this text, the crowd realises that Jesus has gone to the other side of the lake, and decide to follow. It got me thinking about "Elvis has left the building"... or rather "Jesus has left the building." "When the crowd saw that Jesus had gone..." (John 6:24) What are the signs for you that Jesus has left a place? That the pillar of smoke is moving on? Have you had this experience in your own way? And how did you respond?

When the crowd finds Jesus, he questions their interest in him. He suggests they are interested in the sensational magic, rather than the spirit of hope and love. What is it that draws you to Jesus? Why are you attracted to him? What compels you to follow? What do you see?

May these questions take you further into meditation today, and every blessing 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

An imaginative contemplation with John 6:16-21.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation on John 6:15, using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation.

Today we meditate on one verse: "When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself."

I very nearly skipped this in my travels through John's gospel, but was drawn in when I realised that this crowd wasn't taking him by force in order to arrest him, but in order to make him king. A study in his response to the buzz of the ego.

Blessings as you pray with this one today.

(Apologies for the slightly tricky music/speaking mix at the beginning... tried to fix a few times but ran out of time to sort properly... it doesn't last too long)

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 6, verses 1-13, using Lectio Divina and 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.

The miracle of the five loaves and two fishes is the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 5:19-22, 24 using Lectio Divina.

After the man is healed at the pool of Bethesda, and some take issue with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus goes on to describe the relationship between himself and the Father.

I invite you to listen with the ears of your heart, staying in your deep-self centre as you remain open for layers of meaning to come out of this text for you today.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 5:9-19 with The Message translation, using Lectio Divina.

Following on from the healing at the pool of Bethesda, this meditation takes us into the busy temple courtyard, where Jesus bumps into the man who has been made well.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with imaginative contemplation in John’s Gospel, chapter 5, verses 2-8.

In imaginative contemplation, we try to make the scene come alive in our minds eye. Some people can conjure very vivid images, sounds and smells in their minds, others experience more of an emotional impression. There is no right or wrong way to do this, the purpose of imaginative contemplation is to allow the gospel encounter to become your own in some way, to allow the text to bring the Word in a fresh way.

Grace and peace to you as you pray, as 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 4, verses 23-26, using Lectio Divina.

Today we return to Jesus and the Samaritan woman, engaged in conversation beside the well. They've come upon one fundamental difference between Jewish and Samaritan religious practice: "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say the place where people must worship is Jerusalem." Jesus seems to want to move away from this line of debate altogether.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1-5, with imaginative contemplation.

The story of the woman at the well is one that most listeners will be very familiar with. Sometimes over-familiarity breeds disconnection: we stop seeing the things we look at every day.

Here I'm asking you to really imagine that you are actually in the scene. Is this well in a small clearing or in a big open place? Is the ground flat or steep? Where and how is Jesus sitting by this well - are there seats of some kind or is he on the ground? What is he doing as he waits for his friends to bring food - resting, or praying? It is so, so hot. You must feel the heat of the day.

And what is the woman's gut response as she discovers this Jewish man loitering at the well?

I hope that you experience this exchange in a new way, that there will be a vibrant sense of fresh living waters bubbling up, to nourish and restore you.

Every blessing, as 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A contemplative meditation based on John 3:33-36, with breathwork.

This meditation was recorded on a very warm September afternoon - the window was open, so the birdsong and passing planes are part of the soundscape. Perhaps you can imagine God's kindness towards both you and the little birds as you listen.

The shape of this meditation was modelled on Anthony De Mello's Sadhana: A Way to God (Chapter 6, God in My Breath).

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

An 8-minute meditation with John 1:16

In this simple meditation we sit with the words of John 1:16: "From his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace."

May deep breaths and deep peace be yours, whatever else may be for you 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A ten minute meditation (including 3 minutes of silence) with Ephesians 5:1-2.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

An 8-minute meditation with Psalm 23:1-3.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A 9-minute meditation, focusing on God's loving presence, with 5 minutes of silence.

Dear Friends,

As I head away for the summer with my family, I've left a series of simple meditations for you to enjoy during August. This is the first of them.

Wherever you find yourself this month, may there be moments for stillness and reflection, and new discoveries in the rest.

Blessings

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 3:22-30, using Lectio Divina.

After the passover, Jesus and his disciples go out into the Judean countryside, and spend some time together. (I'm not sure why but this little phrase puts me in mind of the time when we had no mobile phones - were we able to pass extended periods of time together in a mellower, richer way?)

Jesus is baptising, and John is baptising too, because "the water was abundant". A discussion breaks out about this - why are they both baptising? John then reiterates his role in Jesus' entry on the scene.

Next month, there will be an interlude in the meditations on John's gospel. Keep your eye out for shorter reflections each Monday through August.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 3:1-10, using imaginative contemplation and 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John's Gospel, Chapter 2, Verses 13-22, using imaginative contemplation.

This episode looks at the story of Jesus overthrowing the traders in the temple.

I'm not in a position to offer authoritative information on the background of this story, but my understanding is that Jesus' anger here is around the financial barriers that have arisen between the poor and worship.

The Torah law and customary religious practice required attending the temple and making sacrifice of particular animals at particular moments in the year, or in a persons life. People would travel to Jerusalem from all directions in order to observe religious festivals. On those occasions, in order to pay the temple tax, they would change their local or Roman currency into currency which could be used for religious purposes. They would also buy their sacrificial animals within the temple walls.

Clearly a significant amount of profiteering had crept in, and Jesus, who had attended festivals in the Temple every year since he was a small child, had likely seen first hand the burden this put on his family, and other families whose means were tight.

This week, I'm seeing Jesus' zeal here as having quality of a mother who, when the need arises, can sweep in with an unexpected ferocity, to defend and protect her little ones.

I wonder where this meditation will take your thoughts and responses.

Blessings, always, as you pray.

Lissy x

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 2:1-12 (Water into Wine or the wedding at Cana), using imaginative contemplation.

I encourage you to have a quick read of the scripture passage before starting this meditation, if you have time. You can find it in the NRSV here. One line that I don't really offer in the meditation, but is in the text, (and I think quite helpful) is "Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him." (verse 11)

I'd love to hear how you found this meditation - I find the approach particularly helps me to taste and feel the dynamic between Jesus and his mother. Interestingly, John only ever refers to Mary as Jesus' mother in his gospel.

The blessing at the end is one I made up as I was saying it, I do want to acknowledge that the phrase "strange graces" is from Jan Richardson's Beloved is Where we Begin, a blessing/poem that I bring to groups and individuals regularly.

Blessings on YOU, dear one. Thanks for being here, and may this be alive for you in a new way today.

Lissy x

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 1 verses 43-51 using breath work, body awareness, and imaginative contemplation.

This is our seventh and final meditation in the remarkable chapter one in the book of John. The story opens with the wide, sweeping lens on the dawn of time as the word, the light births all of creation into being. John melts into the poetic "Word became flesh" (v14) and "from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace" (v16) and then we are into John the Baptist's sermons at the Jordan where he points to Jesus as Messiah to swelling crowds and investigative Levites, always testifying "Behold! The Lamb of God" (v35). The focus of the lens become much more granular then, as we now see Jesus in his very ordinary human life, being asked "where are you staying?" (v38). And now, with all the power and energy of the first 3/4 of the chapter setting the stage, ordinary people are meeting Jesus in their ordinary lives and being invited to "Come and see" (v39, 46) and responding in a number of ways to this person who sees and ignites their deepest souls.

In today's meditation, Jesus leaves the Jordan to travel back up to the Galilee, and finds Philip (from the same city of fishermen and farmers as Andrew and Simon Peter). Philip is immediately compelled to follow Jesus and invite his friends, too, to come and see. Nathaniel is a little hesitant until Jesus accurately sees and names his heart, his spirit.

Jesus' words close the chapter with a camera pan back out to the bigger, wider narrative “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you,[o] you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

I invite you to engage with these verses as an imaginative contemplation, becoming present to the text and the story in your imagination and putting yourself in the scene.

Blessings, always, 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

An audio meditation in John's Gospel using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation, John 1:39-42.

In these verses in John 1, we get a short glimpse of a brief, rather ordinary, and entirely transformative meeting.

I picture this story happening near the Jordan river where John is baptising, announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near, inviting people to go down into the water as a symbol of readiness to step into a new, fresh movement of the spirit. Thousands of people come from all over to hear what John is preaching, to go down into the water and physically express their availability for this new thing.

Simon and Andrew, brothers and fishermen, have travelled across from the Galilee, Jesus has come from Nazareth. Perhaps there are hundreds of tents, or campsites, circled by various gatherings. A bit of a festival feeling.

And here we learn that Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter who would be among Jesus' 12 disciples, was first a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew is right at the centre of this movement, staying close to John, following him closely, entirely ready to encounter the coming One John speaks of.

Andrew was one of the two who heard John say "Look, here is the Lamb of God", and it was Andrew who followed Jesus that day, asking where he was staying, and going to spend the day with him.

As the afternoon draws towards evening, Andrew is convinced that this Jesus is the Messiah (though his understanding of Messiah would continue to grow for decades to come), and he goes to his find his brother Simon in the crowd, and brings him back to Jesus.

Jesus sees Simon, identifies him, and there in that moment, gives him a new name: Cephas, which translates to Peter and means rock.

A few side facts and legends about Andrew:

Andrew, whose name is not Hebrew but Greek, as Pope Benedict pointed out, suggests that his parents were fairly broad-minded. Andrew was one of Jesus' closer disciples, and would eventually be subject to death by crucifixion. Legend has it that Andrew refused to be martyred in the same manner as Jesus, so his cross was turned a few degrees to be an X. This is reflected in the white X on the Scottish flag, as St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. Now you know!

Blessings, always, 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

An audio meditation on your own belovedness and your existence as an expression of love.

"I belong to my Beloved, and my Beloved belongs to me. He brought me to the banqueting house, his banner over me is love."

Song of Songs 2:4, 6:3

This meditation invites you to take a little pause from all that is on your plate just now, to step aside and to remember that you are the beloved of Love Itself.

As I sat with these words today I imagined a big banner flying over my kitchen with the word LOVE emblazoned on it. Although this may sound trite, it is actually the most serious truth we can hold as we engage with ourselves, the other people in our kitchens, and the world at large.

You are the beloved, and your Divine Beloved delights in you.

That is the whole story.

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 join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 35-39, using Imaginative Contemplation.

In this meditation we meet Andrew (the brother of Simon Peter) who is not yet a disciple of Jesus, but at this stage in the story, is a disciple of John the Baptist.

Andrew is standing with John (likely at the Jordan River, where he has been baptising, and preaching his message about the one who comes after him), when Jesus walks by.

And so the first encounter, the first dialogue with Jesus in John's Gospel unfolds.

"What are you looking for?"

"Rabbi, where are you staying?"

"Come and see"

For me this exchange holds both the soul-searchingly deep and the very ordinary, physical stuff of our everyday lives, a pairing that holds the essence of incarnation.

I hope this encounter will reveal something new to you as you pray with it. I'd love to know what you hear in it for you today.

Blessings, always, 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28.

As an undergrad at Whitworth College, I took a class in John’s Gospel with F. Dale Bruner. I vividly recall Dale opening each session by translating the text into animated English out of the original Greek, which he held entirely memorised in his brain. I particularly remember his arm gestures as he put across the point: “he who comes behind me, ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.” (John 1:15, 1:30)

A final assignment for the class was to make some kind of representation of each chapter of John’s Gospel. I made a small book of water colour paintings. One of the very few University assignments that is still with me, today it sits on my desk to guide me as I travel through John’s Gospel with Contemplative at Home,

For the text in this meditation (which could be called John the Baptist's sermon on the identity of Jesus) I have used Dale’s own translation as recorded his Commentary on the Gospel of John (Eerdmans). I find the language to be full of life and I hope it will open a new door for you as you listen, with the ears of your heart open.

Every blessing 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28.

The text for today's meditation records a conversation between priests and John the Baptist. John has been baptising at Bethany at the Jordan, and huge numbers of people are coming to respond to his message that "the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 4). The chief priests send representatives from Jerusalem to ask some questions, to find out what the buzz is all about.

They want to know if John is someone they are expecting, based on their reading and interpretation of the scriptures. Is John the Messiah, is he Elijah who ascended to heaven in a whirlwind and will return before the Messiah returns, or is this the prophet who Moses said would come before the Messiah?

John says he is none of these, and instead seems to be inhabiting his own unique voice, his own unique vocation. I’m neither Elijah, nor anyone else you are expecting, in the way you are expecting them. I am myself, and I'm here to point towards something that is at hand, someone who is among you on whom the Spirit rests. (Jesus later says in Mt 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”)

I sense John inviting the interrogators to get out of their heads, to stop trying to puzzle out answers to match their expectations, and to open their hearts with curiosity to how the Spirit of God is at hand.

I invite you to open yourself to this sense of the Holy, to let go of trying to puzzle it all out in your brain, and even as you listen and pray, when you sense the Spirit hovering, to allow yourself to receive it. Let it wash over you, let your self be immersed, even baptised, in Presence of the Holy, even if it comes in an unexpected guise.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 14-17

These words in my old paper Bible have so many little side notes, one word circled in the text with an accordion file of notes on the greek root and its myriad translations spilling into the margins. The unfolding possibilities in the meaning of these words is so rich, so beautiful and compelling that I have taken the liberty of adding them into my reading of the text for you today.

My added words, are all based on the notes of (a) a scholar in Seattle whose name I did not record, teaching circa 1998 (b) the footnotes in my Oxford Annotated NRSV and (c) Strong's notes on the greek in the MOUNCE translation on Bible Gateway.

May the unfurling of these words, as they try in their own limited way to speak of the Word, the original breath of all that is, nestle into your heart and ignite some small fire of insight, of hope, of love.

With 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 6-9.

In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you, as Jesus does in Mark 6, to "come away with me to a quiet place". I invite you to a quiet place within yourself, a place where your wonder and curiosity are allowed to take the lead. I invite you to behold these words of text, not from your critical, analytic, outward-functioning self, but from your soft, non-judgemental inner heart. I invite you to allow layers of possibility to unfurl from these simple phrases.

In short, I invite you to pray these words.

John 1:6-9 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

May the light

and radiance

of Christ

shine on you

and in you,

through you

and from you.

May the light

of Christ

warm you,

be your companion this day,

and give you peace.

Blessings, always, 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1-5

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 aside your dogma, your creed, even your thoughts, your rational mind, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. I invite you to behold these words from a place of deep being, a place of unknowing.

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Blessings, always, 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance! (1 Peter 1:2)

Peter's letters are addressed to communities throughout Asia Minor, and the notes in my study Bible say that we can assume the members are "Gentiles, resident aliens and household slaves." They face persecution and social ostracism for identifying as Christian.

This meditation looks at verses 2-4 and 8-9. There is talk of heaven in this chapter and I find the dynamic between future and present hopes interesting. While it is easy to pitch our hopes on the future in very difficult circumstances, Peter also talks about the joy in the present moment. And this he says to an audience enduring difficulties which I personally cannot begin to imagine. You are receiving the outcome of your faith (v9). Whilst circumstances remain difficult, the hope that we long for is not confined solely to the future. It is also right here, around and among us, even in the midst of the mess.

Do you know anyone who embodies an earthy, joy-right-here-in-the-mess kind of faith and hope? Not by-passing pain, not ignoring injustice, but hope and love in the midst of it?

May this kind of resurrection hope be yours.

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

In Matthew 26:36-46 we are with Jesus, late in the evening after they have celebrated the Passover, Jesus has washed their feet, and broken the bread with his friends. Now they have gone to Gethsemane, a garden they may have stopped in regularly together on their way into Jerusalem.

The irony is not lost on me that I found myself heavy with sleep as I was trying to record this podcast. I have struggled with heavy sleepiness on a number of occasions this week, but still, it is very unusual during recording, so I know where I find myself in the story this time… losing the battle to heavy lids with Peter, James and John.

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:41

I’ve heard said that this was the first betrayal. When Jesus was in extreme emotional and spiritual agony, asking his friends to stay with him in mind and heart, they were unable to do so. They left him to face his inner battles entirely by himself.

As we enter holy week with Jesus, I invite you to find whatever space you can to be attentive to his story, and to find yourself in his story, in some way.

You can find more holy week meditations 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

In Matthew 26:36-46 we are with Jesus, late in the evening after they have celebrated the Passover, Jesus has washed their feet, and broken the bread with his friends. Now they have gone to Gethsemane, a garden they may have stopped in regularly together on their way into Jerusalem.

The irony is not lost on me that I found myself heavy with sleep as I was trying to record this podcast. I have struggled with heavy sleepiness on a number of occasions this week, but still, it is very unusual during recording, so I know where I find myself in the story this time… losing the battle to heavy lids with Peter, James and John.

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:41

I’ve heard said that this was the first betrayal. When Jesus was in extreme emotional and spiritual agony, asking his friends to stay with him in mind and heart, they were unable to do so. They left him to face his inner battles entirely by himself.

As we enter holy week with Jesus, I invite you to find whatever space you can to be attentive to his story, and to find yourself in his story, in some way.

You can find more holy week meditations 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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

The post Agony in the Garden appeared first on .

We continue our Lenten exploration of the mess and the trouble, this week looking at Romans 5:1-11: sin, grace, love, suffering, reconciliation, death and life.

The text is read from the NRSV with verse 11 from the Message.

As always, blessings as you pray.

L

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

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

Friends,

As we continue our Lenten look at the mess we are always moving through, we come to the story Jesus told of a rich man and a poor man. (Luke 16:19-31)

I found myself wondering about the ways in which I construct 'chasms' or false distinctions between me and others whom I deem unworthy or unappealing. I also wondered about the ways in which I try to cut off parts of myself which I find unattractive. How am I invited to befriend, love, receive or care for these parts of myself?

May you be ushered into love as you pray.

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.

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

Dear Friends,

Lenten greetings.

When choosing which passages to work with in these meditations, I tend to lean towards the most positive, hopeful and encouraging bits of the Bible that I can find.

In the midst of all that we struggle with, I feel that we primarily need hope and love and peace spoken over us. I also have a wild faith in the power of Love to transform us, and in Christ's beautiful invitation to intimacy and union. Bringing you into this invitation is my primary desire in making these meditations.

Lent, however, is a good time to gaze at what is broken and difficult. Jesus did that himself, and, in my experience, offers a presence and a friendship to stand beside us, and gaze with us, at the sticky, painful bits of our inner and outer worlds.

With that in mind, we will be looking at brokenness - all that is difficult and wearying - in our meditations over the next few weeks, noticing how it is handled throughout Biblical texts.

May these stories continue to help you make sense of your own story, and may this practice of ‘beholding the pain’ in a safe context bear gifts of life for you. Do take care of yourself, don't address more than you are ready to, and turn to safe people for support when you need it.

Blessings, always, 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 monthly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A gentle practice to rest in God's love, using a combination of lectio divina and centering prayer.

Blessings 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 monthly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

It is no wonder the the community founded by John, “the one whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23), would go on teach at length about the profound love of God.

John is often referred to as the beloved disciple.

I can’t help but wonder how much of this belovedness, this identity as the beloved, is a function of John’s capacity and willingness to recieve the Love that was offered to him.

How might you be invited to increase your capacity to recieve love?

The writer of 1 John suggests that God is Love, that to love another is to know God and that when we love, God dwells within us. (v 7, v16)

What do you love? Who do you love? How do you love? Can you sense the presence of God humming within that love?

Blessings as you pray.

I John 4 verses 12, 18-21

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

The post Beloved: Lectio Divina 1 John 4:12-21 appeared first on .

It is no wonder the the community founded by John, "the one whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23), would go on teach at length about the profound love of God.

John is often referred to as the beloved disciple.

I can't help but wonder how much of this belovedness, this identity as the beloved, is a function of John's capacity and willingness to recieve the Love that was offered to him.

How might you be invited to increase your capacity to recieve love?

The writer of 1 John suggests that God is Love, that to love another is to know God and that when we love, God dwells within us. (v 7, v16)

What do you love? Who do you love? How do you love? Can you sense the presence of God humming within that love?

Blessings as you pray.

I John 4 verses 12, 18-21

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

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 newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 10

I have come that you might have life to the full.

Blessings 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with John 10

I have come that you might have life to the full.

Blessings 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 weekly newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

The post Life to the Full – Lectio Divina John 10 appeared first on .

In the spirit of the imaginative contemplation, I invite you into this guided meditation based on Matthew 4:18-20.

In imaginative contemplation you are invited to offer your imagination and your perception as tools through which God might speak to you in a new way.

May you see Jesus in a slightly new way here.

Blessings 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch.

Dear Friends, Today a meditation with the gifts of winter. In this guided meditation, you will imagine yourself in a winter scene, listening to the wintry landscape as it teaches you about how to live in the cold and fallow seasons. Job knew that the natural world understood the fundamental truth of things, understood who God is and how God works Job: 12:7 But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? And John Scotus Eriugena, the medieval theologian and celitc Christian saw all of creation as sacred text. So today we ask, together with contemplatives down the ages, what might the winter of January have to teach me? As always, if you don't feel safe in a meditation, do bring your attention out of that space and return to the breath, or something else that feels calm and loving. Blessings, dear ones. L 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

In this 18 minute meditation, you are invited to remember the baptism of Jesus, and to explore where you are at just now, how you stand on the brink of something new and possible, and how you might like to open yourself to the Spirit of God at this juncture. You may want to use this meditation to pray about the next few months, or the next year.

No matter who we are, or where we are headed, we all need to hear the words "you are my precious one. You are beloved."

If you aren't familiar with Jan Richardson's poem Beloved is Where we Begin, I commend it to you.

The text in this meditation is from Matthew 3:13-17, NIV.

Blessings, always, 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

Your support makes a HUGE difference! If you enjoy these meditations, please consider sharing them with a friend, giving a rating on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

All music by my dear bro, Pete Hatch.

This is a 20-minute meditation with the magi, who studied the stars, and followed a star whose rising signified the birth of the King of the Jews.

This mindful meditation gives you space to prayerfully reflect on Matthew 2:1-3 & 7-12, the visit of the magi, and to consider what insights the account may have for you. I find this a particularly helpful new year meditation, though it is by no means specific to a particular time of year.

We don't know that the bearers of gold, frankinsense and myrrh were kings, or how many of them there there were. What we do know is that they brought three gifts, that they were astrologers, likely Zoroastrian, and that they came from the east.

I am reminded in my annual reading of Elizabeth Goudge's children's book I Saw Three Ships, that gold, frankincense and myrrh may represent wealth, worship and death, three profound gifts we may offer to the Giver of all.

Blessings on 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation for the fourth week of Advent, with the prophecies of Isaiah 11.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditaiton with Isaiah 9 Advent blessings 🙏🏽🕯🕯🕯 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

Advent is a time for preparing, for making space (though as Tsh Oxenrieder says in her Advent book "Shadow and Light", to be still, to make space is an almost subversive act our culture's December).

I do pray that you might find some space today to breathe, to be still, to listen and to ask yourself the question, what might it mean for my heart to prepare room for the Christchild?

Much love and every blessing as you pray today

L

PS: Here we pray with Isaiah 40:3-5. The whole chapter is worth your Advent meditation 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

We begin the liturgical year now, in Advent, starting with the cries of our hearts out of the profound need within and around us. The need for restoration, for justice, for wholeness, for peace. Isaiah 35, (read here from the Message), points to a time of healing and life, blossoming and singing. It invites us to dare to hope, in the bleakest of places. Come, thou long-expected Jesus Born to set thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee. Advent 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 for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

We begin the liturgical year now, in Advent, starting with the cries of our hearts out of the profound need within and around us. The need for restoration, for justice, for wholeness, for peace. Isaiah 35, (read here from the Message), points to a time of healing and life, blossoming and singing. It invites us to dare to hope, in the bleakest of places. Come, thou long-expected Jesus Born to set thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee. Advent 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 for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

This is a meditation with Luke 6:46-49.

I hope that this slow and mindful approach to the story of the houses with and without foundations will open something new and relevant for you today.

Wishing you peace like a river.

Lissy x

PS: I've had a few conversations this week with people who mentioned using these meditations with a small group, so I've added a couple of brief 'if you're in a group' prompts to this recording.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much.

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation on Mark 10:46-52

As Jesus, his disciples and many others leave Jericho together, they pass a man begging on the side of the road. He causes an awkward disturbance, shouting for attention.

His name is Bartimaeus.

As we pray with this passage, may it become new.

Perhaps you'll have the space to become curious about what is awkwardly shouting for attention in your life.

Perhaps you'll have the grace to hear Jesus ask: What do you want me to do for you?

Grace and peace 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A Meditation with Matthew 20:20-23 What is it that you want? The mother of James and John has come to ask that her children might sit at the right and left hands of Jesus in his kingdom. But …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: What is it that you want?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: What is it that you want? appeared first on .

A meditation with Matthew 20:20-23

What is it that you want?

The mother of James and John has come to ask that her children might sit at the right and left hands of Jesus in his kingdom. But what is it that she most deeply wants? Power? Security? Honour? Status? Love? Which of her wounds propels her to make this request? And does she understand what Jesus' kingdom will look like?

May this story help to reveal your own story, may this question become a question for you.

Grace and peace 🙏🏽

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

We continue our series of meditations on questions Jesus asked, this time in the feeding of the 4000 (Matthew 15:32-37). I find this one to be quite rich! Hope you do too, and every blessing as you pray …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: How Many Loaves do You Have?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: How Many Loaves do You Have? appeared first on .

We continue our series of meditations on questions Jesus asked, this time in the feeding of the 4000 (Matthew 15:32-37). I find this one to be quite rich! Hope you do too, and every blessing 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? Jesus asks his followers, asks us, in Matthew 11:2-11. John the Baptist, imprisoned, has just sent his own disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: What did you go out into the Wilderness to see?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: What did you go out into the Wilderness to see? appeared first on .

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? Jesus asks his followers, asks us, in Matthew 11:2-11. John the Baptist, imprisoned, has just sent his own disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

This interesting passage explores a number of the questions we have already prayed with, including the identity and character of Jesus as we explored in Matthew 16 who do you say that I am? as well as Jesus’ question what are you seeking? In John 1.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

The latest trend? Trappings of wealth? Or a prophet? One to speak truth to power and hope to despair, one who re-energises the imagination of the people of God?

“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”
― Walter Brueggemann,The Prophetic Imagination

I invite you to be open, even playful, and curious, setting all preconceived notions aside as you are present to these words, listening for something new on the breeze of the Spirit.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

I’m so pleased to be sharing this meditation from Mark 4:35-41 with you today: “Come, let us go across to the other side of the lake” Almost every single phrase is full of potential meaning. Having said that, …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: Why are you afraid?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: Why are you afraid? appeared first on .

I'm so pleased to be sharing this meditation in Mark 4 with you today: "Come, let us go across to the other side of the lake"

I invite you not to force or expect a particular insight, but to simply open yourself to recieve.

May you see Jesus look at you as he asks "Why are you afraid?"

Love and blessings

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

Matthew 7:1-5 Hey Friends– In this meditation, we meet Jesus as he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount. Here he asks us the question: why do you see the speck in your neighbours eye and do not …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: Why do you see the speck?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: Why do you see the speck? appeared first on .

Matthew 7:1-5

Hey Friends--

In this meditation, we meet Jesus as he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount. Here he asks us the question: why do you see the speck in your neighbours eye and do not notice the log in your own eye?

Why is it so much easier to notice other people's faults and grievances than our own?

This makes me think of Freud's iceberg theory, the proposal that we have many instincts, motivations and drives functioning at a subconcious level within us.

May our contemplative practice reveal to us a new awareness of what is happening within, and may a healthy practice of non-judgement take root.

Blessings and 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 for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In this meditation we pray with an encounter between Jesus and his friends, who have journeyed up towards the base of Mount Hermon (in the Golon Heights), to a place where there is an ancient temple to the Greek god Pan. (Matthew 16:13-16). Here he speaks to his friends about his own identity, first asking who are people saying that I am? Whether this is a PR question, or he wants them to ponder this, or he is truly exploring this question for himself, we don't know. But apparently there has been a lot of buzz because several different answers are offered: some say that you're Moses, or Jeremiah, John the Baptist or another prophet. And when Jesus asks "who do you say that I am?" and Peter answers "The Messiah," I think it is good to bear in mind that Peter has a very deep, rich understanding of what 'the Messiah' means. There is more to this encounter but today we are going to stay with this little bit. As you reflect on these questions for yourself, I invite you to come to them with your own cultural context and understanding. To come with your perspective on the world at this moment in history, your understanding of God and what you and your people are longing for. I also invite you to be very honest with Jesus when he asks: who do you say that I am? There is no point saying, even to yourself, the answer you think you ought to say or the answer you think you'd like to say. Who do you truly think that Jesus is? I invite you to dialogue. BLESSINGS AS YOU PRAY With 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 for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

In this meditation we pray with an encounter between Jesus and his friends, who have journeyed up towards the base of Mount Hermon (in the Golon Heights), to a place where there is an ancient temple to the …

Continue reading "Who do you say that I am?" The post Who do you say that I am? appeared first on .

This week we consider the lilies of the field as Jesus leans in on the anxieties of his friends, inviting them to deeper trust. Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life? Blessings …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: Why Do You Worry?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: Why Do You Worry? appeared first on .

new artwork for Contemplative at Home! You'll see that the podcast is now called MEDITATIONS by Contemplative at Home

This week we consider the lilies of the field as Jesus responds to the anxieties of his friends, inviting them to deeper trust.

Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life?

Blessings as ever,

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In today’s meditaiton we look at Matthew 9:27-30, NIV. Two men, who are blind, pursue Jesus, asking for mercy. He asks them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” and then says: “According to your …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: Do you believe that I am able?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: Do you believe that I am able? appeared first on .

In today's meditaiton we look at Matthew 9:27-30, NIV.

Two men, who are blind, pursue Jesus, asking for mercy. He asks them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" and then says: "According to your faith, let it be done to you" The two receive their sight.

I'll be honest and say this is a slightly uncomfortable exchange for me. It raises all sorts of questions about unanswered prayers.

Having said that, it also led me to reflect on the tone of our faith, how we can 'believe' or request in prayer with a spirit of control, threat and demand or alternatively with a spirit of surrender, openness and curiosity.

My thoughts are still forming. I will be interested to hear where this meditation takes you.

BLESSINGS AS ALWAYS

L

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

Happy September, friends. I hope this finds you well. I’m really excited for our next series of episodes, exploring Questions Jesus Asked. This series was suggested by my dear Spiritual Companion, Tina Lamb. (You may remember that Tina …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: What are you Seeking?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: What are you Seeking? appeared first on contemplative at home.

Happy September, friends. I hope this finds you well. I’m really excited for our next series of episodes, exploring Questions Jesus Asked. This series was suggested by my dear Spiritual Companion, Tina Lamb. (You may remember that Tina …

Continue reading "Questions Jesus Asked: What are you Seeking?" The post Questions Jesus Asked: What are you Seeking? appeared first on contemplative at home.

Happy September, friends. I hope this finds you well.

I'm really excited for our next series of episodes, exploring Questions Jesus Asked. This series was suggested by my dear Spiritual Companion, Tina Lamb. You may remember that Tina brought us the Sunday poems during the first pandemic year.

In this first episode we explore John 1:35-39, When John the Baptist's disciples follow Jesus, and Jesus asks them "What are you seeking?"

Can you allow Jesus to ask you "What are you seeking?"

Thank you so much for inviting me into your precious moments of meditation. It is an honour to be here with you.

NB!!! :

My children have a delightful party piece where they imitate me, my eyes half closed and my dreamiest meditation voice crooning "may you open your heart to the peaceful love of God"... then abruptly turn around to shout in a very angry voice 'BOYS!! SHUT!! UP!! I'M RECORDING!!!"

This is not entirely accurate. "Shut up" is not something I generally say to anyone... However, there was a very animated online game going on downstairs whilst I recorded this (aghhh!) and while I've managed to edit most of the outbursts out of the background, there may be one or two which escaped. May they amuse you. And may your meditation be such that ambient noises do not ruffle you.

Blessings, all.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

Contemplative at Home live on Zoom ~ Monday mornings and evenings for 8 weeks ~ body movement, breath work and meditation ~ 5 Sept to 24 Oct ~ Sign up here Dear Friends, If you looking to re-energise …

Continue reading "Morning and Evening Prayer" The post Morning and Evening Prayer appeared first on contemplative at home.

A Centering Prayer meditation, with three minutes of silence, concluding with an Anglican collect. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find …

Continue reading "Centering Prayer: 3 minute silence" The post Centering Prayer: 3 minute silence appeared first on contemplative at home.

A Centering Prayer meditation, with three minutes of silence, concluding with an Anglican collect. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find …

Continue reading "Centering Prayer: 3 minute silence" The post Centering Prayer: 3 minute silence appeared first on contemplative at home.

A Centering Prayer meditation, with three minutes of silence, concluding with an Anglican collect. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find a word that comes naturally to you. This might be a name by which you address the Holy, a state such as love, peace, joy, or a short phrase such as “here I am” or “be still and know that I am God.” You are invited to settle on your phrase and then to stay with it for the duration of your meditation. Blessings as you pray, dear ones. Collect: O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining and whose power we cannot comprehend: show us your glory as far as we can grasp it, and shield us from knowing more than we can bear until we may look upon you without fear; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

In this Centering Prayer practice, we observe six minutes of silence together, and close our prayer with the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving …

Continue reading "Centering Prayer: 6 minute silence" The post Centering Prayer: 6 minute silence appeared first on contemplative at home.

In this Centering Prayer practice, we observe six minutes of silence together, and close our prayer with the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation.

In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find a word that comes naturally to you. This might be a name by which you address the Holy, a state such as love, peace, joy, or a short phrase such as “here I am” or “be still and know that I am God.” You are invited to settle on your phrase and then to stay with it for the duration of your meditation.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

Meditation bell by steaq on freesound.org

All music by Pete Hatch.

A centering prayer meditation with 10 minutes of silence, and closing with a Gaelic blessing. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to …

Continue reading "Centering Prayer: 10 minute silence" The post Centering Prayer: 10 minute silence appeared first on contemplative at home.

A centering prayer meditation with 10 minutes of silence, and closing with a Gaelic blessing. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find a word that comes naturally to you. This might be a name by which you address the Holy, a state such as love, peace, joy, or a short phrase such as “here I am” or “be still and know that I am God.” You are invited to settle on your phrase and then to stay with it for the duration of your meditation. For more on centering prayer, see https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org. Gaelic Blessing for our closing prayer today: Deep peace of the running wave to you Deep peace of the flowing air to you Deep peace of the quiet earth to you Deep peace of the shining stars to you Deep peace of the gentle night to you Moon and stars pour healing light on you Deep peace of Christ the light of the world to you Deep peace of Christ to you Amen. 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. kp-fi.com/contemplativeathome. Thank you so much! For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

Dear Friends, This the first of our August centering prayer meditations for 2022. In this meditation we observe 4 minutes of silence together and we close with a collect from the Church of England. (see text below) In centering …

Continue reading "Centering Prayer: 4 minute silence" The post Centering Prayer: 4 minute silence appeared first on contemplative at home.

Dear Friends,

This the first of our August centering prayer meditations for 2022. In this meditation we observe 4 minutes of silence together and we close with a collect from the Church of England. (see text below)

In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find a word that comes naturally to you. This might be a name by which you address the Holy, a state such as love, peace, joy, or a short phrase such as “here I am” or “be still and know that I am God.” You are invited to settle on your phrase and then to stay with it for the duration of your meditation.

For more about centering prayer you may find these links useful.

Blessings dear ones.

Collect

Holy God,

faithful and unchanging:

enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,

and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,

that we may truly worship you,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you so much!

Further details at www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In this meditation we visualise God’s abundant love glowing within us as an ember, or flame. We allow that love to flow out of us, warming those we love and care for. This meditation was inspired by a …

Continue reading "Fire Meditation: Flame of Love" The post Fire Meditation: Flame of Love appeared first on contemplative at home.

In this meditation we visualise God's abundant love glowing within us as an ember, or flame. We allow that love to flow out of us, warming those we love and care for.

This meditation was inspired by a suggested exercise in Christine Valters Paintner's book Earth, Air, Fire, Water: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements.

O living flame of love

O lamps of fire

in whose splendors

the deep caverns of feeling,

once obscure and blind,

now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,

both warmth and light to their Beloved.

How gently and lovingly

you wake in my heart,

where in secret you dwell alone;

and in your sweet breathing,

filled with good and glory,

how tenderly you swell my heart with love

-St John of the Cross

Blessings, as always, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A take on Lectio Divina, this meditation flows from the Genesis 2 creation account “a river watering the garden flowed from Eden, from there it separated into four headwaters”, to Psalm 36 “you give them drink from your …

Continue reading "Water Meditation: Living Streams" The post Water Meditation: Living Streams appeared first on contemplative at home.

A take on Lectio Divina, this meditation flows from the Genesis 2 creation account "a river watering the garden flowed from Eden, from there it separated into four headwaters", to Psalm 36 "you give them drink from your river of delights", through Isaiah 44 & 55 "I will pour water on thirsty ground," "come all you who are thirsty, come, drink", to Jesus' words in John "streams of living water will flow from them" and concludes with John's vision in Revelation of the new Jerusalem "the angel showed me the river of the water of life". As you pause to pray with this meditation, I would encourage you to invoke your own memories around streams, rivers, ponds, rain, or the ocean. How would you use your images to describe God's movement, God's Spirit, God's being? And as you meander through these verses, which words or images catch you, and spark wonder or interest? Pause there. Dive in. Be open to what is being offered to you in that eddy. Drink deep. (Please forgive any mispronunciations in the Genesis reading, I'm not a linguist!) 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. ko-fi.com/contemplativeathome. Thank you so much! For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

In the Hebrew Bible the word for Spirit – ruach – is alternately translated as spirit, as breath (or breath of life), and as wind. The ruach hovers over the deep before the creation of the world. The …

Continue reading "Wind Meditation: Breath Prayer" The post Wind Meditation: Breath Prayer appeared first on contemplative at home.

In the Hebrew Bible the word for Spirit - ruach - is alternately translated as spirit, as breath (or breath of life), and as wind.

The ruach hovers over the deep before the creation of the world. The ruach blows back the waters of the great flood. The ruach gives life to the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision.

In this meditation we consider how the wind of the Holy Spirit might revive and renew us, before practicing a simple breath prayer.

Inhale: Breath of God,

Exhale: Breathe on me.

Inhale: Breath of God,

Exhale: Loosen my grip.

Inhale: Breath of God,

Exhale: I breathe in you.

Blessings, always, as you pray, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

“the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” Psalm 24:1 For me summer is always a time to connect more deeply with the natural world, so throughout July we will be praying with the four elements: Earth, …

Continue reading "Earth Meditation: Earth and the Ground of God’s Love" The post Earth Meditation: Earth and the Ground of God’s Love appeared first on contemplative at home.

"the earth is the Lord's and everything in it" Psalm 24:1 For me summer is always a time to connect more deeply with the natural world, so throughout July we will be praying with the four elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. In this first of our elemental meditations for 2022 we explore Earth with a guided meditation, connecting imaginatively with the deep network of things happening underground, considering the ways in which the Earth and all its bounty enable us to live and thrive, and relating the Earth to the ground of God's love. This meditation includes a reading from Genesis 1, and information gleaned from the Royal Society of Biology and National Geographic. Do check those links for more information about the world below the surface. 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you so much! ko-fi.com/contemplativeathome For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

Audio: Summer Announcements! Join us this summer for a morning to be still, to recalibrate, and to drink deep from the Living Water. To sign up for this Zoom-based retreat please complete this form Suggested Donation £20 I …

Continue reading "Retreat: Living Water" The post Retreat: Living Water appeared first on contemplative at home.

Announcments!!

Sign up for Living Water retreat here https://forms.gle/LZfqzVAGTcVU8MJ8A

Support contemplative at home at ko-fi.com/contemplativeathome

Hoping for more centering prayer meditations in August.. and podcast moving to MONDAYS from august as well.

Thank you for being here!!! xxx

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

A meditation with the two short verses of Psalm 117.

Following a stilling, there will be short phrases of the psalm offered with questions and suggestions, and then a 3 minute silence.

May you have the grace to meet deeply with the Lord as you pray.

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.

For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with the two short verses of Psalm 117. Following a stilling, phrases of the psalm are offered with questions and suggestions, and then a 3 minute silence. May you have the grace to meet deeply with …

Continue reading "Meditation Psalm 117" The post Meditation Psalm 117 appeared first on contemplative at home.

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth!"

This short and familiar Psalm of praise invites you to engage freely and joyfully in your expressions of gratitude and love for the Lord.

May you have the freedom to express yourself loudly, fully and with abandon.

Grace and peace as you pray!

Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In this meditation we pray with three short verses in Matthew 19.

"Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there." (Matt 19:13-15)

May you have the grace-filled encounter with Jesus.

PS: It's June! The birdsong is live, outside my window.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

This meditation gives you the opportunity to take the words of the Lord's Prayer and slow them right down, ruminate on them, marinate in them, and, perhaps, receive something fresh from them.

A Lectio Divina with the Lord's Prayer.

We pray with both the NIV translation of Matthew 6:9-13 and the New Zealand Anglican Lord's Prayer. What a gem.

Blessings as you pray today dear one. Blessings on 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

This is a meditation with Isaiah 43:1-7 When you pass through waters, I will be with you.

And when you pass through rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through fire, you will not be burned.

The flames will not set you ablaze.

As always, I wish you every blessing as you pray with this meditation.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

I’m still pondering the in-between, transition times of life and today’s Lectio Divina with Isaiah 43:16-21 opens a song of hope and promise in the wilderness.

The prophet sings of a God who is moving and living, hovering over the wasteland, drawing and inviting the jackal and the owl and a people captive in Babylon into dance, into relationship, into life.

I wonder what the wasteland, the wilderness, has been for you? Perhaps a diagnosis, a bereavement, a breakup. A place where you may have been stranded once, or many times over. Where trust is betrayed, where comforts are stolen, where your very sense of self is up in the air.

May you sense the possibility of streams in the wasteland as you pray with these words, where the God of the wilderness invites you to dance.

May there be a word or phrase just for you.

Every blessing.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

This meditation introduces Breath Prayer, an approach to contemplative prayer that we've not explored on the podcast before.

In breath prayer we take a short phrase, in this case "I wait for the Lord" and hold it gently in our minds with the breath - silently saying "I wait" on the inhale and "for the Lord" on the exhale.

Waiting on God is of course a strong theme throughout the Old and New Testament, expressed particularly in the Psalms (Psalm 27, 37, 39, 40, 130....), and is also a key component in transitional, liminal time that we've been exploring here for the past few weeks.

In this meditation you will hear brief readings from Psalm 23:1 and Psalm 145:9.

The text for the closing prayer poem is as follows:

Lord, in your good time,

You brought your children out of Egypt

And in your good time,

You delivered them to the promised land

You were with Jonah

In the whale

With Christ

In the wilderness

With Paul

In Prison

And you are here

Right Now

With me

May I have the grace

To trust myself

To trust the process

To grow comfortable with the unknown

And may I have the grace

To be attuned to your presence

To wait on you,

my Lord

With love

Joy

And peace

In the name of Christ,

Amen

Blessings as you meditate and do let me know how you get on with breath prayer!

Warmly

Lissy

(PS Still struggling with sound quality... ugh! And apologies)

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

Support the Show: These meditations will always be free, but your contributions both help and encourage. Thank you. Contributions can be made via PayPal @contemplativeathome or on the CashApp £contemplativeathome.

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

In this guided meditation, or imaginative contemplation, you are invited to join Cleopas and Simeon as they walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus, encountering a man on the road who has some remarkable things to say.

The meditation is based closely on Luke 24:13-33.

Cleopas is named in the text, and Simeon is held by the Franciscan tradition as the second person in the story.

It might be that Cleopas was Jesus' uncle, and Simeon may have been his son (a cousin of Jesus). Simeon is thought to have become the second bishop of Jerusalem. Regardless of specific identity, what matters most is that these men had faces, shoes, families, hearts, minds and inclinations. They knew Jesus, they had followed him and had hoped that he would redeem Israel.

May they become real to you in a new way as you encounter them here today.

** If you want to help imagining the landscape surrounding Jerusalem, you might quickly peruse these photos (search of "Jerusalem mountains" on shutterstock).

I used a number of sounds fromfreesound.org to make the ambiance for this meditation.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In this guided meditation, we are with Mary at the tomb, in the early hours of the third day. She has come to anoint the body, but is distressed to find the it absent.

We continue our series on the theme of transition, in-between times, liminal spaces.

Blogger Dinah Overlien (https://dinahoverlien.com) commented: "I’ve always imagined liminal space to be like a trapeze artist who has let go of one swinging bar and is waiting to grab the one that is coming. Without letting go, there is no way to catch what’s coming in. It takes a lot of trust."

In today's meditation, based John 20:11-18, Mary isn't ready to see that she is in transition. She still clings with all she's worth to her bar, to Jesus of Nazareth as she's known him and loved him. Jesus, however, is inviting Mary to let go, ushering her in to a deeper, more profound relationship with God. She's now being offered the same intimacy with the Father that Jesus has had himself. "I'm going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." To step into this, she must let go of Jesus as she knows him.

As you travel to this moment in your imagination, may you encounter the risen Jesus, and may this speak to whatever transition, or liminal space, you find yourself in just now.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

Support the Show: These meditations will always be free, but your contributions both help and encourage. Thank you! Regular or one-off donations can be made via PayPal @contemplativeathome or on the CashApp £contemplativeathome.

Other ways to support: share it with a friend, or write a review on your favourite podcast app. Thank you!!

I invite you to travel in your imagination to the upper room where Judas has just slipped away to a devious meeting with the high priests.

These are Jesus' final moments with his closest friends, change is afoot, and everything is turbulent, insecure.

We are in Eastertide now, which is so very hopeful, and yet a time of change, disregulation, transition.

I've been thinking about transitions this week, and wanted to share a meditation with you on Peter's question: where are you going?

After years of inviting his friends to come and follow me, Jesus suddenly says "you CAN'T follow me now." Disorientation.

Perhaps you are wondering where you're going, or where Jesus is going, or where Jesus is at all. If so, you are in good company with the disciples post-resurrection.

Bring your questions, open your spirit and sit with this encounter. Notice what Jesus offers and what he doesn't offer.

May you be nourished as you do so.

Peace and Grace

PS: Speaking of transitions, I'm transitioning back to my old/new recording space and I didn't quite get the acoustics right today. Apologies for that. Hoping it will sound better next week.

THANKS FOR ASKING! Several of you have enquired about supporting this work financially and I'm so grateful for your kindness. These meditations will always be free, but contributions make a big difference. Regular or one-off donations can be made via PayPal @contemplativeathome or on the CashApp £contemplativeathome.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

Hey Friends -- Another invitation to journey to the room where it happened, in your imagination.

This time we pray with the friend lowered through the roof (Luke 5:17-26) and I will say that I nearly skipped this story, but I'm so glad I didn't! This approach made it completely new for me in several ways. I hope the same happens for you, and I hope that praying here nourishes you for the road.

Every blessing, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In today’s meditation we pray with Luke 5:12-16 (NIV & NRSV mix), which tells of an encounter between Jesus and a man suffering with leprosy. This man with leprosy (and Jesus) lived in a culture, which observed a …

Continue reading "Meditation – Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy" The post Meditation – Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy appeared first on contemplative at home.

In today's meditation we pray with Luke 5:12-16 (NIV & NRSV mix), which tells of an encounter between Jesus and a man suffering with leprosy. This man with leprosy

(and Jesus)

lived in a culture,

which observed a law,

which decreed

regarding diseases affecting the skin

(ie leprosy):

Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. (Leviticus 13:45-46)

A good reminder of how fortunate we are to live in an era with developed understandings of contagion and dignity, even if the face masks and social distancing are all too familiar!

But I share it with you to fill out your imagination as you listen to the text. "A man came along who was covered with leprosy." Here you can wonder: how long has this man had to live alone, outside of the town, feeling unwell? How long has it been since he's been able to hug his mum or hold hands with his son? When did he last become ritually clean, so that he could enter the temple? When was he last allowed to wear decent clothing and cut his hair? Which of these is the hardest for him today? Hear him announcing "Unclean, unclean" that people may give him a wide berth and not accidentally touch him. And remember that to touch him would not only render the other person unclean for at least the rest of the day, but expose them to the illness as well.

Let your imagination fill in as many details as possible.

As always, thank you for sharing your meditation space with me and 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more vist www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

This episode was originally published in February 2021 under the title "Imaginative Contemplation - Fishermen Called as Disciples" and has been slightly edited for re-release today.

Join us as we continue our imaginative journey through encounters with Jesus in Luke's gospel. In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus is teaching by the sea when some fishermen, who have been out all night but caught nothing, coming in for breakfast.

Every Blessing 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A 7-minute meditation on the love of God using a smattering of verses from the Psalms and prophets. This one is for moments when you need grounding, centering, comfort or peace. You are loved with an everlasting love.

Verses include Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 86:15, Zephaniah 3:17, Psalm 36:7 (various translations).

Grace and peace.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

In this imaginative contemplation based on Luke 4:31-42, we spend a day with Jesus in Capernum. As always, if at any time during this guided meditation you don't feel safe, do come away from it. Wherever prayer takes you over the next 20 minutes, may you be blessed and enriched... 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

In this imaginative contemplation, we are with Jesus as he preaches in the synagogue in Nazareth.

I find these images (and these preview clips) helpful for conjuring the scene in my imagination. I wonder if it would help you to look at them before you go into prayer.

We use the prayer of Brother Lawrence in our opening sequence: "Here we are Lord, all devoted to you. Make us according to your heart."

This meditation continues our exploration of the question "Who, then, is this?" as we engage with the opening chapters of Luke's gospel.

For a meditation with Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13), see 2020 meditation here: or a 2016 meditation 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here.

All music by Pete Hatch.

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

I mean I never imagined that a guided meditation on the great line of Jesus' ancestors was plausible, but here we are. It has been given to me by spark of inspiration, and I pass it on to you. My sincere apologies for the sure mispronunciations scattered throughout.

I hope, however, that you won't be distracted by the names which may sound unusual to English-speaking ears. Instead I invite you to be present in your imagination to each of these souls, and to ponder on the gifts, the legacy, the riches of love, perspective, humour, faith, experience, wisdom, intellect, leadership, creativity and intimacy with God, that this great line of souls bestows on Yeshua, Jesus.

We continue our exploration of the question "Who, then, is this?" as we explore the opening chapters of Luke's gospel. This is a meditation based around Luke 3:21-38.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here.

All music by Pete Hatch.

Do you know any twelve year old boys? If so you might call to mind their general stage of development, their physicality, their spiritual and intellectual capacity, their general energy. We’ll be engaging with a 12 year old Jesus in this meditation. You’re invited to join his community in your imagination as they travel to Jerusalem for the passover, and to observe Jesus and his parents as he makes the decision not to return home with their group, but to stay in the temple to debate with the teachers.

This meditation on Luke 2:41-52 continues our series of Imaginative Contemplations on the question “Who, then, is this?” You are invited to step aside from any answers you’ve decided on in the past, and to have an encounter with Jesus in the present.

Grace and Peace.

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 weekly newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

All music by Pete Hatch.

The post Imaginative Contemplation – Jesus in the Temple appeared first on contemplative at home.

Do you know any twelve year old boys? If so you might call to mind their general stage of development, their physicality, their spiritual and intellectual capacity, their general energy.

We'll be engaging with a 12 year old Jesus in this meditation. You're invited to join his community in your imagination as they travel to Jerusalem for the passover, and to engage with Jesus and his parents as he makes the decision not to return home with their group, but to stay in the temple to debate with the teachers.

This meditation on Luke 2:41-52 continues our series of Imaginative Contemplations on the question "Who then is this?"

You are invited to step aside from any answers you've decided on in the past, and to have an encounter with Jesus in the present.

Grace and Peace.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

A meditation to play with the text of Luke 2:22-39 - the presentation of the infant Jesus in the temple - using mindfulness, grounding techniques, lectio dvina and imaginative contemplation.

My desire is always that you will be offered space to pause, to reconnect with yourself and to be nourshed by an encounter God.

This episode was recorded 'on location' in my prayer room... which was delightful for me, but terrible as a recording studio. (!) I've taken out as much echo-y reverb as I can, and send my apologies for what is left over. It's a beautiful January day here and the birds seem to think it's springtime. You'll hear them! I think they are the bluetits.

Blessings, blessings, blessings. Whether it has anything to do with the content of this meditation or not, I hope that you will be given one clear gift out of the time you take aside for prayer today.

Thank you so much for choosing to pray here with me. I'm honoured to share space 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

A meditation for the new year, for new beginnings, for a fresh start. Exodus 33:14-15 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” Moses, who now 'sees God face to face', ie is deeply attuned to Divine Presence, is wrestling with God about the way to lead his people out of the wilderness, to the promised land. What does Divine Presence mean for you? How does it come to you? Do you relate to the very Presence of God? And how and where do you echo Moses' instinctual prayer: "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" ? This meditation offers you space to think about the incoming year, to ponder the weeks and months ahead, to consider key relationships, commitments and daily patterns in light of this exchange: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" I don't mean for this to be prescriptive. May you find the resonances in your own heart, and follow. Grace and peace as always dear ones.

Lissy

This verse is out of today's daily office at the Northumbria Community: https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

Christmas Greetings, dear ones!

This is a meditation with Luke 2:1-21, the account of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, with the manger, no room at the inn, the shepherds and the angels.

These words are almost unhelpfully familiar, and I invite you to stay with your breath, to stay in your deep open-hearted self as you listen, that you might hear something new, something fresh, perhaps even something unexpected.

(Isn't there so much in this story that is unexpected?)

We open with a 4-7-8 breath pattern to help us cross the threshold to prayer.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

We continue our meditations in Luke 1, this week looking at Mary's song of praise and thanksgiving: that God has regard for the lowly, the humble.

The invitation here is always to come out of your thinking-assessing mind, and into your intuitive-deep-knowing self as you hear the text in this format.

I felt moved to literally move my body in response to the text this week, to find a physical expression for each of the phrases of the text. You are very welcome to do the same.

Or perhaps you'd rather paint in colour, or sing, or speak or work with clay while you listen to these phrases, slowly repeated. Let them seep into your pores. There is wisdom, hope, liberation and love here, for those who have ears to listen.

Advent blessings, friends.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

A Lectio Divina meditation with Luke 1:39-45: Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth after the visit from the angel.

For more Advent meditations, please visit this page

Advent blessings!

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A Lectio Divina meditation with the Annunciation, Luke 1:26-38. Advent blessings, all.

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.

For further Advent mediations visit http://contemplativeathome.com/advent-and-christmas/

Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

"You prepare a table before me... my cup overflows" -Psalm 23

In this guided meditation you are invited to imagine the whole of your life spread out before you, as a great feast laid on a table, to call to mind the gifts and nourishment which are poured out for your encouragement and sustenance each day.

May it be a blessing to you in this season of feasting and gratitude. And thank you, for your presence and engagement with these meditations and the Contemplative at Home community.

You are a gift to me.

Grace and Peace, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In this meditation we loosely follow our theme of hospitality in its guise of presence: being present with time, attention, love and care.

Psalm 139 intersperses "his steadfast love endures forever" into every single line of the song, meditating on the presence of Divine love in and over and through all of life.

Every blessing as you pray.

Sign up for our Advent Retreat, 27 November 2021 here: https://forms.gle/WhAY3JkSMuUSmT8C6

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

We continue our exploration of hospitality as we pray a Lectio Divina with Genesis 18:1-14, when Abraham is visited by the three guests who are mysteriously "the LORD."

As you listen to the text I invite you to be alert to the generosity and grace which is offered by both parties in this exchange.

I wonder what will stir in you as you pray with this foundational text to all the Abrahamic faiths?

Grace and peace.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This audio meditation with Luke 15 offers an imaginative contemplation with the older brother of the prodigal son, inviting you to enter the story from another perspective and find safe space to express your anger, dissapointment, self-righteousness, frustration.

"My son," the father said, "You are always with me, and everything I have is yours"

Every blessing as you pray.

0:00 Intro and Stilling

5:50 reading of selected verses from Luke 15

11:16 imaginative engagement with the story

18:10 review of prayer and closing

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.

This month at the newsletter, we are exploring hospitality - tomorrow thinking a bit about welcoming the unwelcome - both without and within.

Catch that here: http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In this imaginative contemplation we focus on the father and the younger son in the parable Jesus tells in Luke 15. (We will think about the older son next week)

After two readings of the text, we enter the story ourselves, using our imaginations to open us up to how God may wish to speak to us through this text.

For more on imaginative prayer, as suggested by Ignatius of Loyola, keep your eye out for this week's newsletter. Grace and Peace, my friends.

And 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

An evening examen, a mindful audio prayer to help you review your day, and observe where God has been, where God might be leading you.

This month I'm thinking about Ignatian Spirituality and wanted to share with you this recording, which is is a fairly traditional Examen practice, and reflects the way I'm engaging with Examen in my own prayer life at present. I hope it is of use 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Luke 14:16-23

In this Lectio Divina, we listen to two readings of Jesus' parable about the Great Banquet, which the invited guests don't feel bothered to attend - too busy with their new purchases, new relationships.

Perhaps you can get in touch with the care and delight the host put into this great feast, and how great his desire was to share it with others.

May there be one nugget of nourishment for you in this meditation, whether that be in the awareness of your breath, a word from the text, or perhaps the beauty of something you see in your own surrounding as you pause for prayer.

This text touches briefly on the concept of Ignatian detachment which I will explore a bit further in this weeks newsletter. http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

Rich blessings as you pray, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

An Imaginative Contemplation with Luke 13:10-13

"On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God."

While this text goes on to look at the political and religious tension growing between Jesus and the pharisees over interpretation of the law and healing on the Sabbath, here we pause simply to engage with the healing experience of the woman in this story.

As with any imaginative contemplation, if at any stage you don't feel safe, please come out of the imaginative space. You may instead find it helpful to focus on an image of God that is safe for you, or to be present to your breathing. (Trigger warning: physical touch)

I take the liberty in this exercise of imagining collective singing in the synagogue. According to Google, scholars don't know definitively whether collective singing happened in first century Galilee or not, though it has clearly featured at various points in history. Again, you're always free to follow these imaginative exercises insofar as you feel comfortable doing so.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Lectio Divina with Luke 12:13-21

Thank you for choosing to pray with Contemplative at Home today.

As you listen to the text, I invite you to be present, to imagine that you're in the scene, in a crowd of thousands, who have gathered to hear the teacher Yeshua. Perhaps you imagine that you yourself, are so frustrated with a family member that you call out to the rabbi "Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!" Or perhaps you imagine that you're you, and somehow you've time-travelled to first century Palestine where you are watching this scene unfold.

As you listen, be alert for how you're stirred, for what catches your attention, for your own instinctive reactions or emotions. In the silence left between the readings, continue to be present to your own thoughts - to "notice what you're noticing." The silent spaces also invite you to bring all these "noticings" to God.

In the introduction I refer to Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv_4xmh_WtE

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Bell sound by soundslikewillem at freesound.org.

Thank you for sharing your prayer practice with Contemplative at Home.

In this 13 minute meditation you will find:

Three and a half minutes of stilling

First Reading of Luke 11:5-8

One minute of silence (opening and closing with a bell)

Second reading of Luke 11:5-8 Four minutes of silence (opening and closing with a bell)

Closing benediction

In the silence, you are invited to release yourself into God's presence. You may want to use a word, as in Centering Prayer, or you may want to allow the word or phrase which caught your attention in the reading to inform your being with God. You may also wish to dialogue with the Lord about what is present in your mind and body. I wonder if it would help you to decide, before you pray, which of these approaches to use in the silence.

Luke 11:5-8 is read from the NIV and the NRSV.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home returns to Lectio Divina with a slightly different format!

In this 17-minute meditation you will find

Four minutes of stilling
Reading of Luke 10:29-37
One minute of silence (opening and closing with a bell)
Second reading of Luke 10:29-37
Four minutes of silence (opening and closing with a bell)
Closing benediction

In the silence, you are invited to release yourself into God's presence. You may want to use a word, as in Centering Prayer, or you may want to allow the word or phrase which caught your attention in the reading to inform your being with God. You may also wish to dialogue with the Lord about what is present in your mind and body.

A note on the text: The Priest and Levite in the story both represent a class of people who were born into positions of wealth and religious authority. The families of Priests, in the lineage of Aaron, have the sole right to the priesthood and high priesthood, whilst the Levites manage and control the temple, amongst other things. The Samaritans on the other hand descend from both Hebrew and non-Hebrew people, have a slightly different perspective on religion to the mainline Jewish way, and are regarded as inferior by the Jews who worship at Jerusalem.

This is a guided audio meditation with Luke 10:29-37, the parable of the Good Samaritan.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com

or join us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Grace and Peace!

We conclude our month of Centering Prayer, with a 20 minute session of silence. This audio meditation will settle you into prayer with 3 minutes of stilling, followed by twenty minutes of silence and concluding with one minute of closing prayer. There is a bell at the beginning of the silence, one half way through and three bells to conclude.

This is your time and space, to gaze at the face of God, to let God see you just as you are, to share and receive deeply from the heart.

We open with a prayer poem called "Soul of Christ" by David L. Fleming SJ and conclude with a prayer poem "My Lord and My God" by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ. Both can be found in a book entitled "Hearts on Fire, Praying with the Jesuits" from Loyola Press.

If you're new to Centering Prayer you'll find a useful introduction herehttps://www.contemplative.org/contemplative-practice/centering-prayer/ or you may find a shorter period of silence an easier first step.http://contemplativeathome.com/centering-prayer-5-minute-silence/

Grace and Peace friends. And every blessing. It is a deep honour to share this space with you.

Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

Joining us in our daily practice of Centering Prayer in August 2021? Yes or no, do join us in our Facebook Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

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.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Bell chime is the recording of a church gong from SoundsLikeWillem at freesound.org.

We continue our month of Centering Prayer, extending our practice to sixteen minutes of silence.

This audio meditation will settle you into prayer with 3 minutes of stilling, followed by sixteen minutes of silence and concluding with one minute of closing prayer.

The purpose of Centering Prayer is to be fully present with our attention to the Divine Presence.

It is guaranteed that your mind will be flying in a thousand different directions, despite your intention to remain present and focussed. Don't despair! This is part of the process. The prayer is in the return from the distraction, not in the avoidance of distraction.

Settle on a word such as "Christ" "Abba" "Ruah" "peace" or a phrase such as "Here I am" "Be Still".

Repeat this word gently to bring your awareness back to God's presence, as often as you need to.

The closing prayer is the Covenant Prayer of the Methodist Church. It's fairly full-on. Pray as much of it as you honestly can.

Grace and Peace friends.

And every blessing.

Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

Joining us in our daily practice of Centering Prayer in August 2021? Yes or no, do join us in our Facebook Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

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.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.Bell chime is the recording of a church gong from SoundsLikeWillem at freesound.org.

This is an audio guided centering prayer meditation.

We lengthen our time in silent attentiveness to the presence of God to 12 minutes this week.

The closing prayer today is the Northumbria Community's version of St Patrick's breastplate.

You can find it here: https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/ (This is a link to their Morning Prayer, and always includes the breastplate. I sometimes pray through all of their morning prayer office before starting Centering Prayer).

Grace and Peace friends!

Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

Joining us in our daily practice of Centering Prayer in August 2021? Yes or no, do join us in our Facebook Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

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.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This practice will help you to still into prayer, and then hold eight minutes of silence.

In the silence, our intention is to remain attentively present to the Divine Presence.

A huge variety of thoughts and sensations will vie for your attention, and when you realise that your focus has drifted away, simply and gently turn yourself back to God by using a sacred word.

Contemplative.org says "This is a word or short phrase that helps you to let go of thoughts. It is a reminder of your intention to remain open to the silence. Generally sacred words fall into one of 2 categories: “God” words/phrases such as “Abba”, “Jesu, “Mary”, “Reality”, “Come Lord” or “state” words/phrases such as “love”, “peace”, “be still”.

Sacred words are not used as mantras, as in constantly repeating them, but as a reminder of your intention to remain open." Take a moment before you begin to settle on your word, and then we'll move into prayer together.

This meditation includes three minutes of stilling, eight minutes of silence, and two minutes closing. The closing prayer is the Suspice of Saint Ignatius.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com. Bell chime is the recording of a church gong from SoundsLikeWillem at free sound.org. https://freesound.org/s/274847/

For those beginning in Centering Prayer, or short on time, this practice will help you to still into prayer, and then hold five minutes of silence. In the silence, our intention is to remain attentively present to the Divine Presence. A huge variety of thoughts and sensations will vie for your attention, and when you realise that your focus has drifted away, simply and gently turn yourself back to God by using a sacred word. Contemplative.org says "This is a word or short phrase that helps you to let go of thoughts. It is a reminder of your intention to remain open to the silence. Generally sacred words fall into one of 2 categories: “God” words/phrases such as “Abba”, “Jesu, “Mary”, “Reality”, “Come Lord” or “state” words/phrases such as “love”, “peace”, “be still”. Sacred words are not used as mantras, as in constantly repeating them, but as a reminder of your intention to remain open." Take a moment before you begin to settle on your word, and then we'll move into prayer together. This meditation includes three minutes of stilling, five minutes of silence, and two minutes closing. The closing prayer is the New Zealand Anglican Lord's Prayer. 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com. Bell chime is the recording of a church gong from SoundsLikeWillem at free sound.org. https://freesound.org/s/274847/

Today’s meditation is based on a memorable experience our family had in the Spanish Pyrenees a few years ago, walking from the tiny mountain hamlet of Tella, down well-kept trails, to discover a series of ancient stone hermitages, inhabited almost 1000 years ago, and framed by snow capped mountains in the distance.

You might want to lie on your back (I like to put my feet on the floor and let my knees fall together) or sit upright for this meditation.

This is the final meditation in our "July Travel' series. I hope you've enjoyed them!

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Our July 'travels' continue with this guided meditation, under the night sky.

In this guided meditation we will imagine ourselves lying under a clear night sky, taking in the great expanse of the stars near a crackling campfire.

You are invited to sit or lie down, to put on headphones or not, to enjoy this on your own or with others.

The purpose of this guided meditation is to facilitate a space in which you may encounter God in a new way. We move out of your thinking minds and into our experiential self. The mindful stilling we open with should also help you to relax and feel more centered, which again, can open us to having a meaningful encounter with God.

Is there a way in which you particularly need strength just now? My your encounter with God and your own deep stillness nourish 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A guided meditation, leading you into a Redwood forest, where you will mindfully rest in God's presence.

Towards the end of this meditation you will hear a short reading from Jeremiah 17:7-8

Enjoy this journey into peace!

Every blessing

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In today's meditation, we take a much needed summer excursion to the beach!

This is a guided meditation, where you will travel through your imagination, to meet God in the waves.

If at anytime you don't feel safe here, please return to the present.

May you meet God anew in this meditation.

Verse from Psalm 42:7

Meditation written by Lissy Clarke

EVERY BLESSING

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Greetings Friends,

Today we continue in our meditations on the teachings of Jesus, sitting for a few minutes with Jesus' story of the two sons who were asked to go out and work in the vineyard.

This is a familiar feeling, I must confess, asking my two sons to help (if not in the vineyard), with the dishes, with the laundry, tidying their rooms. One of them literally declared enthusiastically that he wanted to do all the dishes by himself after dinner the other night. And, funnily enough, by about 9:30, he was entirely out of energy, and the dishes were nowhere near done.

In Matthew 21:28-32, Jesus paints a picture of two sons, one who is all enthusiasm and zero follow-through, the other who is initially negative, but then steps in and gets the job done.

I was quite taken by the phrase "going in to the kingdom of heaven." I wonder which phrase will hold something interesting for you.

Every blessing as you pray, and much love.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A meditation with Jesus' parable of labourers in the vineyard.

Every blessing 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

EDITED TO ADD: Sadly, this episode didn’t successfully make its way through the technical weeds and out into the world, and before I could try to resurrect it, most of the original recording was lost. CAH will be …

Continue reading "Meditation: The Wandering Sheep" The post Meditation: The Wandering Sheep appeared first on contemplative at home.

Today's meditation is with the parable of the unforgiving servant, in Matthew 18. Grace and Peace 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A meditation on two short parables. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." - Matthew 13:44-46

There will not be a Contemplative Window newsletter today, see you there next week!

Blessings and peace as you find time to stop for a deep breath today.

"If at the count of three, God were to stop loving you into existence, then at the count of three, you would cease to exist." I've been hearing James Finlay say this on "Turning to the Mystics" - a podcast well worth your time if you have yet to come across it.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which someone took and planted in a field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches." - Matthew 13:31-32

A tiny parable about a tiny thing, which holds within in all kinds of possibility for growth and flourishing and blessing for others.

I wonder how you most instinctively express your creativity - drawing, signing, dance, carving, cooking? Or something else?

I invite you to listen to the text today with the creative part of yourself.

Hope you enjoy the birdsong in the background! (They were genuinely singing outside the window as I recorded -- not added in!)

Every blessing 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

An introduction to the practice of Centering Prayer.

In Centering Prayer we use a word or phrase to help us hold our attention on the presence of God. In this meditation, we share five minutes of silence together as we behold God beholding us.

Remember that the prayer is not in the avoidance of distraction, but in the return from distraction.

This is dedicated to the students at Warwick University, and indeed everywhere, during exam season.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

We continue our series of meditations on the parables of Jesus, today praying with the sower, whose seeds fall on different patches fo earth. (Mark 4:3-9, 14-20)

This will likely be very familiar to you, and I hope that you'll have the grace to hear these words with new ears. Every blessing dear ones. May you have many moments to drop into the grace of deep attentiveness this week.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A meditation with Jesus's teaching in Matthew 9:16-17

"See I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?" "...be transformed by the renewing of your minds."

In Matthew 9:16-17, Jesus uses analogies to illustrate how radically new and fresh his teaching, his message is.

Our text today:

16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

How are you being invited to step into something new just now?

If you want to think about the passage a bit more, get your head around why Jesus said this before you meditate on it, you might find this commentary helpful: https://thebiblesays.com/commentary/matt/matt-9/matthew-916-17/

However, the invitation from Contemplative at Home is always to engage with the text from a deeper place, to be wholly present to the Divine spirit within the text, to stand before it with an open heart and welcome whatever insights may land with you.

May you be blessed as you pray here today.

Warmest blessings,

Lissy

(Opening Text: Isaiah 43:19 and Romans 12:2)

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. www.contemplativeathome.com

A meditation with Jesus's teaching in Matthew 9:16-17

"See I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?" "...be transformed by the renewing of your minds."

In Matthew 9:16-17, Jesus uses analogies to illustrate how radically new and fresh his teaching, his message is.

Our text today:

16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

How are you being invited to step into something new just now?

If you want to think about the passage a bit more, get your head around why Jesus said this before you meditate on it, you might find this commentary helpful: https://thebiblesays.com/commentary/matt/matt-9/matthew-916-17/

However, the invitation from Contemplative at Home is always to engage with the text from a deeper place, to be wholly present to the Divine spirit within the text, to stand before it with an open heart and welcome whatever insights may land with you.

May you be blessed as you pray here today.

Warmest blessings,

Lissy

(Opening Text: Isaiah 43:19 and Romans 12:2)

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. www.contemplativeathome.com

A meditation with Jesus's teaching in Matthew 9:16-17

"See I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?" "...be transformed by the renewing of your minds."

In Matthew 9:16-17, Jesus uses analogies to illustrate how radically new and fresh his teaching, his message is.

Our text today:

16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

How are you being invited to step into something new just now?

If you want to think about the passage a bit more, get your head around why Jesus said this before you meditate on it, you might find this commentary helpful: https://thebiblesays.com/commentary/matt/matt-9/matthew-916-17/

However, the invitation from Contemplative at Home is always to engage with the text from a deeper place, to be wholly present to the Divine spirit within the text, to stand before it with an open heart and welcome whatever insights may land with you.

May you be blessed as you pray here today.

Warmest blessings,

Lissy

(Opening Text: Isaiah 43:19 and Romans 12:2)

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. www.contemplativeathome.com

A meditation on Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus' teaching on judgement and self-awareness.

Why do you see the speck in your neighbour's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?

Jesus invites us to reflect on our perpective, our focus, and our self-awareness.

Some questions that rise for me as I meditate on these words:

Is my capacity to give love linked to my capacity to receive love?

Does judging and criticising inhibit my capacity for generosity and love?

Which voices, places, friendships help me to see myself more honestly and more lovingly?

May the questions you need today rise for you as you pray.

Every blessing, 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" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Hello Friends,

Today we begin a new series of meditations on the teachings of Jesus. In this episode we pray with Matthew 5:14-16.

Jesus says "You are the light of the world." Not "I am the light of the world" but "You are the light of the world" Amazing! I do believe that you, individually and collectively bear a unique, vibrant a powerful light, without which we would all be much poorer. Perhaps this meditation will give you space to consider the ways in which you already bear light to the people and places you encounter, and perhaps it will encourage you to imagine new ways to shine.

As always, I wish you every blessing 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends,

This is a special edition of Contemplative at Home, offering you a brief imaginative contemplation with each of the 14 stations on "The Way of the Cross".

The Way of the Cross a resource inspired by the traditional stations of the cross, but using 14 moments from the gospel accounts.

You will also find a bonus 15th station, which is to be used on Easter Sunday, or any time thereafter.

You might pray with this all at once, perhaps with a group, but it would also be very appropriate to dip in and out - to pray with a few stations at a time, perhaps throughout the day, or over a few days.

Why not move around your home or garden while you pray, observing each station in a different location?

Here are the timings so that you can easily find your place should you be coming back to it after a break. You might want to use the Opening ("Stilling") and the Review Questions each time you engage with a few of the stations.

0:00 Introduction

1:48 Stilling and preparing for prayer

7:35 The First Station : Jesus in Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane

13:29 The Second Station : Jesus is Betrayed

17:35 The Third Station : Jesus is Condemned by the Sanhedrin

23:10 The Fourth Station : Peter Denies Jesus

26:50 The Fifth Station : Jesus is Judged by Pilate

30:03 The Sixth Station : Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns

33:15 The Seventh Station : Jesus Carries His Cross

36:00 The Eight Station : Simon of Cirene Helps Jesus to Carry the Cross

38:40 The Ninth Station : Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

44:05 The Tenth Station : Jesus is Crucified

47:20 The Eleventh Station : Jesus Promises the Kingdom to the Penitent Thief

52:04 The Twelfth Station : Jesus on the Cross, His Mother and His Friend

56:52 The Thirteenth Station : Jesus Dies on the Cross

1:00:46 The Fourteenth Station : Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

1:05:14 The Fifteenth Station : Jesus is Risen from the Dead

1:09:57 Review Questions

The text for each station, and the prayers read at each station, are published by the Church of England, and can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/holy-week-and-easter-1#mm022

THE BLESSING OF CHRIST BE WITH YOU. 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 for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Looking towards the events of Holy Week, we are now with Jesus just outside Jerusalem, in Bethany, at the home of his friends Mary, Martha and their recently risen brother, Lazarus.

His mind is very much on the events to come, though a feast is being held in his honour, for the life he has returned to Lazarus. Mary anoints Jesus' feet with pure nard, foreshadowing his death.

Our prayer experience is based on John 12:1-8.

If you choose to fold this into your practice of prayer this week, thank you. It is a profound honour to share space with you.

May you be richly blessed as you pray.

Lissy xx

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

I wonder how you have found our Lenten sessions of imaginative contemplation?

If you're still trying to connect with this way of praying, you might find this article from the British Jesuits helpful. They write: "The most frequent method of prayer that Saint Ignatius uses in his Spiritual Exercises is that of imagining ourselves in a Gospel scene, taking up a character, being with Jesus and being aware of what’s going on, and how we are feeling." https://www.pathwaystogod.org/resources/questions-answers/what-imaginative-contemplation

In this meditation you are invited to imagine that, like Jairus, you hope that Jesus might come and heal something in your life. As always, and from the bottom of my heart, I hope that you will know tangible and nourishing blessings as you pray.

Much love.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In this episode, we consider the woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years.

After a prayerful listen to the account in Luke 8, we imagine ourselves approaching Jesus in the crowd as we hope for our own healing.

If you could ask Jesus to heal one thing today, what would it be? Explore this as you pray today.

Every blessing on you, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This imaginative contemplation with Mark 10:17-31 was written by the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, and is shared with you here by their kind permission. https://carmelitesistersocd.com

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A mindful stilling followed by imaginative contemplation with John 1:35-59. John the Baptist says to his friends "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" As the friends follow Jesus, he turns around and asks them "What are you looking for?"

If at any stage during the imaginative experience you don't feel safe, please promptly move away from it. If you find it difficult to engage with the prayer prompts, use the time to be with the Lord as you wish in that moment.

Review Questions: How did you find prayer today? What was significant for you? Is there anything you want to return to for further exploration in prayer? Is there anything you want to hold on to in your heart?

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A mindful stilling exercise followed by an imaginative contemplation. You in the crowd following Jesus when Bartimaeus, blind and begging at the side of the road starts making a lot of noise.

Based on Mark 10:46-52.

Every blessing 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A guided imaginative experience with Luke 5 - the great catch of fish, when Simon Peter, James and John decide follow Jesus.

For weekly updates for this podcast and other contemplative resources to your inbox, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Psalm 69

"Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold" Psalm 69:1

I'm not sure how your week has been, but the groundhog day effect of lockdown has been wearying in our house. Motivation lagging, malaise taking hold.

I'm encouraged by Teresa of Avila to entrust my inner self to communion with the presence of God.

As you 'Behold the Lord Beholding you" (St Ignatius) may you be renewed, set free.

MUCH LOVE AS 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Click here to sign up for a very brief Friday newsletter from Lissy with links to new episodes and other opportunities to engage with Contemplative prayer.

Psalms in times of uncertainty.

Psalm 62.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Psalms in times of Uncertainty

Psalm 60:1-5 “You have rejected us, broken our defenses... You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger”

Instability and “desperate times” are by no means a new phenomenon in the human experience, however as an American, these words feel heartbreakingly current.

“But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow. Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered.”

What do these words, which echo across millenia and civilizations have to say to us today? What is the bow that threatens us? Who are ‘those God loves’?

“You have been angry. Now restore us.”

May the restoration come with justice and peace for all.

Amen.

Grace and Peace.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Mediation for 8 January 2021.

Its been a week, loves! We turn our meditation to Psalm 57 "I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings"

We are not called to hide from the distress of the world, but we are invited, in our inner being, to entrust ourselves to the steadfast love and faithfulness of the God of heaven.

This is an interior posture, an anxiety management tool. "I am in the midst of lions, I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts {pandemic? narcissistic leaders? white privilege? conspiracy theories?}... my heart is steadfast... Awake, my soul!... for Great is your Love. Your Faithfulness stretches to the sky"

I do have a cold, I hope the congestion in my voice doesn't distract.

GRACE AND PEACE and much love.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Happy New Year, friends!

Has our generation ever been as collectively hopeful for the new year?

This examen prayer gives you space to name the sorrows and gifts of this remarkable year, and to think towards your intentions for the year to come.

As always, every blessing 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Christmas Blessings!!!

A meditation on the infant jesus and Isaiah Chapter 11.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Isaiah 9:2-7 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In this week's meditation we pick up the Advent theme of preparing room.

How might I prepare room for the dawning light?

Isaiah 40:3-5

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus. An Advent Meditation.

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy." -Isaiah 35:1-2

The weary world is ready for bursts of bloom, indeed.

As we meditation on the expectation, the anticipation of good news, may your hope be restored.

Every blessing, friends. Lissy xxx

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Registration for the virtual Advent retreat closes this Sunday, 29 November. If you're hoping to join us please sign up as soon as possible!

In what has been a very unpredictable year, as we now face deeply amended holiday celebrations, GRATITUDE remains an essential spiritual practice.

I know that many of you have celebrated an amended Thanksgiving this year, or are struggling with how to amend your Christmas plans, but there are no amendments required in your spiritual practice!

A friend reminded me today that even from the cross, Jesus was affirming God's love, providing for his dear ones as he gave Mary his mother to John the beloved disciple. We ponder this scene in John 19:25-27 before meditating on our own gifts of grace.

Every blessing as you pray with this gratitude meditation. 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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com

Registration for the Contemplative at Home Advent Retreat will be open until Sunday 29 November. More information at http://contemplativeathome.com/advent-retreat/

In this episode we pray with Ephesians 1:17-23, which holds both Paul's prayer for the Ephesians for a deepening awareness and intimacy with the Divine, and well as Paul's reflection on Christ the King, who we celebrate this sunday.

"God placed all things under his feet" Paul writes (v22), and we know that this Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, is he who consistently chose against power, success and control whilst he walked this earth.

Every blessing as you pray friends. Stay tuned for a poem from Tina on Sunday, continuing this reflection on God's upside-down kingdom.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

ADVENT and CHRISTMAS RETREAT with Lissy on Zoom begins Deceber 1st 2020.More information here: contemplativeathome.com/advent-retreat. You are warmly welcome.

In Galatians 5 Paul contrasts the instincts of the flesh/ego with the fruit of the Spirit. I am invited to consider where my habits are inclined to the instincts of rage, control, greed, envy and where I inhabit the freedom of peace, kindness, joy, and generosity.

I invite you to come to prayer with your whole self, open for the truth that may land with you today.

Every blessing.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com. Find out more about the Contemplative at Home Advent Retreat here

In this episode I invite you to enter one of my favourite gospel stories in your imagination. John 20:19-23 finds the disciples locked in fear in the upper room, unsure of what has happened, what will happen, or how they are to go on. There is much anxiety in the air this week, so I invite you to find your way into that room with the disciples, to ponder who or what it is you have figuratively locked the doors against in your fear, to experience the presence of Christ to hear Christ speak PEACE and to receive the breath of Christ being breathed upon you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Your breath mingles with the breath of God. Peace. 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In this episode I invite you to enter one of my favourite gospel stories in your imagination. John 20:19-23 finds the disciples locked in fear in the upper room, unsure of what has happened, what will happen, or how they are to go on. There is much anxiety in the air this week, so I invite you to find your way into that room with the disciples, to ponder who or what it is you have figuratively locked the doors against in your fear, to experience the presence of Christ to hear Christ speak PEACE and to receive the breath of Christ being breathed upon you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Your breath mingles with the breath of God. Peace. 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Good morning friends, Concluding our meditation on love, we pray with 1 John 4. "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" This knowing is a deep sense, not knowing with our minds, but understanding intrinsically, having an experience of, God. Everyone -- every single human on the earth -- who loves, who gives time and energy and heart-engaged presence in service and respect for the other -- is born of God. How, and to whom, am I being invited to give myself away in love? Every blessing dear ones. Prayers for the US in this election week. Much love. 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

We continue our meditation on love, this week looking at Paul's words about what love looks like in action.

Notably, many of these 'actions' are interior (be hopeful, patient, perservere in prayer), whilst the external actions are very much born of what is happening in the heart: extend hospitality to strangers, be willing to associate with people of low position, and as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

As you meditate with this passage, may you nurture the space within you that gives birth to thls love.

Every blessing dear friends

This meditation draws on a selection of verses from Romans 12:10-21, from the NIV, NRSV and TPT.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

It's so familiar that it has become a bit twee: Love is patient, love is kind.

I invite you to look again, to look wholeheartedly on the familiar verses of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

No matter how glorious, impressive, beautiful, or successful a thing or a person may be, if the spirit of love is absent- it is empty, hollow, worthless, says Paul, (1 Cor 13:1-3) who then goes on to paint a picture for us of the nature of Divine love.

I invite you to listen to the passage three times: considering God's love for you, your love for yourself, and your love for another.

This is not a measuring stick, it is an invitation. May you be patient with yourself, may you be kind to yourself.

Divine love is being poured out in and through you at each moment of each day.

May you have the grace to receive it more deeply, more humbly, each day.

EVERY BLESSING LOVES xxx

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

It's so familiar that it has become a bit twee: Love is patient, love is kind.

I invite you to look again, to look wholeheartedly on the familiar verses of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

No matter how glorious, impressive, beautiful, or successful a thing or a person may be, if the spirit of love is absent- it is empty, hollow, worthless, says Paul, (1 Cor 13:1-3) who then goes on to paint a picture for us of the nature of Divine love.

I invite you to listen to the passage three times: considering God's love for you, your love for yourself, and your love for another.

This is not a measuring stick, it is an invitation. May you be patient with yourself, may you be kind to yourself.

Divine love is being poured out in and through you at each moment of each day.

May you have the grace to receive it more deeply, more humbly, each day.

EVERY BLESSING LOVES xxx

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

I offer you here a meditation with Romans 12:3-9, as we continue looking at the apostle Paul through a contemplative lens.

Paul opens Romans 12 with the invitation to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, and in these verses (Romans 12:3-9) unpacks what that invitation means -- to identify your gifts and then to use them! And to use them generously, lovingly, both with humility and confidence, understanding that the diversity of gifts each brings is necessary for the collective whole.

In the metaphor of the human body, with all members playing different and vital roles, I'm subtly reminded not to be frustrated by people whose gifts, perspectives or inclinations are different than mine. When I learned about highly sensitive people (of which I am one!) I was hugely relieved to understand so simply - some of us are highly sensitive, and some of us are not. I needn't be in despair either about my sensitivity or the insensitivity of others!

Similarly, I've found an understanding of the enneagram profoundly helpful in coming to accept others who have different inclinations than myself.

"For just as each of us has one physical body with many parts, and these parts do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."

In this moment of such bitter division in the US especially, may our hearts thaw as we find acceptance and gratitude for the variety of expressions, perspectives and gifts each person brings, and may we have the grace to confidently and lovingly offer our own gifts to the collective whole.

GRACE AND PEACE

And much love as always, dear friends.

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.

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

Dear Friends,

Today we meditate on Romans 8:31-32, 34-35, 37-38.

"I am convinced that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord"

NOTHING!!!!

You are loved more profoundly and wholly than you could ever comprehend.

To meditate on this truth is an act of radical self-care.*

From the bottom of my heart, my prayers are with you, that you will find time and space to allow the wild and powerful truth of God's amazing LOVE to sink in more deeply to your bones.

The RISEN Jesus presides over this love. It is eternal, it is unshakable. It is already yours.

You are so precious, you are so valuable, you have so much unique beauty to bring to this world.

May the Lord's LOVE FOR YOU ignite your true self to shine as only you can at this moment in time.

This is the power of love.

Every blessing.

*I've been recently inspired by Sonya Renee Taylor to consider radical self-love, which I heard her discuss on Brené Brown's podcast recently. I highly recommend listening to it! https://brenebrown.com/unlockingus/

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Romans 8 is bursting at the seams. Ideas, suggestions, promises, hope. I have many questions, and much I’d like to discuss, but as we look this week at our third of four sessions on Romans 8, I want to focus on the idea of abundance.

Reading Romans 8:18-30, what stands out to me most notably is this sense of glory, freedom, empowerment, ultra-aliveness (words fail me here) that is offered to the ‘children of God’. Look at verse 19 “all creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (NRSV), or in the translation where it really caught my eye: “The entire universe is standing on tiptoe,[t]yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious[u]sons and daughters!”

Woah! This definitely makes me a little prosperity-gospel-nervous. But what if the glory isn’t about ego and power, what if the glory is about the deeper invitation to my true self, where I’m invited to give my life away to others in beautiful, creative and surprisingly life-giving ways?

To become just like Jesus means to let go of my attachments to prestige, esteem, success, power and control. To heed the quiet invitation to my deeper self, where I confront my fears and insecurities, my pain and longings, and find the courage to open my heart to those around me, to give my life away.

I hope that you are on this deepening journey my friends. And if you don’t already have a spiritual director, or anam cara/soul friend who helps you navigate your own interior landscape, I would strongly encourage you to consider finding one.

How are you being called to give your life away? How are you being drawn into the divine dance?

There is abundance, glory, hope and life beyond all we can imagine waiting in the invitation.

Every blessing xxxxx

Big thanks again to the MOST faithful CAH listener, Ken, for suggesting over in our private Facebook community that we look at Romans together, and to Angela who put an exclamation mark after Romans 8.

This is a meditation on Romans 8:18, 19, 21, 26, 28, 29 in a hybrid of NRSV and TPT

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends,

Considering St Paul through the mystical lens, in todays meditation we pray with Romans 8:9 and 14-17.

"You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you...for you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear"

You might call to mind a particular dynamic, decision or relationship you are navigating at present.

We often “fall back into fear” as we respond to life's varied circumstances, showing up in our need for control, power or certainty. This is how I read Paul's understanding of "the flesh", which could also be understood as the ego.

Paul invites us instead to lean into the Spirit that resides WITHIN us, and IN whom we reside. As ‘heirs’ of God, we have access to all patience, peace, trust, kindness, grace, hope, generosity, and love that resides within the Trrinity.

Whatever you may be managing today, may you do so more and more out of the Spirit of God who dwells IN you, co-mingling with the ground of your being.

Every blessing as you pray, dear friends.

Lissy xx

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends!

A meditation on the "new order."

In Romans 7 Paul reflects on the law, under which we had to rely on our "flesh" - which I understand as the striving to be good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, strong enough, obedient enough... in other words, exhausting efforts no one can ever achieve in any sustained way.

In Romans 8 Paul opens up the new order, in which we don't have to rely on our own ability or inability to achieve anything, but is rather an invitation to step IN to the Spirit of life, which sets us free. In this episode we pray with Romans 8:1-3 and 5-6.

Every blessing xxxx

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends!

A meditation on the "new order."

In Romans 7 Paul reflects on the law, under which we had to rely on our "flesh" - which I understand as the striving to be good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, strong enough, obedient enough... in other words, exhausting efforts no one can ever achieve in any sustained way.

In Romans 8 Paul opens up the new order, in which we don't have to rely on our own ability or inability to achieve anything, but is rather an invitation to step IN to the Spirit of life, which sets us free. In this episode we pray with Romans 8:1-3 and 5-6.

Every blessing xxxx

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Happy September Friends!

My children started back at school this week, and I have a strong sense of turning the corner to a new season. Life certainly isn't back to "normal" quite yet, and I know many of you in the US are still making the most of distance learning! Yet perhaps you too have that taste of something small and new which promises to grow into more than you can yet imagine.

We are starting a new season here at Contemplative at Home, with a series looking at the letters of St Paul. For many years, these letters were the only part of the Bible I spent much time in, but it has now been many years since I've spent any real time with them at all, and I'm looking forward to considering the blustery and dogmatic Paul through a contemplative lens.

In this episode we pray with Romans 5:1-6, 20. The words underlined in my text are grace, peace and hope.

Thank you Ken for suggesting Romans in the Contemplative at Home Community on Facebook!

Every blessing as you pray, dear friends.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends,

Listener Karen Clark-Elliot requested today's passage in John 21:15-22, commonly referred to as Jesus "reinstating" Peter. Three times Jesus asks Peter "Do you love me?" and with the affirmative reply asks Peter to "Feed my lambs", "feed my sheep," "take care of my sheep."

Karen writes about this passage: "I find great hope in this subtle but powerful story of Jesus and Peter in John 21:15-21. This narrative depicts the holiness of God which is balanced by his compassion. Although God “demands” (a word which I really struggle with) my all, he recognizes my brokenness and flaws. A meaningful song that I often return to and which aligns with this text, is written by Addison Road. What Do I Know of Holy? “Are you fire, are you fury? Are you sacred, are you beautiful? What do I know of holy?” John 21 clearly answers these questions."

At the end of the passage, Peter asks Jesus what will happen to John, and Jesus tells Peter to mind his own business! I would love to know how Jesus speaks to each of you uniquely as you pray with this passage, and I trust that there will be a relevant word for each who listens.

Every blessing 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A meditation with Psalm 146, a song of praise and affirmation of God's character. Every blessing dear ones, and happy summer. CAH is taking a short break during August, subscribers to the website will have a brief email from me during the break with suggested back episodes to revisit. 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

I wonder what kind of work you are being called to this week?

Is this weeks work your employment or investing in the people around you, the fight for justice or self-care? Likely a combination of these things, consider what is already in your schedule, and what you feel stirring in your heart.

The words of Psalm 121 serve to remind that whatever work you are engaged with, the Spirit of God is with you, encouraging you, empowering you, companioning you, caring for you.

I heard this wisdom in a yoga context recently: the "perfect posture" is not the goal, it is rather the presence within the posture that is the highest priority.

May you be released from the demands of the ego in whatever you are tending this week, and may you know the comforting and empowering presence of the Lord before you, beside you, within you.

Every blessing as you pray, 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Today we pray with Psalm 103, a meditation on the God who is gracious, compassionate, abounding in steadfast love -- who in turn crowns you with love and compassion.

I love this image (I drew it in my journal once, I wish I could find it to share with you!).

Can you see yourself crowned with love and compassion? This alone is worth a full length meditation.

May you know a deep exchange with the God of grace, compassion and steadfast love.

Every blessing, dear ones. L

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.

Find more at contemplativeathome.com. Music by Peter Hatch.

David wrote Psalm 63 as he hid from Saul, in fear of his life. Pursued, alone and in the wilderness, David turns his heart to the Lord, using language that evokes the intimacy of lovers, and finding in the spiritual pursuit peace, solace, joy.

This reminds me of Viktor Frankl who writes in Man's Search for Meaning “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Wherever you are today, may you find yourself choosing an attitude that leads to intimacy, freedom and strength for the road.

In this episode we pray with Psalm 63:1-8.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

“For God alone my soul waits in silence” says David as Psalm 62, “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.”

I was reminded recently that images, such as God as rock, salvation, fortress “act as a vehicle to help us into relationship with the God who is beyond definition, beyond category and beyond image” (Adrian Smith quoting Philip Endean in Joining Jesus on His Journey). I wonder how your own images of God are currently growing, expanding, leading you more deeply into the heart of Divine Love?

Similarly, I’d like to note here that at times I find the use of the male pronoun for God rather disappointing. It is helpful insofar as it reminds us of the personal and intimate nature of God, and indeed all that is beautifully masculine in God. It is unhelpful insofar as it fails to acknowledge all that is beautifully feminine in God, and indeed that God is so much more than our perception of masculine/feminine, again “beyond definition, beyond category.”

When you pray “For God alone my soul waits in silence”, I wonder who God is for you? In what, in whom, do you put your trust? What images would you use to describe how God is for you? Perhaps a few minutes to ponder this will invite you more deeply into prayer.

Every blessing my friends. Lissy

This episode is dedicated to Anna-Marie, whose trust in God is a light for us all. The text in this episode is Psalm 62:1-2, 5-8, 12a NRSV

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

An examen for March to June 2020, during which many countries have experienced a national lockdown or Shelter in Place order.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Today we meditate with Psalm 46, which includes familiar verses of comfort and encouragement:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (v1)

“Be still, and know that I am God” (v10)

There are also a few verses that refer to destruction, to ‘the desolations God has brought on the earth,’ and I found it helpful to read these through the lens of a liberation movement.

I also wanted to share with you an article written by an old friend Matt Gough, entitled “Memoir of a White Brother.” You can find the article here: https://medium.com/@mattgough_49915/memoir-of-a-white-brother-90ada74b5a54

Every blessing friends. Keep listening. Keep leaning in.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends,

On many levels, the past few months have raised the question: How then, shall we live?

Today we pray with Micah 6:8

You may want to have a look at Micah 6:1-8 before you pray with this meditation.

God, lamenting the way his people have turned, calls on the very earth: the mountains, the hills – creation herself - to bear witness as Lord reminds the people how much they have been given, and what they have done with those gifts. (v1-2)

You are invited to allow a particular part of the earth - a mountain, a tree, your own small patch - to bear witness to your meditation today.

The Lord reminds this tribe of all the acts of grace and mercy, salvation and life they have received. (v3-5)

You will have a few minutes to call to mind the grace, mercy and life that has been offered to you. You might want to have your journal beside you in preparation for this exercise.

And how are we invited to respond to this kindness?

The person in Micah’s narrative searches for the appropriate return to these blessings: burnt offierings? sacrifices? all that my money can buy… tens of thousands of rivers of oil? my firstborn, the fruit of my body? (v6-7)

Micah concludes: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (v8)

We will meditate on this verse for several minutes today.

I look forward to praying with you my dear friends.

Every blessing.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends

Whether you are in the US or not, I’m sure that the events of the past two weeks have caught the attention of your mind and heart.

Today we meditate with Isaiah 58. God’s people cry out: we fast and You ignore us, what is wrong?! And God replies: your fast has served only yourself… THIS is what I long for… and here our meditation picks up. We use a hybrid text from the NRSV and the Message.

If you are a member of the white community, in any nation in the world, I do strongly encourage you to seek out resources to help you better understand the perspective of people of colour.

A few resources I’ve found helpful in the American context include: The Liturgists Episode 34 : Black and White : Racism in America (2016) https://theliturgists.com/podcast/2016/3/29/episode-34-black-and-white-racism-in-america

Laura Tremaine’s podcast series Bias: a Black and White Conversation Between Friends (2018) http://www.smartestpersonintheroom.com/bias1

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown http://austinchanning.com/the-book I listened to this on Audible (two years ago and again this week).

Next on my to-read list are: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, How To Be An AntiRacist by Ibram X Kendi, and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.

If you have other authors, voices or books you’d recommend, I’d be interested, please do share in the comments or in our FB community. I’d be particularly interested in listening more deeply to the stories of British people of colour.

Much love, dear ones. Be courageous as you lean in. May our attentiveness to this issue be not momentary, but life-long. May our masks be stripped, may the Lord have mercy.

Much love.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A meditation with Psalm 27.

In this Psalm David ponders how he is protected from his enemies.

I invite you to think creatively about your enemies at present: self-doubt or self-contempt, fears, uncertain circumstances... I've been pondering what it means to be courageous in my personal choices.

Perhaps you will be invited to consider the same. May you have deep and vibrant sense of the unending invitation into greater life, depth, breadth and beauty in the house of the Lord.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A mindful and meditative prayer session with Psalm 40

Today I offer you in writing a few of my own thoughts on Psalm 40, you may not need them, but one or two may spark something helpful for you as you pray.

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; Where or when have you waited patiently for God… can you see yourself waiting patiently for him in this moment? Does ‘waiting’ or ‘patience’ resonate with you for any reason… negative or positive?

he inclined to me and heard my cry. Perhaps you see Jesus turning to the cry of blind Bartimaeus or to find the woman who touched his cloak… can you see the Lord turning to face you now?

2 He drew me up from the desolate pit [Heb: Pit of Tumult] out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. Perhaps you pray these words as thanksgiving for what has been done in you already, ... if you find yourself in the desolate pit of depression or anxiety or fear, or the miry bog of national or international events are heavy on your heart… perhaps they are your cry for help today.

6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Not only does the Lord offer restoration, but intimacy.. there is no need for ritual or jumping through hoops to access the Lord's presence, the Lord's ear is open to you right here, right now. You are invited into deep access of knowing and being known, seeing and being seen. ...How do you respond to this? Are you ready to say “Here I am” ?

7 Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

6 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” We pray that these deep, restorative encounters with God will be accessible to all who seek him. Where and when does worship of God rise naturally out of your heart and mouth? How does the worship that rises from your heart express itself?

* Regardless of how you pray... may you be blessed as you do so.

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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A quiet contemplation with Psalm 23.4

There are just so many directions I could go with this well-known Psalm but I've decided to keep it very straightforward and simple.

I hope you're able to allow the scenes to come alive in some way and I hope that the Lord says something new to your heart as you pray with it today. Every blessing.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

AThis is a meditation with the Awakening Prayer, as being prayed at midday for 40 days of prayer before pentecost by our friends in Ireland at St. Catherine's Church, Praxis and 24/7 Prayer Dublin.

For more information see: www.saintcatherines.ie/awakening

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.

Every blessing as you pray.

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A meditation with Psalm 18.

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.

For more information, find us on Facebook or at contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A mindful preparation for prayer followed by a gentle reading of Psalm 16, with space to be deeply attentive.

This series of meditations on the Psalms aim to bring peace and perspective for the time of Covid-19.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

As Tina rightly said to me the other day, this time of social distancing, much like Holy Week, is a stripping back, a time of loss, but it is at the same time, a way through to something new, for which we are so hopeful.

In this meditation, we will be mindful of Jesus at a number of different points throughout Holy Week, closing just after the point of death, where we are present to the sorrow and confusion his friends must have felt.

Though we have the benefit of hindsight, and the assurance of the hope of Easter, we don't want to rush through the middle of the story. We are so often in the middle of our own narratives, circumstances, and God is present here too.

May you grow in intimacy with the Lord as you meditate on these scenes.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Dear Friends,

After last week's episode with Colossians 3:12-17, Tina, who has been offering us Poems for Prayer, sent me a hymn she had written in response to the passage.

I found the words of her hymn so very helpful in my devotion this week that, with her permission, I want to share them with you here. I can't thank Tina enough for her faith, her love, her creativity and her generosity.

Reading the hymn aloud wasn't really working so I took the slightly ridiculous decision to sing it. My voice is neither strong nor trained, and I don't have access to autotuner so I'm feeling a bit silly and vulnerable about this, and it definitely won't be for everyone!! If you'd rather just read the words here, please do. In whichever way you choose to access these words, may they bless you and draw you more deeply into the Lord's heart.

God of Comfort and of Daring - a hymn for Colossians 3:12-17 by Tina Lamb

God of comfort and of daring rest and rouse our anxious hearts. God of giving and of sharing bind and heal our broken parts. Let your word dwell richly in us. Show us how your new world starts.

When we fear the loss of loved ones; when we cling to what we know; when we fail to let our children freely learn to choose and grow; let your Son live deeply in us, so his new life starts to flow.

Clothe us always in compassion, humbleness of heart and mind. Put on love, that lasting fashion, which in harmony will bind all forgivers with forgiven, and the new creation find.

Let each end be a beginning; make us thankful for the past; but reveal new openings springing up like gifts that always last. Even as the old is passing changeless love will hold us fast.

Every blessing to you, wherever you are, and however you choose to pray.

With much love from 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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Hello Friends! Being in a confined space, with the same mix of people, day after day amplifies all the dynamics, and I thought that these verses might be particularly helpful this week!

Colossians 3:12-17 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe your (deepest) self with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything beautifully together…Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. And be thankful.

So I offer you this audio meditation, to allow these words to soak in.

I hope you are generally finding space to take deep, grounding breaths, and appreciate the new life springing up outside. I also hope that you're staying well.

Every blessing dear ones. Lissy

PS: If the dynamics at home are harmful or dangerous, please reach out for help.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This week’s programming is interrupted (no surprise there) and replaced with a meditation for a time of unknowing and unsettling, which is also a time to take off the lid and ask questions, to throw down the taproots for deep waters, to closely inspect our homes, our relationships, our choices, ourselves.

With that in mind I offer you a grounding meditation, to help you find the taproot, to help you remember that you are “a tree planted by streams of living water” (Ps 1:3).

The meditation is based around Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians “I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

I imagine that many of you have seen the thoughtful poem “Pandemic” by Lynn Ungar, if not I do strongly commend it to you.

My prayers are with those of you for whom work is intensified in this time. Thank you for your leadership and service. My prayers are also with those of you for whom work is insecure in this time. May we know how to care for each other.

Every blessing 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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

An imaginative contemplation affords us the opportunity to play with the gospel text, to re-imagine the story in a new context, putting ourselves in key roles, with the purpose of helping us to grow in intimacy with Christ.

In this meditation I invite you to stretch the well in Sychar, Samaria to a location familiar to you. What do you drink most often, and where do you get it from? Water from the water cooler at work, lemonade from aisle 15, a double latte from your corner coffee shop? For me, its peppermint tea from the kettle between my sink and fridge.

What if someone you assume is too 'important' to speak to you is sitting outside the shop, or knocks on your door, and asks "I'm so sorry to bother you, but could you refill my water bottle?"

We'll start the meditation here, stay with the words Jesus spoke, allowing you to listen to your own mind and heart for everything in between.

May the text become yours in some way. Every blessing 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Inspired by Nicodemus, today we imagine ourselves seeking out the Lord, in order to bring him our thoughts and our questions. Today’s meditation is a bit different, and you may prefer to use the text than to use the audio, so I offer a version of the script to you here. John 3 (NRSV) Nicodemus Visits Jesus Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”[b] 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus replies with many words, including these: … 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Nicodemus came out to the Lord because he wanted to chew it all over He was compelled by Jesus but still trying to wrap his head around who Jesus is, and what his teaching means. Take a few minutes to still your body and your mind. How am I - just now? How am I generally in my life just now? What are my responsibilities? How are my key relationships? Does anything feel unsettled in my life or in my mind? Is there one thing that would be particularly helpful to bring to the Lord just now? See yourself – a bit like Nicodemus – seeking Jesus out when there will be a quiet moment (v1-2) Nicodemus said “We know that you are a teacher who comes from God” (v2) Tell Jesus what you know to be true about him just know. Affirm his identity, as you are able, from the bottom of your heart. Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (v3) Jesus offers an invitation to step more deeply into understanding of God’s kingdom by being re-born, re-made, made new, growing into a new identity or understanding. How do you understand this? Now recall the one thing that you want to bring to the Lord. Tell him about it. Tell him what your questions are (v4) How does he respond? Tell him what is on your heart, and leave space to listen for him to reply What might ‘stepping more deeply into God’s kingdom’ in light of this issue look like? Tell him how you feel stuck, or unsure – feel free to say, as Nicodemus did – that you still don’t fully understand (v9) See him looking at you with love Listen as Jesus says that Gods greatest desire for you is to give you eternal life – a fullness and richness of life which begins here and now – his love for you is so great, he desires wholeness and freedom and abundance of life for you – Jesus is here now as a gift of that love. (v16) Say anything else you wish to say, or simply bask in his love When you are ready, take your leave of the Lord. Meditation written by Lissy Clarke, Contemplative at Home 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In this 20 minute meditation we will travel in our imaginations to first century Jericho, home to families with long-established wealth, status and power - the priestly families. Zaccheus, also very wealthy but wholly living apart from any devout practices also makes his home in this affluent town.

Luke 19 (NRSV) Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

May the story become yours as you pray.

Please note, a Zacchaeus meditation by pray-as-you-go has heavily influenced the shape and form of todays meditation. Thank you to pray-as-you-go for their amazing leadership in all things audio and Ignatian prayer.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A guided meditation with the transfiguration in Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9.

At the pinnacle of his ministry, Jesus takes his closest friends up a very high mountain. Jesus seems to be considering his next steps, seeking wisdom about the way forward and has come to listen to God, to listen to his own faith tradition and spiritual heritage. The topic of the session is Jesus' departure "which he is about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem." Here he has a tete-a-tete with Moses - the great figurehead of the deliverance, the exodus, the release from slavery, and Elijah - the prophet who was taken up to heaven rather than dying a natural death, and who was anticipated to come back and prepare the way for a Moses-like Messiah.**

Jesus, about to embark on the next significant expression of his calling, hears the same words he heard at his baptism “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Does he bring Peter, James and John along for their benefit or for his own? Does their company strengthen him, or is he offering them privileged access, to witness his own spiritual process?

May you enter the story in your imagination, may the story become more vivid to you, and may it become yours in some way, as you humbly discern your own next steps into the Father's heart of love.

**Thank you Sue Rebus for these insights! Sue and I have been teaching a course together this term called Taste and See.. We approach each week with Sue's insightful teaching followed by a contemplative session in the same text. There are a few places left in the next 6-week session beginning Friday 28 Jan at 9:45am. If you live locally, and are interested in finding out more, please do get in touch.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Jesus said to them "Follow me"

The invitation to the spiritual life is always an invitation to move further on, further in. No matter where you find yourself at present, this is not the end of your story. Jesus invites you to continue following on and in. As a pilgrim on the spiritual journey you are invited to an ever-deepening awareness of yourself and God's love for you and an ever-deepening awareness of the way in which God is inviting you to give your life away.

Jesus said to them "Follow me"

In this episode we pray with Matthew 4:18-22. May the story become yours in some way.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

An imaginative contemplation with Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus in the Wilderness. Every blessing 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Today we take the text of Matthew 3 and enter the story in our imaginations. Imaginative Contemplation is a different and playful way to engage with scripture and the Spirit, with the aim of growing in intimacy with the Lord.

Come out to the Judean wilderness where John is preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven has comes near. See what is happening, who else has come, and decide whether you will take part.

Thank you to Sue Rebus for pointing out to me that those coming to John were intimately familiar with the experience of submerging in water as a sign of moving forward spiritually. Perhaps you want to take a quick look at images of the mikveh online to inform the context of your prayer.

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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

In this episode we pray with Mary and Joseph as they present Jesus in the Temple, in Luke 2:22-39: "When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem". --Luke 2:22-39 Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

A meditation with Luke 2:1-8, with children's voices... In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 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. Every blessing as you pray. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

During Advent, we remember and prepare for the coming of Christ in three ways: firstly, we remember the generations who awaited the birth of Messiah, recorded in the prophecy and longing of the Old Testament. Secondly, we prepare our own hearts for dawning of Christ’s light in new and deeper ways, and thirdly, we look to Christ’s return.

Again, advent is a time to be “present to our longing and vulnerable to hope” (Gertrude Mueller Nelson). For personal meditation on that theme, see the Contemplative at Home bonus episode “Advent Meditation: Longing and Hope”

In this passage we meet Joseph, heavy and burdened by a difficult decision in painful circumstances. Just as he decides to back away quietly, from deep in his sleep an angel of the Lord encourages him instead to step forward into trust, into light, into his important role of the coming of Emmanuel.

Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

If you wish to engage further with this text, I recommend this meditation: https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/arts-faith-advent-fourth-sunday-imaginative-prayer-exercise/

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.

All episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and many other podcast platforms. Please do consider leaving a rating or review wherever you listen, as this helps the podcast to become more visible on these platforms. Thank you!

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

During Advent, we remember and prepare for the coming of Christ in three ways: firstly, we remember the generations who awaited the birth of Messiah, recorded in the prophecy and longing of the Old Testament. Secondly, we prepare our own hearts for dawning of Christ’s light in new and deeper ways, and thirdly, we look to Christ’s return.

Again, advent is a time to be “present to our longing and vulnerable to hope” (Gertrude Mueller Nelson). For personal meditation on that theme, see last week’s bonus “Advent Meditation: Longing and Hope”

Today we pray with Sunday’s lectionary reading from Matthew 11:2-11, where we remember John the Baptist who pointed and waited, whose longing took him to the wilderness, whose passion took him to prison, whose vision prophesied hope and the coming of the Messiah.

Matthew 11:2-11: When John was in prison, he heard what the Messiah was doing, and he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Every blessing 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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

During Advent, we remember and prepare for the coming of Christ in three ways: firstly, we remember the generations who awaited the birth of Messiah, recorded in the prophecy and longing of the Old Testament. Secondly, we prepare our own hearts for dawning of Christ’s light in new and deeper ways, and thirdly, we look to Christ’s return.

Again, advent is a time to be “present to our longing and vulnerable to hope” (Gertrude Mueller Nelson). For personal meditation on that theme, see last week’s bonus “Advent Meditation: Longing and Hope.”

Today we pray with Sunday’s lectionary reading from Isaiah 11:1-10, the prophecy of the shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse, and a vision of the peace and righteousness that will bring.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

For further Ignatian reflection on this passage, I’d encourage you to visit IgnatianSpirituality.com, where you will find a video meditation on Stumme’s painting of this scene, and a written guided meditation.

Every blessing 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Lectio Divina with Mary's Magificat in Luke 1 (NRSV)

This is the final in our short series on gratitude, and you are invited to join your own song of gratitude with Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1, NRSV) as you listen to the slow and thoughtful reading of this passage, alert for the gem of insight hidden in one word or phrase from the text.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative mindful Christian prayer, drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

If Christmas is about the dawning of light, the beginning of hope in the midst of painful and difficult circumstances, the season of Advent is a time to "be present to our longing and vulnerable to hope" (Gertrude Mueller, To Dance with God). I love this. Advent's key invitation is to be present to our longing and vulnerable to hope. Amidst the tinselly blur of activity, I invite you to take a few opportunities to step aside, to stop, and be quiet, to engage with your longing and look with hope to the light that is coming. This seven minute meditation (minutes six and seven are only music) will help you to engage with your own longing and waiting, and to look hopefully to the light that will dawn. Please be warned that I invite you to call to mind a situation that is difficult or painful just now, and sit with it for about 20 seconds. Please don't engage with this meditation if you don't have the capacity to do that at this time. This meditation is especially dedicated to all the wreath-making women at St Mark's church in Bilton. May you have moments of quiet this advent. "The people who walked in darkeness have seen a great light." Isaiah 9:2 Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This November, with a nod to the American Thanksgiving holiday, Contemplative at Home will pray with stories on the theme of Gratitude.

In this episode we are with Luke 15:3-10, the shepherd who rejoices over a found sheep and a woman who rejoices for her found coin, stories which point us to the angelic rejoicing when a sinner repents. “Sinner” and “repent” are both slightly loaded words, so I invite you to unpack them a bit… an imperfect creature turning towards healing, growth, wholeness, life... this may take myriad different forms at different times.

While you may be moved by any number of things in this text, I bring it to you as a study in gratitude. Perhaps you reflect on what means the most to you, what you would scour every corner to find once again, to how you have felt in the past when something precious returns to you. Perhaps you reflect on your own gratitude, or on the gratitude God feels in response to your journey of healing and growth.

We open with a short prayer by Fr Finbarr Lynch : “Take Lord, the little that I offer, the tiny one I am, and give me the all that I hope for, the much that is you”

Before moving on to the text:

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Thank you for being here and every blessing as you pray.

If you listen to Contemplative at Home in a podcast app such as Apple Podcasts or Google Play would you be so kind as to leave a review or rating? That may help others to find us. Thank 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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This November, with a nod to the American Thanksgiving holiday, Contemplative at Home will pray with stories on the theme of Gratitude.

In this episode we are with John 12:1-3. Jesus, travelling to Jerusalem for that fated Passover, stops in Bethany at the house of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. They put on a meal for him in gratitude for all that he has done for them.

“Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

Perhaps you will allow this story to become your own, calling to mind all that the Christ has done for you, imagining how you would welcome and honour Jesus in your own home, experiencing the fragrance of gratitude as it fills your space.

For further thought: “The honorific anointing with perfume is an action frequently mentioned in other literature from the time; however, using long hair to dry Jesus's feet, as in John and Luke, is not recorded elsewhere, and should be regarded as an exceptional gesture.” – Teresa Hornsby, "Anointing Traditions" in The Historical Jesus in Context

Every blessing 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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This November, with a nod to the American Thanksgiving holiday, Contemplative at Home will pray with stories on the theme of Gratitude.

In this episode we are with Luke 17:11-19 and the ten lepers who approached Jesus as he travelled through their village.

"On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

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.

Thank you for being here and every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

If you listen to Contemplative at Home in a podcast app such as Apple Podcasts or Google Play would you be so kind as to leave a review or rating? That may help others to find us. Thank YOU . Contemplative at Home is also now on Spotify!

A guided, prayerful reading and meditation on an excerpt from St Patrick's well-known prayer, the Breastplate.

I imagine myself rising for the day, with the same Spirit who powers the light of the sun, the radiance of the moon, and the depth of the sea also empowering me. I imagine Christ's presence above and below me, behind and before, to my right and to my left.

The Breastplate of St Patrick: I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation. I arise today, through The strength of heaven, The light of the sun, The radiance of the moon, The splendor of fire, The speed of lightning, The swiftness of wind, The depth of the sea, The stability of the earth, The firmness of rock. I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me, God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me, God's shield to protect me, God's host to save me From snares of devils, From temptation of vices, From everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and near. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

"For I am convinced," writes Paul in Romans 8, "that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And I myself am convinced that a deepening knowledge and acceptance and trust in the love that God has for you is the essence of a flourishing life, the essence of following Christ.

It is a journey which never fully reaches its destination because we simply do not have the capacity to mine the infinite depths of God’s eternal love.

To grow in acceptance and understanding of the love that God has for you is probably the best gift that you could ever give yourself, your family, your community, the world... and even God’s very Self.

So today we simply receive the Lord's love, with a few verses from the prophets, the Psalms and the Song of Songs to keep us focussed. (Psalm 23, Psalm 36, 2 Samuel 22:20, Zephaniah 3:17, Micah 7:18, Song of Songs 2:4 and 7:10)

“I pray that you bring rooted and grounded in love may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" - Ephesians 3:17-19

Every blessing 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.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this episode we pray with Mark 12:28-34 – considering what Jesus sees at the heart of the law

One of the scribes came near and heard Jesus and some Sadducees disputing with one another, and seeing that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; …this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Can you sense of reverence that has settled on the group as they hear these two wise teachers agree on the deep, all-encompassing wisdom of the commandment to love?

In his book The Ignatian Adventure Kevin Obrien SJ suggests that we ask ourselves: Have I seen such loving in my life? How do I resist loving or being loved? (p168)

May you be led more deeply into God’s law of love as you pray with this text.

Every blessing.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

Continuing our meditation on the way Jesus saw, we observe Jesus as he walks along the lake, and sees Levi, son on Alphaeus sitting at the tax collectors booth.

Luke 2:13-17 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Lord Jesus, Open my eyes that I may learn to see as you see, not being caught up in things at the surface but present to things of the heart. Every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this episode we return to the story of the man lowered through the roof by his friends, and engage our sense of sight – being mindful of what and how Jesus saw.

We pray with Mark 2:1-8 and 10-11 (NRSV):

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Lord Jesus, Open my eyes that I may learn to see as you see, not being caught up in things at the surface but present to things of the heart.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this episode, we pray with Psalm 91:

(1-6) Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

(15-16)“Because you love me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue you; I will protect you, for you acknowledge my name. you will call on me, and I will answer you; I will be with you in trouble, I will deliver you and honor you. With long life I will satisfy you and show you my salvation.”

The language here evokes the image of a small creature who fears the fowler’s snare or the archer’s arrow. As we imagine ourselves being sheltered by a protective wing, we are reminded of our own small place in the created order of things. We are indeed, small creatures, finite yet prized in the hands of the Creator.

In verses 15-16 I have substituted the word ‘you’ for ‘he’ and ‘him’ as I didn’t want the gender-specification to be a distraction.

Every blessing as you pray. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this meditation, we pray with some of the opening verses of Psalm 51, words David wrote after a visit from the prophet Nathan, after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. This is a psalm of repentance, of sorrow, and seeking restoration.

From Psalm 51 (NIV)
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Hyssop is a plant that was used in the purification rites.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this 20 minute meditation, we pray with Psalm 139:1-5 and 13-18 from the NRSV:

"O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end[a]—I am still with you."

Every blessing as you pray For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In Psalm 81:1-10, the psalmist reminds us to give thanks and worship God, to remember all that good that you have known, all the good that God has done.

There is indeed mystery (an unknown voice in verse 5, a response from a thundercloud in verse 7) and perhaps this is why God decrees a a rhythm of remembering, the full moon and the new moon being reminders to worship.

You are invited to build into your life a regular rhythm of remembering, and praise.

There is hope for the future in the goodness we have known in the past.

This episode offers 20 minutes of guided meditation on Gods loving presence and the words of Psalm 81:1-10.

Every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In Psalm 71;1-6, the Psalmist cries out to the Lord to rescue, to deliver, to save.

I wonder what has you ‘in its grip’ this week – what you need to be saved from just now? Is it a particular fear or anxiety, an unhelpful pattern of thinking or fixation you’ve developed, oppressive circumstances or perhaps something else?

God may not always ‘rescue’ us from difficult decisions or situations and yet our relationship to such things can very much be transformed, delivered. May you know some healing – big or small – as you entrust yourself to the Lord with the Psalmist:

“For you have ben my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth”

Every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

This is a meditation on Psalm 80:1-2 and 8-19.

"Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
the stock that your right hand planted."

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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. In this episode we meditate with the words of Psalm 33:12-22. "A king is not saved by his great army... truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, who hope in his steadfast love... to keep them alive in famine" For further reflection on this theme you may want to listen to the amazing interview of my friend Graham Jones, recorded days before his death last autumn. https://dublin.anglican.org/news/2018/12/03/we-are-safe-in-his Every blessing as you pray. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

Today we meditate with Psalm 107 verses 1-9 and 43.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.
Let the one who is wise heed these things
and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord."

May you be filled up, and led on as you pray today.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this meditation on Psalm 85 we hear the words of one who remembers God’s mercy, and calls on God to return again with love and faithfulness, righteousness and peace.

This may be a helpful meditation in a time of confusion, or uncertainty, or recovery.

Wherever you find yourself today may you be blessed as you pray.

“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet, righteousness and peace will kiss each other” -Psalm 85:10

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

This is a meditation with Psalm 82.

“How long will youdefend the unjust
    and show partiality to the wicked?
Defend the weak and the fatherless;
    uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

Every blessing as you pray.

In this 20 minute meditation we take time to observe the life that bursts forth at every moment, and then meditate on Psalm 66:1-8.

This Psalm is part of the lectionary for Sunday 7 July 2019.

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.

Every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

In this 20 minute session of guided prayer, we meditate on Psalm 16.

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. - Psalm 16:2, 4

There is goodness beyond our wildest imagination available to us right now, right here in our every day lives. And yet so often I turn to the 'other gods' of comfort, numbing out on social media, mindless television, food.... We know however, that when we numb pain and discomfort, we also numb joy.

So we return to our breath, and look around and count our blessings.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. - Psalm 16:6

Delight. Pleasure. Joy. May you find yourself at home.

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. - Psalm 16:11

Every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

"As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life." -Psalm 42

I invite you to sit deeply and slowly with these words, to note what rises up within you.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this episode I offer you an Examen, which can be used to review your experience of Lent and Eastertide this year, or can just be used to review the past several months.

“Holy ground is not simply the ground of God’s past encounters with particular people in particular places… it is the ground on which we are actually standing, wherever we are” – John Stroyan, Turned by Divine Love p 16

We pray the Examen to help us become more aware of the ways in which our own lives are the holy ground on which God is at work.

Every blessing as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

"When the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting." Acts 2

Today we pray with a slow reading of Acts 2:1-8, finishing our series in the book of Acts with the account of Pentecost.

May you be open to the coming of the Holy Spirit in your own heart and mind as you deepen your experience with these verses.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

We continue through Acts during Eastertide, today stopping in Acts 16:25-34 with Paul and Silas who have been put into prison after freeing an enslaved girl from a demon. The themes of slavery, imprisonment and liberation, freedom run through this story, and I continue to be amazed at how slowing down with the text reveals such riches.

This passage does lend itself to the imagination so perhaps you will imagine you are one of the other prisoners, listening to these two passionate men who sing songs of joy and praise even as their hands and feet are bound. Or perhaps as the earthquake hits you will imagine you are the prison officer, so fearful of your fate at the hands of your employer that you’re prepared to take your own life.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

On Thursday 30 May, 40 days after Easter, we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus.

In Acts 1:3-11, Jesus points his friends to the ways in which he will remain with them, urging them stay present to his leading moment by moment as they wait on the Holy Spirit. "

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?" - Acts 1:9-11

Augustine's sermon on the ascension (well worth a read), points to the ways in which the ascension mysteriously knits together the things of earth and heaven. "Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven," Augustine writes "and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace."

May you be open to hear the truth which is making itself known to you today.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. In this season of Easter, we continue to pray with the book of Acts. Today we pray with Acts 16:9-15, and we join Paul and his friends who respond immediately to a vision which they interpret as a call to go to Macedonia. Stay with them as they spend a few days sailing from port to port, and imagine them staying in Philippi… did they sleep on their boat or in an accommodation? What prompted them to stay for a few days? As they go out of the city to pray on the Sabbath, imagine this scene by the river, try to picture the vegetation, their clothes, the faces of the people present. Notice Lydia's open heart, passionate faith and warm invitation. Listen for one word or phrase which catches your attention. Every blessing as you pray. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

In this season of Easter, we pray with passages from the book of Acts.

In Acts 9:36-43 we find ourselves at home with Tabitha, a disciple of Jesus who is notable for her generosity and kindness to people in need.

She is also reputed for her handiwork with cloth and clothing, and has a close knit group of women - widows - around her. These women are all together part of a group of disciples of Jesus at home in Joppa. Perhaps a sketch of Tabitha will start to form in your mind, as you note how well regarded and loved and respected she is.

You may remember that Tabitha falls ill and dies, that Peter is brought in as the events of this resurrection story unfold.

I invite you to imagine yourself into this story and to notice how you respond as the events develop.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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. During the season of Easter, Contemplative at Home will pray with stories from the book of Acts. In this episode we pray with Saul, a socially privileged young Pharisee who is intoxicated with conviction that followers of the Way must be eliminated. You are invited to be present to Saul's story. You might recall the passionate convictions of your own youth, or imagine the flash of light which knocks him to the ground, or ponder what those three days of blindness and fasting may have been like for him. Use the space between the words to bring the story to life in your own mind. Every blessing as you pray. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

In John 20, the disciples are still in the upper room, locked in fear and confusion. In this episode we join them as Jesus appears among them.

In his book on the Spiritual Exercises, Kevin O’Brien SJ writes “Notice how Jesus meets the disciples amid their fears and gives them the comfort of the spirit in such an intimate gesture. The Spirit liberates them from their fears and sends them out of the locked room into a world in need."

On Palm Sunday, through Holy Week and from Easter Sunday until Easter Tuesday, Contemplative at Home will publish a daily episode, re-released from the 2018 Lent series. We are invited to be present to Jesus and his followers through the events of the week. May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

On Palm Sunday, through Holy Week and from Easter Sunday until Easter Tuesday, Contemplative at Home will publish a daily episode, re-released from the 2018 Lent series. We are invited to be present to Jesus and his followers through the events of the week. May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive.

Today we pray with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who are joined by an unrecognisable Jesus.

The text is taken from Luke 24.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Christ is Risen! But his friends are still grieving, bewildered, disorientated. Join Mary, Mary and Salome as they bring spices to anoint the body for burial.

On Palm Sunday, through Holy Week and from Easter Sunday until Easter Tuesday, Contemplative at Home will publish a daily episode, re-released from the 2018 Lent series. We are invited to be present to Jesus through the events of the week.

May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

On Good Friday, we follow the example of the women at the cross, and remain as present to Jesus in his suffering as we are able.

Contemplative at Home is republishing the 2018 Lent series on a daily basis throughout Holy Week and into Easter Week.

Every blessing on you as you find courage to remain attentive.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Every day this week, Contemplative at Home will re-release an episode from the 2018 Lent series. In Holy Week se are invited to be present to Jesus even as he suffers. May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive. In today's episode we pray with Mark 14:66-72 where Peter, standing outside the place where Jesus is being tried, and denies knowing Jesus, just hours after he has vehemently protested that he would ever do such a thing. You’re invited to consider Peter's foolishness, how weak and fickle he is, and perhaps any ways in which you too are inconsistent, or have disappointed others. You’re also invited to consider how this was for Jesus – in another Gospel it says that Jesus looked straight at Peter as the cock crowed. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Every day this week, Contemplative at Home will re-release an episode from the 2018 Lent series. In Holy Week se are invited to be present to Jesus even as he suffers. May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive.

We pray now with Jesus and the disciples, late in the evening at the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas approaches with chief priests, temple police and elders to arrest Jesus, as told in Luke 22. Grace and peace be with you as you pray.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Every day this week, Contemplative at Home will re-release an episode from the 2018 Lent series. In Holy Week se are invited to be present to Jesus even as he suffers. May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive.

As Jesus prays at Gethsemane he asks his closest friends to stay with him while he prays. Anthony Borrow SJ suggests that it is normal for our prayer with these texts to become very quiet. He writes “It is difficult work to stay with the feelings of sadness, uncertainty, anxiety, anguish, fear, pain and betrayal. And yet, that is precisely what you are [invited] to do. Ask God for the grace to be there insofar as you are able. Talk with [God] about the challenge of staying with Jesus and any fears you might have […and] about how to find the courage to overcome those fear and to stay with Jesus” (towardgreaterfreedom.com)

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Every day this week, Contemplative at Home will re-release an episode from the 2018 Lent series. In Holy Week se are invited to be present to Jesus even as he suffers. May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive.

In this episode we pray with Jesus and the disciples in the Upper Room, celebrating the Passover together. At the last supper as told in Mark 14:17-25 Jesus warns the disciples that one will betray him, then offers them all the bread and wine as symbols of his body and blood.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Every day this week, Contemplative at Home will re-release an episode from the 2018 Lent series. In Holy Week se are invited to be present to Jesus even as he suffers. May this prayer experience help you to grow in your capacity to remain attentive.

In this episode we pray with Luke 19:35-42

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

This episode concludes our series in the Message translation of the sermon on the mount, and if you have been praying along with it, you might want to review the nuggets of truth that have been significant for you along the way. In this passage Jesus says that these words are foundational, the basis for building our lives and habits upon, so perhaps as you pray today you'll be prompted to think practically about how you are growing into the wisdom which has been revealed to you.

Thank you to all who have prayed with this series on the Sermon on the Mount, it is an honour and privilege to walk along the road with you

During each day of Holy Week, I will re-release the episodes from Lent 2018, so that you can use Contemplative at Home to hold space in your mind and heart for the events of the passion. Do subscribe in your podcast app or on the website to be updated when a new episode is released.

Thank you again my friends and every blessing.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Continuing in the Message translation of the Sermon on the Mount, in these verses from Matthew chapter 7 Jesus challenges us: to be straightforward with the Lord "Don't bargain with God. Be direct.... Don't look for shortcuts to God," to expect the Lord to be straightforward with us "This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in," and to be wary of leaders who aren't straightforward themselves "Don't be impressed with charisma, look for character."

May these 20 minutes of guided audio with Matthew 7:7-20 help you to be prayerfully attentive to the truth that is being born out of God's love for you today.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticise their faults— unless, of course, you want that same treatment. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbour’s face and at the same time be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s … playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part.”

From Matthew 7:1-5, the Message.

As you spend time praying with this text, be alert for how the Spirit is nudging you, leading you in your thoughts.

Every blessing.

Those of you with a keen ear will hear the garden birds again, enjoying the March sunshine! I hope it's not overly distracting!

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Jesus reminds of the incredible attention God has given to the appearance of the wildflowers, and points us to how much more God will provide for us.

We are invited to shift our attention from fear and fussing, to trust in the myriad ways God is providing for us in each moment.

In this episode we continue our series with the Message translation of the Sermon on the Mount, praying with Matthew 6:27-34.

Part of our introduction today is taken from a resource at pathwaystogod.org.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

In this prayerful meditation on Jesus' teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, we reflect on his invitation to invest our hearts, minds, time and energy in the spiritual realm, rather than the material. Perhaps this is about becoming aware of our deeper desires. I wonder how you will be stirred as you pray.

"If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light." - Matthew 6, the Message.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

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.

In this episode we prayerfully listen to Jesus teaching us how to pray, and how to fast.

"This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply". - Matthew 6

As we're using The Message translation of the Lord's prayer you just might hear the familiar words with new ears.

May you find peace as you pray here today.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being borne out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

"And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace." - Matthew 6, the Message

We continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, moving into Matthew chapter 6 today.

Apologies for a bit of background noise in this episode: the clicking of the mic on its stand, and the gregarious robin who sings outside my window. This little robin certainly plays to the crowd!! May it not be too great a distraction for you.

Every blessing

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

All scripture is read from the NRSV.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

"I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. Respond with the energies of prayer."

In this episode we pray mindfully and imaginatively with Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount at the end of Matthew 5.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

All scripture is read from the Message.

All music written, recorded and produced by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

“When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong” (Matthew 5, the Message)

I’m re-reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe right now – both aloud to the kids at bedtime (pure joy!) and for myself along with the thoughtful ladies over at the Abiding Together podcast.

Do you remember when Edmund comes out of the wardrobe for the first time, and then tells the others he and Lucy had just been playing make believe? He is delighted with his clever lie, feeling it to be a “great success” because of the momentary feeling of superiority and control it gives him.

But apart from breaking Lucy’s heart, it also goes on to increase the animosity between himself and Peter, ultimately making things much worse for him.

“When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.”

May today’s meditation with the Message translation of Matthew 5:33-37 illuminate your ownstory this week and bring you more fully into wholeness and grace.

Every blessing

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

I love the way that Jesus calls us in, calls us deeper, calls us home to our hearts to examine and shake out our thoughts, renewing our perspective. Throughout the sermon on the mount Jesus challenges us to get thoughtful and wholehearted with regard to the 'rules'.
“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister ..."

Today we pray with Matthew 5:21-26, from the Message.

May this passage lead you to dust off a few forgotten corners of your heart, and leave you with grace and freedom and lightness of spirit.

Every blessing.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

"Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God's law will be alive and working" - Matt 5, the Message

I wonder what you instinctively believe about the Law? Is it about restriction and oppression, or is it about freedom and life? Does it strike you as a list of rules or something much deeper?

St Ignatius wrote that "There are very few people who realise what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace."

I've been thinking recently about the fact that God's "good, pleasing and perfect will" is more beautiful and life-giving than anything I could ever dream of myself.

In this meditation on Matthew 5:17-20 from the Message, we consider Jesus' assertion that he has come not to demolish the law, but to fulfil it. Jesus challenges his listeners to understand the law in a deeper, broader way than those who have been following it to the letter. "Trivialise even the smallest item in God's law and you will have trivialised yourself," he asserts, and yet "Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom."

May you glimpse the freedom and grace the deep Law of God offers as you pray with this passage today.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

A few years ago, Pope Francis suggested six beatitudes for "a modern era". I found them compelling and I thought it would be interesting to prayerfully consider whether the Lord wanted to speak to us in a new way through them.

In this meditation, we will pray with this text in lieu of a gospel text. Please don't worry, I'm not suggesting that the pope's words are scripture! Nothing here contradicts what Jesus taught throughout his ministry, but hearing old thoughts in new phrasing may just spark something important for you.

It starts with a bang as the first 'beatitiude' says "blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others". This is about remaining soft in heart, not about remaining in an abusive situation. We often need the wise council of others to help us navigate painful or tricky situations, so please do lean on safe people around you if you find yourself in a particularly difficult place.

As always, I wish you space to reconnect with yourself and the Lord this week.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

We will be journeying through the sermon on the mount in the Message translation for the next while, and today we look at the way it opens: with the beatitudes. You'll be invited to imagine yourself walking up a hillside with Jesus as we deepen for prayer, then listening to what he has to say.

Is there one particular word or phrase which speaks to the ways in which you're growing right now?

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All scripture is read from the Message

Music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

"Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world" - Matthew 5, the Message

You're here to be light.

Today we consider what it looks like to live out of your deepest self, the place within you where there Sprit of the Lord resides and mingles with your own self, where you have the freedom to let your gifts shine in their own unique way

"Shine!"

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music written, recorded and produced by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

As the season of Christmas comes to a close, we pray with an imaginitive contemplation on the nativity. This guided meditation was written by Jerry Webber at Only A Sojourner. http://onlyasojourner.blogspot.com/ Jerry has very kindly given me permission to record it for you. I have found it to be rich material for prayer indeed, and I trust that it will be the same for you.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

Music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

The fourth candle in the advent wreath is known as the angel candle, representing peace. In this meditation we prayerfully listen to Isaiah 11 "a shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse" followed by an imaginative contemplation of the angels' proclamation: "Peace to everyone everywhere"

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

Music: Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

For the third week of advent, I'm trying something new, an imaginative contemplation, a guided play in our imaginations through the images of Isaiah 9:2-7, merged with the parallel story of the angels singing glory to the shepherds on the hillside.

This engagement with prayer is different, so open yourself up to the possibility that the Lord may use it to reveal something new to you. If this doesn't work for you, or doesn't feel safe for any reason, don't feel obliged to stay with it.

Quora.com tells us "Noel is another word for Christmas.... The derivation of the word "noel" is from the Latin word "natalis" which means birth, from which which we also get the the related word "natal". So when the angels sing "Noel" in the carol we think of today, they are proclaiming new birth! and new life.

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All scripture is read from the NRSV and the Message.

All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

Now is the time of preparation.

While the practical preparations can be all-consuming before Christmas (!), today's meditation offers you 15 minutes to reflect on the spiritual preparation for the coming of the Christ child.

Lighting the second candle on the advent wreath, we mediate on the words of Isaiah 40:3-5, and reflect on the ways that we can make ready our hearts, minds, relationships and communities for the glorious coming which we await.

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

Scripture is read from the NRSV and the Message.

Music - Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

ADVENT 2018

The first candle of the Advent wreath is known as the Prophecy Candle, which represents hope.

We follow this theme and welcome Ceri Durrant's joyful reading of Isaiah 35 (The Message).

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

Music performed by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

This mindful session of Lectio Divina rests with one short verse, "Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest" Matt 11:28.

This meditation is brought to you by David Pettifor, a retired Church of England priest who has long been involved in spirituality work.

In a departure from our typical format, this episode offers you extended time of silence with the Lord, an opportunity for deeper contemplation. I would suggest you light a candle as you pray, to help you remember that the Lord is with you. If it helps, remember that on the other side of your speakers, David and I are sharing this silent space with you, and that you join with hundreds of others around the world as you pray here.

May you find the time and space to drink deeply of the Lord's rest.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All scripture is read from the NRSV.

All music written, recorded and produced by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

This examen is for those who find themselves in their own particular "valley of the shadow of death," a meditation on the way that God has been with me today, even in sorrowful time.

As you slow down to pray, some emotion may come to the surface. If it feels safe to do so, I invite you to be present to the emotions, to take the time to feel them, trusting that the Lord is holding you close, caring for you, ministering to you, offering you this safe space. If your emotions become more than you can manage on your own, please reach out to a trusted friend, minister or therapist.

We find our faith when we remember to breathe, to be grateful, and become present to the myriad ways in which God is active, loving, gracious, kind, and drawing us on.

The Examen is a tool to lead us on our spiritual way, in desolation, and at all times. May this one help you find peace and light on the dark days. <3

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music written, recorded and produced by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Whether you work in the community, online, in an office, a hospital, or at home with your small children, this mindful Examen should help you look back over all of your efforts and encounters, gain perspective, and to prepare for tomorrow with "Thine own dear Presence to cheer and to guide."

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music written, recorded and produced by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

PS: The listenership of this podcast grows solely by word-of-mouth. Thank you for sharing it with someone who may find it beneficial!

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

This special episode offers an Examen Prayer for children and is best for kids of Primary or Elementary school age. Featuring two special guests!

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All scripture is read from the NRSV.

All music written, recorded and produced by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

I offer you here a prayer of Examen inspired by the book Sleeping with Bread by Dennis, Matthew and Sheila Linn.

Mom gifted me with a copy of Sleeping with Bread in an unsettled season of my mid-20s, and it was my first exposure to Ignatian Spirituality. I've since bought countless copies for friends. Maybe you'll buy it for someone this Christmas, or put it on your own Christmas list! If you find the Examen beneficial and aren't familiar with this book, I can't recommend it highly enough.

A big word of thanks to brother dearest Pete Hatch for the music which brings these episodes to life!!

Enjoy your practice of Examen this week, and feel free to join us in the Contemplative at Home Community on Facebook, which I check in with about once a week

Subscribe to the show in Apple Podcasts, at contemplativeathome.com, or wherever you listen to podcasts, to ensure you are kept up to date with new episodes

Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life

This guided prayer of Examen is designed as a prayer of review, often prayed at the end of the day. Ignatius of Loyola suggested this Examination of Conscience or Consciousness as a way to help his followers see God in all things.

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook.

All music written, recorded and produced by Peter Hatch. www.petehatch.com.

The first in our series of Examen prayers, a ten minute prayerful review of the day

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

All scripture is read from the NRSV.

Artwork and music written, recorded and produced by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Hello and welcome back after a long break! A quick unedited bit of news about where I've been and what is coming up on the podcast.

Contemplative at Home offers a meditative prayer experience drawing on Lectio Divina and Ignatian spirituality

Find us on Facebook or at contemplativeathome.com

In Matthew 10:5-14, Jesus sends out the twelve to minister to people they meet. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Matthew 10:5-14 & 20 is read from the Message

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a story specifically to the people who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” Aren’t we all weak to this belief, seeing ourselves in almost every scenario as the one in the right? Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina

Luke 18:9-14 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In John 8:2-11, the scribes and Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery, to test Jesus’ interpretation of the law. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

John 8:2-11 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In John 11, Jesus’ dear friend Lazarus dies while his family waits for Jesus to arrive, to heal him. On arriving at the home, four days too late, Jesus is deeply moved, and disturbed in spirit. Then he enters the tomb, and calls forth life, unbinding Lazarus from death. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

John 11:32-44 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus is having a meal in a Pharisee’s home, when a woman who has “lived a sinful life” comes in. She stands behind Jesus and weeps, washes his feet with her tears, drys them with her hair, kisses them and pours expensive perfume over them

Notice how deeply Jesus sees both this woman, and the Pharisee. You too are invited to deepen your gaze as you engage in these 20 minutes of prayer.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Luke 7:36-50is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In John 3:1-10, the Pharisee comes to Jesus at night, to ask him some questions. Jesus invites him to a new way of seeing, a new perspective on the Kingdom of God. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark Luke 24:13-35 is read from the NIV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In Luke 19:1-10, Zaccheaus, who collects taxes from his fellow countrymen on behalf of the Romans, and earns his wage by inflating the fees, is interested in catching a glimpse of Jesus. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark Luke 19:1-10 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show

In Mark 10:17-22, a young man from a privileged background comes earnestly seeking wisdom from Jesus about how to access the Divine, how to inherit eternal life. Jesus is filled with love for this man. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark Luke 24:13-35 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

Contemplative at Home is a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

This episode is in John 5:1-9, Jesus healing the paralysed man at the pool at Bethzatha.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

All scripture is read from the NRSV

In Matthew 14:13-22, five loaves and two fish miraculously feed thousands of people. As I listened to this passage read prayerfully and slowly, I noticed Jesus showing love to this great gathering of hungry people again and again. I wonder what will stand out to you…

Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Matt 14:13-22is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In the opening verses of Acts 2, the disciples experience a powerful infilling of the Holy Spirit, which ignites them for the ministry of healing and evangelism on a whole new level. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Acts 2 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In Luke 24:36-38,44-53, Jesus is carried up to heaven even as he is blessing his disciples. NT Wright describes heaven as “God’s space, which intersects with our space but transcends it… the God-dimension, of all our present reality.” Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark Luke 24:13-35 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

NT Wright on the ascension can be found hereand here.

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In John 21, as they finish their breakfast beside the sea of Galilee, three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

John 21 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

In John 21:1-14, Jesus’ disciples are still wondering what to do with themselves. After a disappointing night in their fishing boat, Jesus appears on the beach and powerfully reassures them of his initiative, his generosity, his kindness and his love. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

John 21:1-14 is read from the NRSV(verses 1-2 in my own abbreviation)

Interrupting the Silence: A priest's reflection on John 21

Abiding Together Podcast: A conversation between three thoughtful Catholic women on this passage(look for "John 21" in the podcast archives)

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

In John 20:24-29, Thomas, one of the twelve cannot accept the claim that Jesus is alive again. Jesus appears to the disciples for the second time, offering peace, and offering Thomas the invitation to hope, to believe. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

John 20:24-29 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show!

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

In John 20;19-23, the disciples are locked in the upper room, in fear, when Jesus appears among them. “Peace be with you” he says to them- twice- then breathes on them, and says “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark John 20:19-35 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within uswhile he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’

In Luke 24:13-35, two of Jesus’ followers are trying to get their heads around the fact that their own leaders have had Jesus crucified, as well as Mary’s incredible claim that morning, that he was alive again. While walking along the road to Emmaus and discussing all these things, Jesus joins them. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with the yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark Luke 24:13-35 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Be sure to subscribe to the show.

“Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

What we celebrate now as Easter morning was for those who lived through it a time of bewilderment and confusion and shock. Using text from Mark 16 and John 20 we pray with the women who went to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. Grab your journal, find a comfortable place for prayer, and give as much of yourself as you’re able to this practice of prayer.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark 16:1-6, John 20:14-18 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Today we are invited to be present to Jesus as he hangs on the cross. Mark (15:22-41) exposes the various people who bore witness to these moments, Simon who helped to carry the cross, the women who watched, who stayed, and the many who mocked, derided, and taunted him, laying humiliation over these final excruciating moments.

At times we have all been the mocker, the deserter, the faithful friend. Where do you recognize yourself today?

Again this is a difficult place to stay, but you are invited to be here, remembering that Jesus chose to be here. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 22 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark 15:22-41 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.” But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about.” Mark 14

In Mark 14:66-72, Peter is watching as Jesus is on trial with the chief priests, the elders and the scribes. A servant girl knows she has seen him with Jesus and yet Peter pretends he knows nothing about the man. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with the yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark 14:17-25 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

Suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. Judas approached Jesus to kiss him;but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?”

In Luke 22:47-53, on a dark and quiet evening, the garden where Jesus has been praying in anguish is suddenly filled with torchlight, and an aggressive crowd led by one of the twelve. The disciples’ instinct is to fight but Jesus chooses another way. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with the yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Luke 22:47-53 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

“And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’”

In Mark 14:32-36, just after the Passover meal, Jesus leads his friends out to an olive grove where they have stopped together many times before. As Jesus grapples with his own impending death, he asks for his friends to stay present. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with the yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark 14:17-25 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

“While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’”

In Mark 14:17-25, Jesus and his friends gather in an upstairs room to celebrate the Passover together. At the table, Jesus says that one of the twelve will betray him. While they are eating, he picks up a loaf and offering it around says “Take, this is my body.” Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with the yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes. May it be a blessing to you.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

Mark 14:17-25 is read from the NRSV

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Find us on: Facebook

“Then they brought the colt to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on it, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.. and the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen”

We are spreading the events of Holy Week out across Lent for our meditations at Contemplative at Home, so this week we are at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In Luke 19:35-42, Jesus asks for a colt that he may ride into Jerusalem, invoking Zechariah’s prophecy that the awaited king will come "lowly and riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey". His faithful followers are moved to a loud and joyful outpouring of song and praise, flinging their cloaks down before him and hailing him with palm branches.

You are invited to enter this story imaginatively, being present to Jesus and the events as they unfold.

Friends! You are most welcome to come and join our community of listeners in our new Facebook group, Contemplative at Home Community, a place to connect with others who are listening to the podcast, and to share what has been significant for you as you prayed. I'd love to meet you there.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality and Lectio Divina.

This was first published at contemplativeathome.com.

“Jesus was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,[a] sitting at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.”

Meditating on Mark 14:3-9, we are present with Jesus as he prepares for his death. A meal for guests, a lavish and controversial act of reverence, Jesus mentally preparing for the coming events. Find your favourite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with the yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes. May it be a blessing to you.

Friends- I have recently launched a new Facebook group for the community of Contemplative at Home listeners around the world, and I'd love to have you join the conversation there. It will be a place where we can share with others about our experience with prayer, and glean further insight into the text and all it has to teach us.

You may notice new music this week, brought to us by my dear brother. We are having fun playing with this together, so you may hear a few new things in the coming weeks.

Are you listening to the prayer in a group? Click here for suggestions on how to share the prayer together.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality.

Mark 14:3-9 is read from the NRSV and The Message.

This was first published at Contemplative at Home.

While he was still speaking, suddenly, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’

As we are nearing Lent, this week’s meditation is on Matthew 17:1-8, when Jesus and his closest friends go on a long walk and experience the quintessential mountain-top spiritual high. Transfigure means “to transform into something more beautiful or elevated” and while this happens to Jesus, Moses and Elijah appear, Peter blunders and God confirms again that Jesus “is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight.”

Find your favorite spot for prayer, grab your journal, and sit deeply with yourself and the Lord for 20 minutes. May it be a blessing to you.

Contemplative at Home offers a guided prayer experience drawing on Ignatian spirituality, in a style similar to Lectio Divina.

New music this week, brought to us by my dear brother. We are having fun playing with this together, so you may hear a few new things in the coming weeks.

Using this in a group? Click here for suggestions on how to share the prayer together.

Matthew 17:1-8 is read from the Message and the NRSV.

Here are some pieces of art which may deepen your prayer experience. Choose one which you are drawn to and study it as you pray.

This was first published at Contemplative at Home. Join the conversation in our Facebook group, Contemplative at Home Community.

{And – as you can hear – I was a bit heavy with one of this year’s viruses during the recording! Hopefully it won’t distract you too much.}

A teeny tiny Christmas gift to you from Contemplative at Home, in case you can find 10 minutes on Christmas to sit quietly with the story of Christ’s birth in Luke 2.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

This is the final of four special episodes entitled Christmas in Ordinary Time, considering the ways in which the Christ-child was born to very ordinary people in ordinary circumstances. Praying with John 1 “the word became flesh and dwelt among us,” we accept the Ignatian invitation to consider how “God saves us in the detail of our lives.”

Published for Christmas 2016, this episode can be used at any time of the year.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition. This is one of four special episodes on Christmas in Ordinary Time.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

The third of four episodes on Christmas in Ordinary Time, we consider the Shepherds, people without status, wealth or apparent importance, to whom God sent the heavenly host to announce the good news.

Published for Christmas 2016, this episode can be used at any time of the year.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition. This is one of four special episodes on Christmas in Ordinary Time.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

This is the second of four special episodes entitled Christmas in Ordinary Time, considering the ways in which the Christ-child was born to very ordinary people in ordinary circumstances. Mary sings her response to God’s work in her life, reflecting on God’s regard for the lowly.

Published for Christmas 2016, this episode can be used at any time of the year.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition. This is one of four special episodes on Christmas in Ordinary Time.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

During advent we consider how God’s redemption story was unfurled through very ordinary people in an ordinary place. In this episode with pray with Mary, and the angel Gabriel’s incredible announcement to her. We observe her response and her willing participation in this story despite her fear and her lack of understanding.

Published for Christmas 2016, this episode can be used at any time of the year.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition. This is one of four special episodes on Christmas in Ordinary Time.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

Jesus invites his friends: “Come away with me to a quiet place and get some rest.” In this episode you are invited to observe Jesus as he goes to a deserted place and prays to his Father, and to have your own conversation with God as well.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition. This is the fourth episode in Season Two: With Jesus in Ordinary Time.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

In the wilderness, Jesus is tempted by power, security and control. In this episode we pray with Luke 4:1-13, Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness, where Jesus faced his deepest temptations and emerged, ready to begin his public ministry. Join us for contemplative prayer with this story.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition. This is the second episode in Season Two: With Jesus in Ordinary Time.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

Have you ever considered Jesus’s life before his public ministry began? In this episode we will pray with the Hidden Life: the years Jesus lived in obscurity, humbly given over to the hard work of a small community eking out a living from the land.

Contemplative at Home is a meditative prayer experience in the Ignatian tradition. This is the second episode in Season Two: With Jesus in Ordinary Time.

For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram.