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 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 youDeep peace of the flowing air to youDeep peace of the quiet earth to youDeep peace of the shining stars to youDeep peace of the gentle night to youMoon and stars pour healing light on youDeep 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” 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. 

Meditation bell by steaq at freesound.org

All music by Pete Hatch. 

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 by becoming a member for just a few £ or $ per month. 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 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 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” 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. 

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!

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, 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” 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!

All music by Pete Hatch. 

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 hope to see you there!!

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 the Lord as you pray.

Psalm 117Praise 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!

All music by Pete Hatch. 

“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!

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen 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.