Contemplative at Home

A meditation with Jesus’ 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.

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 blessingsLissy

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

PS: I will be leading a 15-minute Examen, live over Zoom each evening from 13-23 May 2021.

9:15-9:30pm GMT / 1:15pm Pacific / 4:15pm Eastern. No meeting Sunday 16th.

This is being organised by my local church as part of the Church of England’s Thy Kingdom Come prayer event. You are very welcome to join us. Zoom Meeting ID: 884 7269 5579 Passcode: review

This is 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 preclude me from being generous and loving?

Which voices, places, or 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 here for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window”

Hello Friends,

I’m back after a much-needed break. I hope this finds you well.

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

Dear Friends,

He is Risen, Indeed.

Death and resurrection are all around us and within us, all the time. We must hold them both.

We let go of one thing to take hold of another.

After Jesus’ death, his friends had to let go of him as they knew him (“Don’t cling to me”), in order to receive the much bigger presence he was now offering them

I’m taking a little break from making new recordings this week (and possibly next), but there are several in the archives that are just right for these weeks.

This episode, Risen, was first published in 2018, and you can find a few others here:

Road to Emmaus

Peace

Every blessing….

Lissy

Dear Friends,

This is a special edition of Contemplative at Home, offering you imaginative contemplation with the 15 stations on The Way of the Cross.

You are getting this in your inbox on Wednesday to give you a few days to pray with it this week.

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.

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

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. While a feast is held in his honour, for the miraculous gift of life he has given this family, Jesus is very aware of his own imminent 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

Sign up for Lissy’s weekly newsletter “The Contemplative Window”

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.”

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/hkbDF

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.

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.

Every blessing as you pray.

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.