Contemplative at Home

A 24-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 12:1-11, using imaginative contemplation. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. I invite you to a way of unknowing, a place of deep being.  Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com/] offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen 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]“ You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation [https://buy.stripe.com/28oeWx6GB2OUgpO7ss] or becoming a member. [https://contemplative-at-home.cademy.co.uk/memberships] Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch [http://instagram.com/brother.boost].  Photo by Anna Keibalo [https://unsplash.com/@anyutakejbalo?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] on Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/photos/a-womans-bare-feet-in-the-grass-KOKdbBdydqk?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] The post Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet: Imaginative Contemplation: John 12:1-11 [https://contemplativeathome.com/mary-anoints-jesus-feet-imaginative-contemplation-john-121-11/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

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 [https://contemplativeathome.com/] offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen 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]” or join our Facebook group here [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/] You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation [https://buy.stripe.com/28oeWx6GB2OUgpO7ss] or becoming a member. [https://contemplative-at-home.cademy.co.uk/memberships] Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch [http://instagram.com/brother.boost].  Photo by roberta errani [https://unsplash.com/@urfida?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] on Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-clay-pots-on-gray-concrete-floor-9fEOcnC-qCQ?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] The post Jars of Clay: Lectio Divina [https://contemplativeathome.com/jars-of-clay-lectio-divina/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

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 [https://contemplativeathome.com/] offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen 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]” or join our Facebook group here [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/] You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation [https://buy.stripe.com/28oeWx6GB2OUgpO7ss] or becoming a member. [https://contemplative-at-home.cademy.co.uk/memberships] Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch [http://instagram.com/brother.boost].  The post Love was His Meaning: Lectio Divina with Julian of Norwich [https://contemplativeathome.com/love-was-his-meaning-lectio-divina-with-julian-of-norwich/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

A 19-minute guided audio meditation with Job 11:8-9 and Ephesians 3:17-19, using Lectio Divina. I came to this text hoping to bring you a meditation on the depths of the love of God (Eph 3:18-19), but as I sat with a handful of translations, Greek words and Hebrew references, I was taken more mystically into the presence of God than I had imagined going. I have knit a few verses together here (Job 11:8-9 and Eph 3:17-19), pulling from various translations and expanded Greek definitions, mixing the words from Ephesians into combinations that spoke most vividly to me. Please note that while I feel that I have been very faithful to the text, I am not a biblical scholar and this is not an authorised translation. The words I have gathered from the NRSV, the Orthodox Jewish Bible and the Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament (at biblegateway.com) for this meditation are here: Job 11:8-9 Can you find out the deep things of God… Can you find the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than the heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. Ephesians 3:17-19 I pray that Christ may inhabit, make his dwelling place in your heart. I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in (agape) love, may be empowered to grasp the height and depth, the length and breadth… and have knowledge of the Love of Christ, this Love which surpasses knowledge that you might be filled, fully pervaded, with the fullness, the plentitude, of God. Please note that I read the above text three times in this meditation, rather than the usual two. I hope that this meditation transports you in the way that it has transported me, but more than that, however you find your prayer today, may the Lord accomplish the Spirit’s intentions through your faithfulness to prayer. BLESSINGS and much love!! Lissy Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com/] offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen 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 [http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP]“ You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation [https://buy.stripe.com/28oeWx6GB2OUgpO7ss] or becoming a member. [https://contemplative-at-home.cademy.co.uk/memberships] Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch [http://instagram.com/brother.boost].  Photo by Thibault Mokuenko [https://unsplash.com/@tmokuenko?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] on Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-hallway-between-body-of-water-GqgAzGh2K34?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] The post Filled with the Unknowable: Lectio Divina: Job 11 and Ephesians 3 [https://contemplativeathome.com/filled-with-the-unknowable-lectio-divina-job-11-and-ephesians-3/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

A 19-minute guided meditation blending gentle physical movement (yoga), breath and the Ignatian Examen. Ignatius of Loyola taught his followers that the one prayer they could never eliminate from their daily practice, is the prayer of review, or the Examen. As Teresa of Avila (who for some time had a Jesuit confessor) said “I’ve gone on and on, here and elsewhere, about the damage we do to ourselves by failing to cultivate humility and self-awareness. Just remember: it is your most important task.” – The Interior Castle, First Dwelling, translation by M Starr The Examen invites us to look back over the day, to notice when we felt most alive in Love, and when we felt least alive in Love, to see how God was travelling with us throughout the day, and to intentionally ask God to be near us tomorrow. I personally find end of day prayer so difficult. I am usually well past the point of attentive concentration by the time I’ve settled the house and the teenagers and am getting myself in the direction of bed. What does help me, however, is bringing some physical movement or embodiment to my prayer. Here for the first time, I am incorporating some simple yoga postures into an audio meditation. So this mediation is a little bit different. It is yoga asana (postures), breath awareness and the prayer of examen all folded together. This is something like my own personal practice, and I hope you find it helpful. You may be helped by a couple of rolled or folded blankets to hand, and I recommend moving through these postures on the floor rather than on your mattress. You don’t need special clothes or a mat, just come as you are. This prayer is traditionally prayed at the end of the day, but if the end of the day doesn’t work for you, feel free to pray it at noon, or 4pm, or just before or after dinner, or in the morning. Find what works for you in this particular season and go with that. Blessings, blessings, blessings. And much love Lissy Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com/] offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen 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 [http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP]” 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 [https://buy.stripe.com/28oeWx6GB2OUgpO7ss] or becoming a member. [https://contemplative-at-home.cademy.co.uk/memberships] Thank you so much! All music by Pete Hatch [http://instagram.com/brother.boost].  Photo by Sasha Freemind [https://unsplash.com/@sashafreemind?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] on Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/photos/silhouette-of-a-woman-with-pink-and-purple-sky-nXo2ZsKHTHg?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash] The post Embodied Examen [https://contemplativeathome.com/embodied-examen/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].