Contemplative at Home

God’s Deepening Life in Me: Lectio Divina: Teachings of St Ignatius

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, [https://contemplativeathome.com/the-principle-and-foundation-lectio-divina-teachings-of-st-ignatius/] 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 [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]” All music by Pete Hatch [http://instagram.com/brother.boost].  The post God’s Deepening Life in Me: Lectio Divina: Teachings of St Ignatius [https://contemplativeathome.com/gods-deepening-life-in-me-lectio-divina-teachings-of-st-ignatius/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

The Principle and Foundation : Lectio Divina : Teachings of St Ignatius

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 already 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 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 these words to you as a potential vessel through which the Holy may have something to say to you. 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 [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 monthly-ish 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 Evgeni Tcherkasski [https://unsplash.com/@evgenit?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText] on Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/photos/milky-way-galaxy-over-a-forest-at-night-hegb9Y8dKos?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText] The post The Principle and Foundation : Lectio Divina : Teachings of St Ignatius [https://contemplativeathome.com/the-principle-and-foundation-lectio-divina-teachings-of-st-ignatius/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

I Must Turn Aside: Lectio Divina: Exodus 3 – The Burning Bush

A 23-minute audio guided meditation with Exodus 3:1-15, using Lectio Divina. 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 I Must Turn Aside: Lectio Divina: Exodus 3 – The Burning Bush [https://contemplativeathome.com/i-must-turn-aside-lectio-divina-exodus-3-the-burning-bush/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

The Surpassing Value of Knowing Christ: Lectio Divina: Philippians 3:4-16

An 18-minute audio guided meditation with the letter to the Philippians, Phil 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? 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 The Surpassing Value of Knowing Christ: Lectio Divina: Philippians 3:4-16 [https://contemplativeathome.com/the-surpassing-value-of-knowing-christ-lectio-divina-philippians-34-16/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].

Twenty Minute Body Scan – Be Still and Know That I Am God

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 [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 Twenty Minute Body Scan – Be Still and Know That I Am God [https://contemplativeathome.com/twenty-minute-body-scan-be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god/] appeared first on Contemplative at Home [https://contemplativeathome.com].