Tag Archives: Meditation

The joy of the Resurrection

The Gospels relate the joy of the disciples and the holy women when they saw Our Lord after his Resurrection. That joy can be ours too when we discover Our Lord in the ordinary circumstances of our life and we come to love him. In this meditation we use passages from the Scriptures, from Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation “Rejoice and be glad” and from St Josemaria Escriva to discover how to find the joy we all seek. We consider how:

  • Christ wants everyone to be happy
  • We will be happy when we find Christ and come to love him
  • We can be joyful even in the midst of sickness, worries and misfortunes
  • Cheerfulness is attractive and draws others to God

Mary at the Cross

When we consider the passion and death of Christ on the Cross we tend to overlook the enormous suffering of his mother Mary. Because of her great love for Jesus, Mary suffered unspeakably. In this meditation we use texts from the Stabat Mater, St Josemaria and St Bernard to consider how:

  • Mary was always united with Jesus, from his birth until his death on the Cross
  • Mary suffered in her soul what Jesus suffered in his body because her heart was one with his
  • Our Lady is with us in our own crosses
  • Jesus gives us Mary to be our mother and we, like John, should take her into our heart
  • Because of her great suffering, Mary can be called truly a martyr

 

Rich in mercy

The parable of the prodigal son is mercy perosnified.

     

    The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments abound in references to God as “ever rich in mercy.” It is good to remember this, especially when we are discouraged by our sinfulness or tempted to despair of our eternal salvation. In this meditation we consider:

    • Our Lord’s incarnation and his suffering and death for our redemption
    • His will “that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”
    • His forgiving of the sins of many
    • His teaching on the mercy of God
    • Pope Francis’ reminder that God will always forgive us and his exhortation to ask God for forgiveness
    • Our Lord’s sorrow at the death of Judas

    Love to the end – the virtue of generosity

    St John begins his account of  Christ’s Passion saying that “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Our Lord goes on to give his disciples the “new commandment” to love one another as he has loved us. We too are called to love “to the end”, beyond what comes easy, generously. In this meditation we consider:

    • Our Lady’s generosity in her visitation to Elizabeth and at Calvary
    • There is a big difference among people, some of whom are very generous and others selfish
    • After we die, people will remember us for our generosity, if we truly lived this virtue
    • Scriptural passages in which Christ and St Paul praise generosity
    • Stories of generosity
    • Ways of being generous first at home, in the family
    • Ways of living this virtue with those around us

    Lent with Pope Francis

    In Lent we accompany Our Lord in his forty days of prayer and fasting in the desert before beginning his public life and in carrying the cross to Calvary before the Resurrection. In his Lenten Message for 2018 Pope Francis quotes Our Lord saying that false prophets would appear and the love of many would grow cold. In this meditation we consider how:

    • The love of many in our own generation has grown cold and we too may have grown cold in some aspects
    • Many have succumbed to the message of the false prophets of our own day, and we too may be tempted to follow them
    •  We can make resolutions to live Lent well in the three areas of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

    Sorrow of love

    We all offend God many times a day, yet we do not express our sorrow as we should. In this meditation we pray about how we can foster true contrition, sorrow of love, for our sins and failings. We consider:

    • That God truly loves each of us more than all the mothers in the world put together
    • That our sins offend God more than do the sins of others, because he has given us more grace
    • The difference between perfect contrition and imperfect contrition
    • That St Josemaria Escriva calls the act of contrition the best devotion
    • That we should say many acts of contrition each day
    • How we can foster true contrition for our sins

    Friends forever

    Everyone wants to have friends, but sometimes they choose the wrong friends and are led astray by them. We can all be the good friends others are looking for.  In this meditation we consider how:

    • Christ entered into a relationship of friendship with the apostles and he called them – and us –  his friends.
    • Friendship involves sharing one’s intimate thoughts and aspirations with others.
    • We can learn about friendship from St Gregory of Nazianzus, who describes his close friendship with St Basil.
    • True friendship involves helping others both humanly and spiritually, and ultimately leading them closer to God and to eternal life.