Meditation Lk 21,5-11

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.
Ask for the Grace:I will beg God our Lordthat all my intentionsand actions may be directed purelyto the praise and serviceof His Divine Majesty
Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: See the magnificent temple, adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God. Imagine how the temple looks inside and outside. Also, see the people gathered there, who admire its beauty. Maybe you are also among them.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for the grace of life in mindfulness

1.(…) the temple … was adorned with beautiful stones (…). As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be upon another, all will be thrown down.

a)Look at your life, at yourself in the context of the temporariness of life on earth, as a certain stage on the way to eternal life. Make, from this perspective, impermanence, revising your priorities, principles, relationships with other people, with yourself. Note changes in the perception of these matters, maybe some reevaluation.

b) Sometimes in our life we admire what is external and nourishes our eyes, that is, we stop on stones from today’s gospel. This applies to all spaces of our lives: at home we fight for cleanliness, at work for praise and finances, in spiritual life we look for what gives us a strong emotional experience, e.g. we like the great settings of the Mass. In the context of the approaching Christmas, we will strive for beautiful home decor, tasty dishes, maybe gifts. Of course, all these things are good and necessary, but on one condition, they have to lead us deeper, to becoming more and more united in God. If it is not the case, then we are lying in ruins like a temple. What do you take care of in your life? What do you fill a temple that you are alone, which is your home, your family?

c) Take a look at your life, consider the situation when you thought everything was falling apart and it was seemed to be hard to get up. How did Christ lead you then? What goods did these difficulties bring you? What’s a new, good thing was born?

2. See that you not be deceived…

Jesus encourages us to be attentive, prudent, to discern our actions. Be in one: if you pray – you should be in prayer, when you cook – be with all of you when in the activity of cooking, when you talk to another person – be present to him/ her. What is your mindfulness?

3. Jesus is saying to you: do not be afraid. Let yourself sit down next to Jesus and be fully present at this meeting. 

Meditation:St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence.Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar, such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

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Meditation Lk 19,1-10

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.
Ask for the Grace:I will beg God our Lordthat all my intentionsand actions may be directed purelyto the praise and serviceof His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Jesus entered Jericho, located in the Jordan Valley, about 10 km north of the Dead Sea. There was crowds of people waiting for him. There was also Zacchaeus. Because he was short, he climbed a small, sprawling tree to see Jesus walking along this road. Jesus noticed Zacchaeus and stopped to say that he wants to visit him at home. Zacchaeus descended quickly and invited Jesus to his home. Where are you in this scene?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: the desire for encounter Jesus, that it is the source of my changing

1.     Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. In the Greek translation it is written that he was looking to see Jesus. But he could not see Jesus because of the crowd. What is the crowd hindering you from seeing Jesus? What or who is it?

2.     Zacchaeus enters the tree to see Jesus. We can assume that Zacchaeus was more guided by his curiosity than by the real desire to meet Jesus. But this desire was enough for Jesus to go to Zacchaeus’s house. First, however, he must descend from the tree. Perhaps, Zacchaeus did not have to climb on the tree, did not have to do additional ventures to meet Jesus? Perhaps it would have been enough for Zacchaeus to be where he was in his daily life, because that’s the place, where Jesus wanted to meet him – in his house. This house should be prepared to host Jesus.Where are you looking for a place to meet Jesus? What is your home that Jesus wants to come to?

3.     … they began to grumble, because Jesus accepts a person who is socially rejected. Consider your judgment, opinions about others. How do you slander others and why do you do it? How do your opinions influence others: lead them to growth or block them? How do you respond to the opinions of others? How does Jesus look at those you judge? How do you look when others judge you?

4.     Today Jesus knocks at your door. Accept him as you can. The encounter with Jesus transforms everyone as how it changes you?  

Meditation:St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence.Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar,such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

 

 

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Meditation Lk 17,7-10

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace:I will beg God our Lordthat all my intentionsand actions may be directed purelyto the praise and serviceof His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: See the farm consisting of a field and a residential home. A servant is plowing and tending sheep in the field.After his work he is going home. A householder is waiting for him and he is giving him further instructions to prepare the meal. A servant will be able to eat and drink when his householder will finish it. Where and whom do you find in this picture?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: Jesus, teach me to be a useful servant 

1. This parable teaches us not to brag about the work we do, nor do we feel worse because of it. The most important is our commitment, that is, that we do the best work, because we do it for the greater glory of God.Look at your responsibilities, your work: why are you doing it, what is your main goal? How is the awareness, that you are doing your job as your present calling, and God is your employer, changing the way you perceive your duties, both home and professional?

2. Who is the worthless slave? Maybe he who performs his duties only in obedience and only to the extent that he was commissioned? Maybe he who does the job correctly, but does not want to make any decisions, and does not want to be responsible for what he does – neither in private life nor in professional life?

Who then can be a useful slave? Maybe he who expects, trusts and misses his Lord and asks the Lord himself the question: what can I do for you? Maybe it is the one who in his life is guided by love? Maybe a useful servant is one who feels like a son / daughter of God and feels responsible for what is happening in his/ her life?What kind of slave are you in your everyday life, in the place where you live and work? What can you do to become more and more a useful slave? 

3. Look closely with Jesus in humility, or truth about yourself. See how you are, how God sees you – as your beloved son / daughter. 

Meditation:St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence.Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar, such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

 

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Meditation Lk 14,15-24

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace:I will beg God our Lordthat all my intentionsand actions may be directed purelyto the praise and serviceof His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation:  See the great dinner prepared by a man, who invited many guests. On the day when the time for the dinner comes, the host sends his slave?to say to those who had been invited, that the dinner is ready. All invited people refuse and do not come because of their duties. The host becomes angry at the situation and sends his slave again to invite the poor, the blind, the crippled and the lame. They come, but there is still a place for others. So, the slave again goes to roads and lanes, where people completely do not expect the invitation. They receive and fill the whole house. Where are you?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: so that I can look at myself and others with such love as God looks

1.     We see two groups of people – one who got invitations earlier for the great dinner and the other, which was invited in a spontaneous way. The first group refuses to come, try to rationalize its decisions and the second group, who accepts the invitation and goes to feast.Which attitude is closer to you and in what situations: those invited earlier or poor and defective? Why?

2.     God invites each of us to his dinner, that is, a life here and now for God’s greater glory (means in the place where you are now, at this moment: at home, at work, on a walk, at the cinema, in the church…). God invites those, who seem to be, from a human point of view, unworthy of participating in a such dinner.See how you perceive yourself? How do you think about yourself? Think how God sees you, since he invites you to a great dinner.Look at the others, maybe those who seem unworthy to you. Maybe they do not need your instructions, your conversion, only the simplest acceptance of them, as they are. Maybe you can fully accept them as those who are equally worthy to participate in God’s dinner like you.

3.     Jesus is inviting you to a dinner. He is preparing for you what you like the best. He is waiting for you there. Let yourself go there and feast with Jesus.  

Meditation:St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence.Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar,such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

 

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