Lk 4,31-37

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 Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Synagogue at Capernaum. See the place where people are standing, where they are sitting, where is the place to chair. Maybe you are there.

 

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that I may always seek God in my life

 

  1. …and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority.

The word of Jesus is full of power and his teaching is astonishing. It is interesting that what Jesus says amazes people. What might amaze them about Jesus’ teaching? How do people gathered in the Synagogue feel the power of Jesus’ words? Think about what Jesus amazes you? Why? What causes the word that God addresses to you in the readings of the liturgy of the day, in silence, through other people, various events?

Following this question, let us notice that not only Jesus’ words but all words we say have some kind of power. They evoke specific feelings in those who hear them. Words can give you hope, they make you feel accepted, loved, rejected, hurt, they can evoke anger, emotion, joy, etc. What importance do you attach to the words you say? How do you take care of understanding what you say?

 

  1. Be quiet! Come out of him!

After these words of Jesus, the Evil Spirit throws the man with the spirit of unclean demon into the center and comes out of him without doing him any harm. See the advantage of Jesus over the Evil Spirit who obeys Jesus. It can be said that if we are close to Jesus, in a constant relationship with him, the Evil Spirit will not hurt us. Jesus has tremendous power to protect people who want to live their lives with God. This does not rule out our weakness or our sinfulness. So it is important for each of us to focus our attention on Jesus, to look for God in our lives, because He gives us strength and life. Ask yourself: who are you looking for in your everyday life: the Evil Spirit or God? goods, empowerments, peace or bad, what hurts you?

 

3. St. Ignatius of Loyola says: seek and find God in everything.

In what, in whom and where do you seek and finde God in your everyday life?

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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Mt 23,23-26

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 Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Imagine the mug. It is clean outside and dirty inside.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: return to the ask for the Grace, stay with it for a moment 

 

1. … have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith

Think about what justice, being righteous, mercy, being merciful, faith and being a believer mean to you. How can you recognize that someone is just, merciful and believer? Think about what is most important to you, what values (list 3-4 values) do you follow in your life?

2.   For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Jesus speaks hard words to the Pharisees, shows them their hypocrisy, dishonesty, superficiality and excessive care for the external image. This is not Jesus’ attitude. The most important things happen inside the man, there are his motivations for action. If I help someone, I need to know why: whether to get praise, to be appreciated or because I want someone to be better, easier, I want to contribute to the creation of a greater good. The first action, i.e. taking care of your image (although this is important) is often based on anxiety, fear that I will fall out badly, what others will think about me. The second is on a purer desire to save the good of another human being. Both motivations can occur together, but notice which is the main driver of your action.Similarly, with religious practices – they are to flow from our relationship with God, they are an external sign of this relationship, it should bring me closer to God, that I have a feeling of growing bond with Him. How often we pray because we are afraid that we will commit a sin if we do not take care of prayer, or even worse – we will be punished for it. But can such motivation deepen our relationship with God?See what is behind your actions: fear or desire for greater good?

3.   Look at yourself with God’s eyes, that is, with love and gentleness.

The experience of love, being loved changes us, changes our motivations, changes our attitude towards ourselves and other people. Stay in this experience the way you can.

 

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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Mt 19,23-30

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 Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Imagine a camel who wants to go through the ear in the needle and a rich man, hung with various riches, who wants to go through the gate leading to a beautiful garden – a symbol of the Kingdom of God. See if they can get through, what they can do to fit in this gate. Maybe you are with them?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that I would like to be able to free myself from dependencies that prevent me from experiencing God’s love more 

 

1.     Attachment.

In the periscope there are two important sentences for me : …it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields because for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.I wonder why it is easier for a camel with 1 or 2 humps to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God? At first glance, it may seem absurd, but if we allow ourselves a light analysis, we can see that the humps, that a camel has, are something natural, they are part of its structure. They contain fat that camels burn to provide the energy and metabolic water they need to live in a killer equatorial climate. Simply, the camel would not survive without them. And the rich man? How a rich man can Jesus talk about? It seems especially when we look at the second-quoted sentence that it is about a man who is attached to his riches: broadly understood material, intangible goods (e.g. knowledge) and people. Often, this accumulation takes the form of addiction, i.e. I have to earn and therefore work more and more so that I do not accidentally lower my standard of living, I must always drink coffee in the morning, otherwise my head will hurt, I must know what my husband or wife will do to feel safe. These are examples. Each of us has our own different attachments, which somehow desire us. So, we become their slaves. Christ encourages us to let go of these attachments because they prevent us from experiencing God’s freedom and love fully. You don’t have to deserve God’s love, you are valuable to Him just by giving you life. The point is not to give up all knowledge and material goods, but to be able to use them as much as they help us draw close to God. That is why St. Ignatius in point 1 of The Spiritual Exercises , writes: … every way of preparing and disposing the soul to rid itself of all the disordered tendencies, and, after it is rid, to seek and find the Divine Will as to the management of one’s life for the salvation of the soul, is called a Spiritual Exercise. Take a look today at your various dependencies. See how you feel about them, which ones lead you to life, and which block you from it, take your life force away. What will you do to enter the process of freeing yourself from blocking, disordered attachments?

 

2.     Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?

These are Piotr’s words. He left everything and is afraid that he will have nothing for it. It is a kind of fear that my work, my dedication, my commitment will not be noticed, appreciated. What are your motivations, expectations in your actions and relationships?

 

3.     For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.

Those are hopeful words. Sometimes, from a human point of view, something may seem unattainable, pointless, incomprehensible, but God may see it differently, and good can arise from any situation. What do these words mean to you? How do you experience them?

 

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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Mt 18,1-5.10.12-14

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 Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: See the mountain landscape: peaks, valleys, meadows. There is a shepherd with his sheep in the mountains. The shepherd notices that one of the sheep is missing. He is going and looking for it and finding it. Feel his joy at finding the sheep.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: let me accept with love myself as I am now, just as God accepts and loves me 

1. Search and find.

The shepherd loses one of his 100 sheep, so he leaves everything to find it. The whole flock consists of 100 sheep. Maybe the lost sheep was, if it was unruly, disobedient. But it is still needed, because the shepherd goes to look for her.I think that each of us has such experience in our lives that we really longed for a part of us to be lost, a part which it doesn’t like, which creates difficulties. It is worth finding this lost part. God comes to us through this part, for some reason it is important, it says something to us. It also creates us. Without it, we become scrapped like a flock of 99 sheep. St. Ignatius of Loyola says: If you find you have fallen, do not despair; even falls are in to well-being. What part of you have you lost that you do not accept? Find it, save it and unite it. 

2. …unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What does it mean to become like a child? What’s the child like? The child is usually active, creative, assertive (knows how to say, shows what he wants and say no), spontaneous, trusting, sensitive, can show emotions (child is happy, can cry, feels sad, angry), can be in the here and now ( young children rather don’t think about the past or about the future), a child is also curious about the world.What kind of child are you? What features are covered with a mask and what do you need it for?Look for a child who is spontaneous, who can cry and laugh, who trusts and thanks for everything he gets. This child has his needs, it is easy to hurt, he has his desires and dreams, he experiences frustration. In everything, however, he is honest, without masks. Allow yourself to experience what is happening inside you now, to feel the tastes that life brings. If you feel sadness, feel it, if you feel anger, feel it, if you feel joy, feel it. Be in here and now – when you drink tea, feel its smell and taste, when you eat, feel the taste of this dish. 

3. Meeting.

Maybe now Jesus comes to you, looking for you like this lost sheep, because he needs you and love you. Meet Jesus as you can.

 

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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Mt 15,1-2.10-14

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 Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty.

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: see the man (you can see yourself), notice his eyes, mouth, ears, hands … different parts of the body

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for the grace of being mindful in life

  1. Hear and understand.

These are the words of Jesus. Hear and understand does not always seem the same. You can listen and interpret the words you hear by yourself, or not hear what the other person is saying at all. We hear through our filters, our beliefs, our previous experiences, through the emotions we feel at the moment. Understanding requires us to take a distance from ourselves, to go out to the other, to look at reality through his eyes.

How do I listen to and understand God, other people, myself?

  1. what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one

In the next part of the pericope, Jesus draws our attention to our speech, language, gestures, facial expressions, the whole-body posture, i.e. non-verbal speech. We do not have to show our anger with a raised tone, sometimes a sharp look is enough. Likewise, we can show sympathy with a gentle look and cannot say a word. How do I say, what comes out of my mouth? It is also important to ask yourself the question: why am I saying something, what do I want to get?

  1. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

It can be said that Jesus refers to another of our sense – sight. This sentence is not about a disease of blindness, but rather about a blindness that prevents you from seeing reality as it is. Our thoughts can go to the future, to the past, our imagination can give us thousands of images, dialogues that have nothing to do with what the present moment brings. We often see how we want to see, perhaps we have been taught to see. Jesus says that the blind falls into the pit, and he may fall, because he simply does not notice it, because of his thought patterns, old and perhaps now unnecessary beliefs. Verify what influences your perception of reality, the other person, yourself. What makes you blind?

4. Exercise

I invite you to look around you, in the place where you are: what you see (try not to interpret, i.e. not to give value to the things you notice in the style of: nice, ugly ..), what you hear now, what you are touching (e.g. the armchair on which you are sitting). Or you can go for a walk and notice everything you meet. Be careful as you can.

 

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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