Mk 12,13-17

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:  Jesus is in Jerusalem. Pharisees come to him and ask questions. Listen, look at the people in this scene, maybe you are also present there.

 

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that I would follow God’s greater glory in my life

  

  1. Knowing their hypocrisy…

Jesus recognized the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes who came to him to catch him for some untruth. Their two-faced attitude was visible to him, they failed to hide it from him. Sometimes we have this hypocrisy, too. We have something else inside, feel different, think different, say differently and act differently. And it does not only apply to our evil intentions, but also to our good feelings, motivation and thoughts. It is difficult for us to admit that, for example, we don’t like someone, we hate someone, and that we like someone, miss someone, love someone. Hypocrisy is not only manifested in a relationship with others, but perhaps the most difficult thing is for us to admit to ourselves what we have inside us. Maybe it is not right that our behavior is consistent with our actual motivations, feelings, because it can do a lot of harm to others, but that we should be aware and be able to admit to ourselves what we have deeply inside, because only then can we change it.

Jesus knows what you feel, think, want, desire and don’t want anyway. Tell him about it, even if you feel ashamed. He welcomes you with your shame.

  

  1. State law and God’s law.

Jesus answers the Pharisees when he says: Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and God what belongs to God. So, he talks about respecting the law created by people and respecting God’s law. One can say that Jesus says: be honest, do your best, obey the rules. The difference between God’s law and human law is fundamental: God’s law comes first, it is supra-state and the moral attitude of man and it is based primarily on God’s law. Ideally, the law created by people would be in accordance with God’s law. This is often not the case: for example, in the case of defending unborn children. It seems that we like to interpret the rules in his own way, convenient for himself, stretch the law, both state and God’s. If I’m comfortable explaining why I don’t pay taxes, what I’m saying about others is not talking about how to hide some difficult truth, it’s not a lie … We often explain to ourselves that it is not a lie or a lesser evil. However, it is not about choosing the major or lesser evil but we should choose goods. So, if you undertake something, or do not undertake, speak or you are silent, the motivation should be to look for the greater good.

Look how you obey human and God’s laws. How are you looking for a greater good?

 

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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Mk 10,28-31

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: Jesus talks with his disciples. The entire conversation concerns the theme of entering the kingdom of God. At one moment Peter says that they – the disciples have left everything and followed their Master. Then Jesus probably says uneasy words that anyone who leaves their loved ones will receive a hundredfold more and eternal life in the future. See how the disciples receive these words. Be present in this scene.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for the desire to experience his love, that I am loved by him 

1.     We have given up everything and followed you.Perhaps when you hear these words, you may feel discord, fear, anxiety, anger… It sounds a bit as if we have to leave everything and everyone we love to leave in order to follow him. Is it possible that God, who is love, a relationship of Three loving Persons, would like us to leave everything behind? It seems not. So maybe it’s not about literal abandonment here, but to connect with what I have and with those I love in a way that prevents me from following him, who keeps me on a leash and limits my relationship with the One who invites me to love based on trust, tenderness, dialogue and faith that I am loved by him. Love that teaches me to choose what brings me closer to him, myself and others, which allows me to live, breathe, receive and give more and more fully, and thus is an exchange, flow – I give what I have the best (does not mean perfect) and I accept it what he and others give me.See what is holding you back from Living Fully (what attachments, life scripts, schemas, thoughts…). What does Life give you, what allows you to draw full breath? What brings you closer to Him, yourself and others?  

2.     …receive hundredfold now in this age (…) and in the age to come eternal life. While it seems as though each of us should feel so much joy at this promise, for some reason it is not so easy to let go of everything. Why? Maybe it’s because we lack trust, maybe because it’s hard to imagine what I’m going to get, and I know exactly what I’m losing now? And perhaps without taking risks, we will not be able to go further, deeper in life, towards him, ourselves and others. What can help is continuous, daily awareness of what I have already received, what I have been gifted today. It builds trust and confidence that He loves me. I invite you now to look at your past day, a few days, and see gifts from God, gifts that you have received from Him, also through the people who have stood in your way at that time. Start with the simplest gifts: you can breathe, you can look, someone smiled at you… Thank Jesus for everything.

 

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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J 17, 1-11a

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:  Jesus is together with the community of disciples in the Upper Room. She looks up and starts praying to God the Father. Listen to this prayer, be present in this scene.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for my  desire to know God

 

1.  … this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

I think we reflect on eternal life many times, often in terms of something that is still ahead of us. Today we hear a beautiful definition of this concept. Eternal life is knowing God and the One He has sent – Jesus Christ. It is getting to know Love and Life so that we can love more and live more fully. Eternal life is therefore a relational life, because only then it is possible to know the other person, only through direct experience can we know the other person. It is a process of opening up, discovering each other in order to be, trust and love more. In human terms, this carries the risk of rejection, but failure to take it deprives you of the opportunity to be fully enjoy of the good, the benefits of the relationship. God does not reject anyone, He is always open to every human being, He is gentle and constantly waiting for a human being. He has space for each of us. Therefore relational life  is also giving space to receive the other person and giving myself, giving space to curiosity about the one with whom I am creating a relationship.

Re-evaluate your concept of eternal life today. See how you get to know God, others, yourself, and how you let yourself know, what your relational life is like. You don’t have to judge, change anything, just see and realize it.

 

2. Interpenetration

Reading today’s Gospel text, one can get the impression of an immense unity between God and Jesus, a continuous, unbreakable bond: everything of mine is yours, and everything of yours is mine. The greatest intimacy, the interpenetration of two spaces, so that they can create unity. God is not somewhere, you don’t have to go away, look far. He is in you, in the space where you are now and, in every person, you meet. He everywhere and constantly wants to be one with you. Maybe you just sit down and be with Him now, where you are, as you can and want.

 

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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J 16, 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 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:  Jesus stays with his disciples in the Upper Room all the time and prepares them for his departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit. See the Upper Room, look at Jesus and the disciples. Feel the atmosphere of this place, those moments of farewell to Jesus. Be in the upper room with the disciples and Jesus.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that I would be able to accept the reality in which God comes to me

 

  1. … it is better for you that I go.

Today, we consider again Jesus’ farewell speech and hear how Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure. Jesus goes away, in a sense way he gives a space the Holy Spirit and gives a space the disciples to become independent. Yes, he will be all the time, but not in such an easily visible way, the disciples will not be able to wake up their Master and say: Lord save us! and receive direct help from him. Jesus revealed to the disciples everything he got from the Father, so the disciples have everything to be able to live.

It seems like an invitation from Jesus to take responsibility for their life, to be independent. Perhaps this is where the disciples pay more attention to the departure of Jesus than to the coming of the Advocate, and perhaps they pay more attention to the sadness than Jesus’ departure. They must take their lives into their own hands, of course in union with Jesus, who is and will be present with them, but in a different way. Disciples must understand and embrace reality fully, with what they lose and gain, with what is difficult for them but which will allow them to live fully. Staying in sadness may be easier than seeking hope and seeing joy. Living in some despair, sadness can justify stagnation, some kind of doing nothing. And looking for solutions to what is good forces you to act in some way, to break away from your old thinking, beliefs and patterns.

Think about your responsibility for your life, what it is, how you live it, how you find the fullness of life to which Jesus invites you. What are your attachments that block you from experiencing all the emotions, the difficult and the pleasant ones, from seeing the shadows and bright sides of yourself, that is, from accepting the full reality, that is, living fully in God?

Look at Jesus again. He prepares his disciples for his departure. They must be very important to him. He doesn’t want to leave without saying goodbye. He may also experience his departure, and he may have become attached to them. Think what Jesus’ departure meant for Jesus, what he might have felt when he said goodbye to his disciples.

 

  1. not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

Jesus tells his disciples that none of them asks him where he is going. Getting to know the truth requires asking questions. Faith requires questions. Our life requires asking questions. Here our curiosity can vent, here it can be put to good use. How many misunderstandings in relationships there are because we do not ask questions, but only guess and expect that others will also guess. They won’t guess! They don’t have to and we don’t have to guess either. It is worth accepting it. Think what questions do you have in yourself, what answers do they need – from whom? What questions do you want to ask Jesus today?

Also ask yourself: where am I going, what is my goal, what gives meaning to my life, what makes me want to get up and live the day?

 

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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J 14, 27-31a

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: Jesus is with his disciples. See the place where they are staying: how it looks, notice how and where Jesus and his disciples are in this room

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for the experience of peace, which is the result of a living relationship with the risen Christ

 

1.Loss and new.

Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure. He must go away, because he loves his Father and he wants to fulfill his will to the end. However, he promises them his return, which may refer to his coming after the Resurrection. Disciples may feel the loss as their Master leaves. They know what they are losing, who they are losing in such a human experience. Even though Jesus promises them the Holy Spirit and his return (we know this from the earlier verse Jn 14:26), they seem the promised novelty as a something uncertain,  and intangible. It is difficult for them to see any benefit from their Teacher’s departure.

Try to be with disciples as you can: what is happening in them, what causes their anxiety, what gives them hope?

The experience of losses is inscribed in our lives and although it is difficult to accept this experience as something positive, only such an experience can leads us to our development, teaches us confidence and gives us wealth. In the present time, we too can feel anxiety, uncertainty that arouses fear for the future, we constantly experience various losses (existential, related to human relationships, material, or our schemas, or even values crumbling). The loss creates a blank space that waits to be filled. It depends on us what will be built in this place.

 

2.Peace.

Jesus says to his disciples: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Peace is one of the gifts of the Risen Jesus. It does not mean external peace, no conflicts, tensions, wars, or a life without difficulties. Rather, its meaning is associated with happiness, unity, fullness, and a sense of inner, deep security that comes from our being rooted in Christ. Pope Francis, in one of his homilies, compared peace to the sea, which is rough on the outside, but in the depths the water is calm. The peace of Jesus does not exclude human fear and anxiety, but it is a gift of faith, life, joy as a result from my relationship with God. Each of us is invited to share such peace with others, a peace that gives others hope, trust, and the joy of the presence of Jesus and loved ones.

What does Christ’s presence bring to your life? How and where do you seek and find your deep inner peace? What peace do you give to others? How do you take it from others?

 

3. The Father.

In this Gospel, Jesus places us strongly towards the Father: the Father is greater than I I love the Father. God the Father is greater than our weakness, sins, fears, and errors. He is with us when we experience loss, difficulty, but also joy and happiness. There is no moment in our life where God is not present. Even if you don’t feel his presence, he is and accepts and loves you as you are right now.

What do your awareness of God’s constant presence make in 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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