Meditation Lk 13,18-21

The right time has come to reveal outside what the inside has done. The Gospel word for meditation has repeated, on my website you can find more than one introduction for the same periscope. From today, I invite you to deepen Words through replays, as Saint Ignatius says in Spiritual Exercises 2 that 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 What is a repeat? Referring again to Saint Ignatius in SE 62 we can read: After the Preparatory Prayer and two Preludes, it will be to repeat the First and Second Exercise, marking and dwelling on the Points in which I have felt greater consolation or desolation, or greater spiritual feeling.

Therefore, repetition is a time when prayer takes on a more personal character, becomes simpler and thus called to prayer with simplicity and depth. (cf. Guide to Spiritual Exercises, M.Ivens SJ, p. 156)

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. (The Spiritual Exercises No.46)

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: See the mustard seed from which a huge tree grows.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: Let me see mustard seeds in my life

1. Mustard seed.

Mustard seed is some kind of beginning, an igniter to start the process of change. Each of us has in our experience moments that have become the beginning of something new. Remember them. What is mustard seed for you? What is your mustard seed? See that the mustard seed is very small, it’s easy to lose it, overlook it. You need to be mindful to notice them, let him stay in the place where he fell and let him grow. What is your awareness of what is happening inside and outside of your life?

2. Mustard seed he took, sowed and grew.

Man took mustard seed, sowed it and it grew. The text does not show that this man had to work hard, that the seed germinated and eventually a tree grew. Maybe in our lives it is enough just to let various processes develop, not disturb them, not create resistance and not to cause fears that they could change us with their strength. As if we entered the current of the river and let him carry us. Each change process needs its own time and space. Relate it to your processes and changes. See how you give them space and time?

3. Ignatius Loyola, Pilgrim’s Tale see pp. 37-53

Although this may seem unbelievable, the beginning of the change in Ignatius began with a serious wound with a cannonball. As a result of this event, Ignatius had to undergo a long recovery process. He couldn’t walk because his legs had suffered the most. So, during the healing process he began to read the lives of the saints. He was reading for only one reason: it was the only book available in the place where he was then. This reading led him to many thoughts and became the beginning of conversion, from a man who liked to play and the world life he began to become more and more for God. Could he have done otherwise? He could. He accepted the situation as it was, though it was difficult for him and used what he had. He surrendered to the process that had occurred and the changes began to happen. Ignatius was looking for good, fullness, not lack, evil. You can only find what you are looking for, which your attention is directed to.

Take this to your life, what does it look like in your life?

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)