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)