Meditation Lk 8,19-21

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 image from the Gospel as Mary and relatives come to Jesus and because of the crowd they can not see Him immediately. Be present in this scene

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that I would notice changes in myself and in my life

1. …standing outside, wanting to sees you

Reading today’s Word you can feel some disagreement, maybe even anger at the way Jesus treated Mary and his relatives. It would seem that loved ones should have priority in meeting him. Perhaps Mary and relatives were surprised by this situation. Perhaps they looked at Jesus differently. This distance that was kept could help them in this. Sometimes you need to look at yourself, others, different situations from a distance to see what is imperceptible when we are too close. We can see something different when we look at the meeting of two people from the outside and something else when we participate in it, we see something different when we look at the clothes on the hanger and when we wear them. Sometimes you have to move away from yourself, from others, from different things, to be able to miss and want to meet again. Maybe stand today some distance to yourself, your loved ones, to God: what do you see from this perspective? What changes do you notice?

2. The crowd.

The mother and brothers of Jesus cannot meet him because of a crowd of people. Sometimes the crowd interferes us with meeting Jesus. This crowd also interferes with meeting yourself and reading your desires. This crowd can be our obsessive thoughts, fears, our beliefs, patterns, our pursuit of work, of duty. What is the crowd that hinders you from meeting Jesus?

Jesus does not chase away the crowed. What are you doing with the crowd? Maybe it needn’t be an obstacle … Meet with yourself, with your feelings and desires. Meet Jesus.

3. About changing to your reflection from Ignatius of Loyola (A Pilgrim’s Journey, p.52-52):

Ignatius told his brother: “You are aware, my Lord, that the Duke of Najera knows that I am again well. It would be good for me to go to Navarrete.” (…) His brother led him from room to room and with much love for him pleaded with him not to throw his life away, but to acknowledge the great hopes people had placed in him and to see what he could make of himself. These and others similar arguments were all directed to dissuade him from his good desire, but without departing from the truth, for he was now very scrupulous about that, he answered in. a way that enabled him to leave his brother.

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)