Vacare Deo

Let us accept the different path of others.

Let us not compare or envy.

Let us not control a parent, child or colleague … instead,

Let’s admire the place they have in the world;

Let them simply be

 

 

Call to prayer

God is infinitely patient and will not push into our lives.

God knows the greatest thing given us is our freedom.

If we want habitually, even exclusively,

to operate from the level of our own reason, God will respectfully keep silent.

We can fill ourselves with our own thoughts, ideas, images, feelings,

God will not interfere.

But if we invite God with attention,

opening the inner spaces with silence,

the Holy One will speak to our souls, not in words or concepts

but in the mysterious way that Love expresses itself –

by presence.

Basil Pennington, Centered Living

 

 

Silence and stillness

As you sit quietly with your sacred word, give consent to God’s presence and action within.

 

 

 

Taizé chant:      In manus tuas   (Click here to listen to the chant)

In manus tuas, Pater, commendo spiritum meum.

Into your hands, father, I commend my spirit.

 

Psalm 131  Click below to listen to the psalm, or click here to read it.

 

 

 

For reflection (one for each of five days):

Day 1: Mary’s first lesson –  Jesus does his own thing

Day 2: Mary meddling –  Jesus still does his own thing

Day 3: News commentary – The imbalance of power between patients and doctors

Day 4: Mary the mother / the family still checking on him

Day 5: Mary’s journey, my journey

 

 

Response

How sensitive am I to how I use my power? Where might God be nudging me to let go of control, to be accepting of another’s chosen path?

A sheep found a hole in the fence and got out through it, happy to find itself, at last, set free.

It walked for a long time and lost the way back home. Only then did it see that a hungry wolf was following it close behind. The sheep ran and the wolf ran even more … until the shepherd arrived in time and saved the animal, and took it home very tenderly.

And against the advice of his friends who saw what happened, the shepherd refused to mend the hole in the fence through which the sheep had fled,

‘Because’ he said, ‘it must be guaranteed its freedom!’

Anthony de Mello, Praying Body & Soul, p 21

 

 

Closing prayer

On tiptoe we stand, Lord Jesus,

eagerly awaiting your full revelation

always expecting you to come some more.

Our hands and hearts are open to your grace.

Our lives still waiting for the fullness of your presence.

We are those who have been promised the kingdom, and we can never forget;

yet we have a foot in both worlds and we stumble.

But still we stand

on tiptoe

owning our kingdom-loving hearts

and our earth-eyes.

We lean forward

and hope.

Wiederkehr, p 69

 

 

Taizé chant:      In manus tuas

 

 

 

Anthony de Mello, 2004, Praying Body and Soul, The Columba Press, Dublin

Macrina Wiederkehr,1991, Seasons of your Heart, Harper Collins, SanFrancisco.