Step #1: Lectio / ReadClick the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text. Step #2: Meditatio / MeditateUse the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again). Imagine walking into a room full of people looking for one person you know, but the further into this room you go, you start to realize there is no one you recognize. Now, picture that same crowded room, except this time you know one person and to that one person you mean the world to them. How does that make you feel? I’m going to guess something along the lines of special, loved, or joyful. In today’s reading it talks about how Moses lit up, or radiated every time he was in the presence of the Lord. Whenever, I get to see my best friend I cannot stop smiling. However, when I first met her, things were awkward because we did not know each other all too well and were just trying to find common ground. I am sure y’all can relate when you first met your best friend. As the years have passed, the more time we have bonded over nature walks, Dunkin' Donuts coffee, or fast food runs, and the more we have communicated with one another, the closer we have become. A relationship with the Lord requires the same thing. He wants you to go to Him with everything. He desires to know you. He desires to know your joys and your sorrows. It all starts with communication, prayer. I love talking and sharing about my day with my best friend, but sometimes I get so caught up in talking to her that I forget to bring it back to God. Try and take 5 minute today to share with the Lord all the wonderful things He has put into your life, and then take 5 minutes to sit and listen for what He has to say. Beautiful things come from sitting in the silence. Step #3: Oratio / PrayThese questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today. How have my friendships deepened over the years? How do I look and act after being in the presence of the Lord? How am I developing a deeper relationship with the Lord? Step #4: Contemplatio / ContemplateIn this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord. "God is close." "Go to the Lord." "Bring it back to God." Step #5: Actio / ActIn light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today? Take at least 5 to share with the Lord and thank Him all the wonderful things He has put into your life, and then take at least another 5 minutes to sit and listen for what He has to say. Smartphone Lock ScreenThe following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day. Today's prayer was prepared by Mary Andren, a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today. Step #1: Lectio / ReadClick the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text.
Step #2: Meditatio / MeditateUse the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).
When I was younger, my father and I always did work around the yard. We had multiple gardens, two ponds, a patio, and a nice lawn that always needed tending, so the work was always plentiful. This might be cutting the grass, spreading mulch, moving wheelbarrows, and the like. At the end of a long day working, it was always good to look over what we had done and be proud of our work. One job that I was not particularly fond of, however, was pulling weeds. In the many gardens that we had, and even in the lawn itself, weeds would periodically sprout forth among the flowers or the grass. The reason I didn’t care for this job was that it always seemed to be a fruitless venture: the weeds would always return no matter the effort that we put in! My dad explained that in order to remove the weed, I needed to pull so that the very root of the weed would come up. It was not enough to just break the weed so it was not visible while the root remained. It would simply grow back. Our Lord explains that the field is the world, with both good and bad crops sprouting together. It can also refer to our own souls, in which good and bad things can be planted and grow. These bad fruits are vices, or bad habits, that we acquire over time. In removing these vices, we do not, as I had thought with the weeds in the gardens, just cut off appearance of vice without affecting the very root of the vice. Take for example purity or chastity. If we struggle with the vice of lust or impurity, we cannot just put on the appearance of purity; we need to uproot the impurity first before purity can take its place. You would not plant a good seed near where you knew the root of a weed to be, for the weed would simply sprout and choke out the life of the good plant. Through the ministry of His Body, the Church, Christ has sown the seed of Faith into our souls at Baptism and nurtures us, like water to a plant, with His grace in the sacraments. Christ explained this parable to His disciples, those closest to Him, that they might understand it. He offers the same to us in the Church. When we are close to the One who sowed the good seed, He will help us to uproot vice and sin so that the harvest of virtue and holiness will be bountiful. We may not be able to uproot all the evil in our world, but with the grace that God gives us, we can begin to uproot our own vices and sin and replace them with new virtues and holiness. It is by becoming saints, in whatever our state in life, that we make ourselves, and therefore our world, a beautiful garden to glorify God in His work of creation and redemption. Step #3: Oratio / PrayThese questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.
Where in your life are the weeds choking the wheat? How are bad habits and vices keeping you from growing in holiness? In what ways have you uprooted certain struggles, all the way to the root? How did you rely on the Lord to do this? Where is God calling you to help uproot the weeds from the world around you? How can your witness help God shine forth in the world? Step #4: Contemplatio / ContemplateIn this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.
"Help me be holy." "Thank you for loving me." "Uproot the weeds that are choking me." Step #5: Actio / ActIn light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?
Think about all of the "wheat" in your life that God has raised up: friendships, family, relationships, good habits, etc. For each of these, the Enemy is seeking to distract you and wrap "weeds" around the good fruit. Think of potential ways that weeds could spring up around the wheat in your life and write them down- being aware of the ways we can be turned from the Lord helps us to be prepared for when the weeds show up. Today's prayer was prepared by Kevin Poynton, who works for the Augustine Institute.
If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today. Step #1: Lectio / ReadClick the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text. Step #2: Meditatio / MeditateUse the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again). Lately, I have found myself having a lot of conversations about communication, and while that might seem cyclical in nature, I think we see a beautiful example of true communication between friends and with our Lord in today’s Gospel. Martha goes to the Lord and communicates her feelings and her hurt to Him. She doesn’t hold back but lays it all out on the table. Just last weekend, we heard the Gospel story, in which Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part. In that moment, Jesus was speaking a hard truth to Martha, but He was speaking the truth in love. And in return, though I’m sure it was difficult to hear, Martha was open to receiving the truth in love. When we are open to receiving the truth in love, that truth will then sustain through the hard times, as we witness in today’s story of Martha and our Lord. Like I said, Martha laid it all on the table and communicated her real feelings and hurt to our Lord. How often do we hold back from God or from our friends or loved ones what we are truly feeling for fear of burdening them? And yet we see even in her hurt, Martha was able to preach and receive the truth in love. She trusts Jesus and has hope in the resurrection even in the midst of her hurt. Jesus continues to preach the truth to her in return; even though if it isn’t necessarily what Martha wants to hear, Jesus knows it is what she needs to hear. We too have to be willing to say what others need to hear and not just what we think they want to hear, including our Lord. Real communication, real healing begins with journeying with one another and truly sharing the Truth and sharing ourselves with one another. The path to heaven is filled with a lot of hurt and brokenness, but it is also filled with a lot of joy and hope. When we walk alongside each other, we share in all of those things and help one another hand those things over to Christ. Step #3: Oratio / PrayThese questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today. When was a time someone had to preach truth to you in love? How did you react? Read through the gospel again, and put yourself in Martha's shoes. What truth does Jesus need to give to you in love? Are you open to receiving the truth in love? Ask the Lord to help grant you this virtue. Step #4: Contemplatio / ContemplateIn this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord. "Preach the truth in love." "Receive the truth in love." "The Lord loves me." Step #5: Actio / ActIn light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today? Real communication requires listening. Spend time listening to the Lord today. Turn off your phone and go for a walk and listen to the Lord. Smartphone Lock ScreenThe following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day. Today's prayer was prepared by Maggie Overbeck, Director of Youth Ministry at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Huntley, IL.
If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today. Step #1: Lectio / ReadClick the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text.
Step #2: Meditatio / MeditateUse the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).
“Brothers and sisters: You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
A few weeks ago my wife and I went snorkeling for the first time. They gave us good quality gear and all the training we needed, and then it was our turn to get out of the boat and stick our heads underwater in order to see the fish, stingrays, and coral at the bottom of the ocean. Even though we had breathing tubes connected to the surface so that we could still breathe with our faces underwater, it took a lot of practice to stay down for more than a few seconds. It was almost as if something deep within me was saying, “This is wrong, you’re going to drown” every time I put my face underwater and tried to breathe. I got used to it eventually, but I had to get over the primal instinct to stay above the water first! In today’s reading, Paul tells us to get in the water! “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” Have you ever witnessed a full-immersion baptism? I went to a baptism once at a Church that had a baptismal font so big that you had to climb stairs to get over the edge and into the baptismal water! It was amazing to see a friend of mine dressed in white taking a deep breath and then dunking completely under water three times. This is how the early Church celebrated all baptisms. These days this immersion is often symbolized by pouring the water on top of the head of the person being baptized, but it’s important to understand what full immersion means. Baptism is actually a kind of scary thing. It is meant to be a symbol of dying; of descending under the earth into the grave (dunking) and then rising again (coming up). In baptism, we partake in the death of Jesus so that we can also partake in his resurrection. When we are immersed in baptism we die with Christ, and when we come back through the water we are raised to life with him. We might not experience death on the cross the way Christ did, but he does give us grace to endure little deaths along the way. The Christian life always includes death of some kind. Maybe it’s a death to self, where you know you need to put somebody else’s needs before your own. It didn’t feel natural to keep my face underwater while snorkeling, and it sure doesn’t feel natural to constantly put my neighbor’s needs before my own. But with God’s grace, I die to myself - my own needs, wants, and desires - and put my neighbor first. With God’s grace, we don’t need to be afraid of death. We have died to ourselves through Christ, and we share in his victory now, and forever. Step #3: Oratio / PrayThese questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.
What is something you've had to do that took you some time to be ready for but eventually you were able to jump in and get under the water? How did God speak to you in that?
In what ways is God asking you to die to yourself, maybe to put up with some suffering, and to find him in that death by suffering with him? This coming week, how can you allow others needs to be before your own? Step #4: Contemplatio / ContemplateIn this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.
"You are my savior."
"I find new life in you." "Help me die to my self." Step #5: Actio / ActIn light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?
This week, beginning today, make a pointed effort to die to yourself in little ways. Do something inconvenient to you to help someone else out, or sacrifice a little bit of sleep to help around the house. You could do something small like choosing to not get that extra helping of food or ordering the Starbucks drink you don't like as much, which nobody would see, but just to choose not to indulge every desire you have but to realize it's okay to sacrifice to grow in your relationship with God.
Smartphone Lock ScreenThe following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day. Today's Prayer was prepared by Chris O'Hara, an evangelist in Canada.
If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today. |
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