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). As today is Halloween (all Hallows Eve) which is to be a day to remember All Souls and Saints that have gone on before us, there have been some crazy twists and turns in how we celebrate today. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about the candy, but it is also a day that can easily get carried away with what is thrilling. Have you noticed the emphasis on fear, horror, and death? Some people love the excitement of being scared to the point of belief in fantasy creatures, while others are easily surprised and prefer other fall activities over a Haunted House any day (um me!) But for us as Catholics, I can not imagine a better first reading exhortation reminding us to live in Christ’s light than Paul’s letter to the Romans. I mean Wow- talk about speaking Truth, especially on a day that can be so fixated on glorifying death and darkness. St. Paul proclaims with such a language as it is being read, how could we NOT live in the Lord's triumph? “It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ?” When I ponder these words I feel silly because I forget this truth on a daily basis. When my car needs repaired, when I feel a rift in my relationships, when my problems seem too heavy to share openly with the Lord- do I actually respond like these trivial things cannot separate me from His unconditional love? Then I read on and am welcomed by consolation, peace, and light. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In other words, we have nothing that can stand in the way of His love. We have nothing too big or too much that He cannot handle. Our struggles, our insecurities, our worries do not scare Jesus away, but rather they are a vehicle to which we can draw near to His Sacred Heart. If we glorified the Lord today just as much or more as creepy things are glorified, we certainly would be changed and victoriously believe in something, someone, who is not just a story by a fire, or a tale in the dark- but our real and tangible Way, Truth, and LIFE! 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. Nothing stands between you and Jesus's love. Do you believe that? Why or why not? What are some of the things that get in the way of knowing God's love for you? What are you doing today to give glory to God? 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. "Jesus loves me." "Jesus died for me." "Nothing separates me from His love." 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? Today, spend some extra time mediating on this verse and reflect on how nothing seperates you from His love: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our 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 Katy Praetzel, a worship leader in Pittsburgh, PA.
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). In today’s gospel, someone poses a question to Jesus that I think we’ve all considered before: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Or in other words, “Will a lot of people go to hell?” The thought of people suffering in hell for eternity makes us really uncomfortable. It should. And Jesus’ answer doesn’t make us feel much better. Our Lord doesn’t tell us what the rest of the culture tells us. He doesn’t say, “Just be a good person and you’re guaranteed a spot in heaven.” Quite the opposite. He tells us that the entrance to heaven is “narrow” and many people will not be strong enough to enter. Bummer. And instead of just ending on that discouraging note, Jesus jumps on his soapbox about the challenge of gaining eternal life. He even throws a scary parable in there about people begging to enter heaven and being denied. When I read this passage, I want to say to Jesus, “Sheesh, Lord, a simple yes or no answer would have sufficed. I could’ve done without the discouraging rant.” Why is Jesus being so negative? Because faith is simple, but not easy. On one hand, we cannot earn our way into heaven. No matter how hard we work, we cannot save ourselves. Salvation comes from a personal relationship with Jesus, and He alone has the power to save us. That’s the simple part. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean we can just sit back and lazily stroll into heaven. Maintaining that relationship with the Lord is the difficult part. It requires discipline, courage, sacrifice, patience, and more. Plus, sin constantly threatens to weaken and even break our relationship with Jesus. And just like any relationship, it takes hard work. What we should really be asking ourselves is, “Does my faith -- my relationship with Jesus -- challenge me?” Do we engage in the struggle of daily prayer? Do we strive to conquer our fears of sharing our faith with others? Do we take those scary steps of faith and trust in the Lord’s plan for our lives, even if we have to give some things up? Do we try to do what’s right, even if our friends and family criticize us for it? Do we accept responsibility for our actions and admit when we’ve sinned? Jesus wasn’t trying to discourage us, He was trying to caution us. I think the point He was trying to make was: don’t coast. If living out your faith isn’t challenging you, you might be coasting. So what do we do if we find ourselves coasting through our faith? While the solution may not be easy, the good news is that it’s simple: deepen your relationship with Jesus. Work a little bit harder today and everyday at making Him the Lord of every area of your life. Do that and you’ll make it through the “narrow gate” into eternal paradise with our Lord. 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. Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus? Does my relationship with Jesus challenge me? Am I coasting through my faith? How can I deepen my relationship with Jesus? How can I engage in the struggles of faith? 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. "Strive to enter through the narrow gate." "Jesus is Lord of every area of my life." "Don't coast." 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? When you find yourself coasting, embrace the challenge of faith and take it to the next level. Recommit yourself to daily prayer, or face your fear of sharing your faith, or do the right thing even if you know people will criticize you for it. 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 Dan Wolff, husband, father and spreadsheet extraordinaire in Crystal Lake, 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 #2: Meditatio / MeditateUse the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).
They say that hindsight is 20-20. I have realized how true this statement is at different points in my life, always in a similar circumstance. As I look back at how things have played out in my life: my family, my friends, school, athletics, love, joy, and even loss, I can see how God has been working from the beginning to bring me to where I am now. Certain decisions that seemed insignificant played a deeper role long after they were made, things I did wrong ended up moving future events toward a better outcome. The Lord has always been at work to bring about bigger and better things for me, and I know that he is still doing so in the present. But nowhere has this been more striking to me than in my suffering. I don’t say this to dramatize my life into a huge sob-story or to claim that I have endured worse than others, but to be honest about how suffering has shaped the disciple that (I hope) I am. In the moments of greatest distress, I sought to hide from my suffering. The world shaped an understanding in my mind that suffering was bad and had no value—my life was better off if I only lived in the moments of joy and pleasure. Perhaps you’ve experienced this same thing: living from big moment to big moment, embracing the fun and despising anything that slowed down the pursuit of pleasure and “fun”. Maybe you’ve looked at the significant struggles in your life and questioned God’s providence—after all, how could an all-loving Being really care for you if you have those moments of severe anxiety or depression, struggles with addictions, eating disorders, loneliness, and betrayal? But maybe you’ve also experienced the 20-20 vision that comes when God reveals how everything in your life, even the worst of the worst, has been leading you to the greatest moments. Perhaps you can read St. Paul’s words today and nod in agreement because you know that those moments of suffering, while the worst thing imaginable at the time, pale in comparison to the glory God has revealed in your life. The promise of the Gospel takes all of this even one step further—even the best times of our lives, the times filled with abundant blessing and peace, are nothing compared to the glory of the promise of the empty tomb. It is the truth that we who are baptized into Christ’s death are also baptized into his resurrection, and we will experience a glory that outshines and outlasts every suffering and even every joy that we will ever face in this life. This is our hope, this is our life as disciples of Christ. We are the church who, although we go forth weeping, will come back rejoicing. So consider, with St. Paul, that these momentary afflictions are nothing, nothing, in comparison with the promise of the resurrection and the glory to be revealed. 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 has God brought good out of the suffering in my life? How am I trying to avoid suffering in my life? Why do I try to avoid suffering instead of inviting God into it? In what ways do I live in the hope of the glory that God has promised? How is it shaping my friendships, my actions, my decisions? 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.
"Teach me how to suffer." "You are my hope." "I trust in your promise." 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?
Today take time in prayer to thank God for the suffering in your life, knowing that he can still use it to bring about greater glory in your life! 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 Adam Smyth, the Life Teen Coordinator at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in the Woodlands, TX. 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 / Read Click 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). Today is the feast day of Sts. Simon and Jude – happy feast day! In honor of those saints, today's first reading from St. Paul gives us a perfect opportunity to reflect on the church. Do you remember the human knot? You know, that thing you probably have done at a retreat or camp or in gym class where you stand in a circle and then link both hands with random hands across the circle and then have to work as a team to get out. It's quite an experience - if you're someone who hates physical touch - it can be a quite awful experience. If you're super extroverted and just like to be around as many people as possible, and like doing puzzles, this might be your favorite game ever. One thing I loved about this and every other team building activity like is that there is a focus on the reality that every person involved needs to participate in order for success to happen. Just like every old cliche you ever heard from a coach on some team you played for, these activities remind you that the team is more important than the individual. Today's saints provide the backdrop for understanding a similar reality in our faith. I don't know about you, but I don't know a ton of people with a huge devotion to St. Simon or St. Jude. That's kind of crazy, though, because, well, they were literally apostles. These are 2 of the 12 people Jesus chose to be closest to in his time on earth, and we don't really talk about them except one day out of the year. You know what's cool about that? These saints in heaven, these building blocks of the Church, were just as important and just as successful in life as any saint we know about. The Church is precisely Simon and Jude: people who experience a call to Jesus and respond. The response is not about accolades or accomplishments or personal glory, but rather being a part of the bride of Christ, the Church. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. In order to do that, he created a Church. The Church that he created is broken, filled with sinful people who have done all kinds of dumb things for 2,000 years. And yet, despite the failures and brokenness, Jesus calls that Church His bride and never stops running after His bride to bring her back into relationship with Him. For you and I, Jesus is giving that same call: let him come to us, let him love us, and be in a relationship with the God who became man to save each one of us. No matter the part we're asked to play, no matter our skill set or our accomplishments, the Church needs each and every single one of us to fulfill her mission. Let's run today with our brothers and sisters in Christ towards Jesus, knowing that in Him we find the way to join Simon and Jude in heaven for all eternity. 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 are you responding to Jesus's call for you? What role are you playing in the Church? How are you striving for heaven today? 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. "Sts. Simon and Jude, pray for us." "I am part of the Church." "Jesus lead 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? Reflect on your role in the Church. How do you spread the Gospel? How do you help others? How did you bring others to Jesus? 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 Jason Theobald, Executive Director of Carpe Verbum.
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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