Returning

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. 

Romans 8:14-17

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Step #2: Meditatio / Meditate

Use the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).

Let's begin today's meditation with a little game of word association. Ready? I want you to pay attention to the first thing that comes to your mind when I say: 

Recycling. 

Do you have it?

I'm guessing that for many of you this was the little recycling symbol - you know, the three arrows forming a circle. It's a brilliant piece of marketing which, I just learned in a quick Google search, traces its origins back to Earth Day in 1970. We all get the concept of recycling, and largely we get it because this symbol gives us such a good image: instead of throwing things away, let them be reused, made into new products, and then reused again as needed. Easy enough. 

Why am I talking about recycling? 

I don't want so much for our prayer time to focus on recycling. In fact I don't want that at all. No, I want to think about the image, the process. A thing is used, recycled, created into something new, used, and then recycled again. This process happens over, and over, and over, and over, etc. For you and I, I think our readings today give us a good picture of a similar process in the Christian life:

Encounter Christ --> Become a follower --> Share Him with others --> Return to His promises and a renewed encounter --> ...

All of those steps are immensely more complicated than those words above portrayed, but the reality is simple: we encounter Jesus, go forward in His love, share Him with others, and constantly find ourselves back in the arms of our Loving Father to repeat it all again. The Second Reading today is so abundantly clear: in Christ Jesus and the presence of the Spirit you and I know our identity as sons and daughters, we live in that identity, we share that identity, and we remain close to Him through it all. It's a process of continually sharing, growing, and renewing, all happening over and over in our lives until ultimately we are transformed more and more into Christ. 

Our Lord's promises are true and good, you and I simply must be faithful to Him as He is faithful to us. Seek Him. Be renewed in Him. Find comfort in Him. Share Him with others. In the end, it is Him who is all in all, who makes our lives and the whole process make sense and brings it to its ultimate end: relationship with the Father for all eternity.

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Step #3: Oratio / Pray

These 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 would you best explain the "process" of your own journey with the Lord? Where are you currently in that process?

In what ways is God calling you to let Him in and allow Him to be closer than ever before?

How can you share God and what He has done in your life with others today or this week?

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Step #4: Contemplatio / Contemplate

In 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, I trust in You."

"You are good." 

"You are my hope and my reward."

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Step #5: Actio / Act

In 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?

Share what God has done in your life with someone today, and then find time shortly after to return to the Lord in prayer and thank Him for that chance, no matter how it went.

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Smartphone Lock Screen

The 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.

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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.