Seen

1/5/2018

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.

John 1:43-51

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).

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you wake up from a dream in a cold sweat? I think most of us have, and it really is a tough thing when it happens. For me the most recent one I always have is that, although I'm now five years removed from college, I am back in school in my dream. Well...sort of. In my dream I'm always living my life now - being a youth minister, married to Sarah, dad to Noah, etc. - but I'm still in some way in school. The issue is that we're at finals week, and I'm just now realizing there is a class I simply have not been to. I just forgot. I didn't go. I have no notes, can't even find a syllabus, and I know there is a final and probably a bunch of papers and I'll never get it done.

Often, this dream ends as I'm on my way to the final, usually being given by one of the professors I knew well in school, to figure out how to explain this away. And then I wake up, terrified, knowing that in this dream world I had been caught. I was shown as not having done what I needed to do and I didn't like the feeling.

The experience and the feeling of being seen is a key one in today's readings. In the Gospel, Nathanael and Jesus have this moment where Nathanael is questioning if Jesus can really be worth anything since He's from Nazareth, and yet Jesus shows Nathanael that He has seen Him. While Nathanael was sitting under the fig tree, probably in a very intense moment of prayer and recollection and longing, Jesus saw him. Take a moment with that image - what would it be like for Jesus to look at you and say that He saw you? How powerful is that moment that He sees you?

In a similar way, in our first reading, John talks about being seen not externally but in the depths of our hearts. It is our hearts that the Lord sees, and as He looks on them He knows the love and compassion that are found - or lacking - there.

For each of us today, it is important to remember that we have a God who sees us. He seems me and He sees you in our best days and our worst. He sees us when, like Nathanael, we are sitting and longing for hope, for answers, for a Messiah. He also sees us when, as John talks about in the first reading, we love not "in word or speech but in deed and truth." We have a God who sees us, too, when we, like Nathanael, begin to question the goodness of His plan for our lives. He knows the words we say when are with that certain group of friends, the things we do when we're by ourselves, and the thoughts that find themselves deep in our hearts.

Despite knowing it all - the good, the bad, the ugly - our God looks at us and loves us. Like Nathanael, He looks us, tells us that we are seen, we are known, we are loved, and calls us to follow Him.

How can you and I today respond to His love in a way that is real, acting not out of a place of trying to prove ourselves but rather acting in the knowledge that we're seen and we're loved?

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.

What would it be like for Jesus to look at you and say that He saw you? What is His gaze like as He looks at you, and how does it feel to know that He sees you?

What things in your life do you try to hide from His gaze? How can you invite Him into those things to heal and restore you?

How can you and I today respond to His love in a way that is real, acting not out of a place of trying to prove ourselves but rather acting in the knowledge that we're seen and we're loved?

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.

"I am seen."

"I am known."

"I am loved."

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?

Follow the instruction of today's first reading and find a way to act in deed and in truth. Love someone and show them the love of Christ, but don't do it in a way to bring attention to yourself, but rather to bring Him glory knowing that He sees you and loves you no matter what you do.

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.

Today's prayer was prepared by Jason Theobald, 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.

CARPE VERBUM