Contemplative at Home
A 19-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 19:13-42, using Lectio Divina. I am struck by two key invitations as we meditate on the suffering of Jesus in Holy Week. The first invitation is to see how full and completely Jesus offered himself in love. And the second invitation is to attend to pain, to difficult emotions and circumstances. Our public and private lives give us more than enough pain to come to terms with and it is often easiest to ignore or numb in the face of it all. But at the cross Jesus seems to suggest that the only way is through (as the adventurer's in the...
info_outline Lectio Divina - Jesus is Handed Over - Holy Week meditation - John 19Contemplative at Home
A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 19:1-9, using Lectio Divina. In this Holy Week meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at Jesus as he endures these grim moments of his arrest, 'trial', and conviction to crucifixion. Notice the way he remains present and attentive even while circumstances become frayed and harried around him. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self....
info_outline Lectio Divina - Jesus Before Pilate - John 18Contemplative at Home
A 22-minute audio guided meditation on John’s Gospel, John 18:33-40 using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Here is the text for todays meditation, from the NRSV: John 18:33-40 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you...
info_outline Lectio Divina - Peter Denies JesusContemplative at Home
A 22-minute meditation with John 18:12-27, using breath work and Lectio Divina. A meditation for Lent as Jesus is arrested and interviewed by Annas. offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy's newsletter "" or join our Facebook group You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a or Thank you so much! All music by
info_outline The Truth Will Make You Free - Lectio Divina - John 8Contemplative at Home
A 16-minute guided audio meditation with John 8:31-36, using breath work and Lectio Divina. "We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying 'You will be made free'?" John 8:33 Jesus invites his followers into an interior freedom. We could devote our entire lives to the exploration of this invitation. You might find it useful to reflect on these questions: Where and when do I feel lack of freedom around my choices or my reactions? When and how do I feel an inability to give and receive love? In what ways do I feel stuck? Am I free to express my needs and opinions with...
info_outline The Light of the World - Lectio Divina - John 8:12-20Contemplative at Home
A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 8:12-20, using Lectio Divina. My invitation to you, always, is to engage with scripture through your creative, non-rational self. Rational engagement with scripture is equally important - we usually call it bible study - and I hope there is a dose of it in your rhythms. But my invitation is to help you engage with this sacred text through the non-thinking parts of yourself. With your intuition, your soul, your inner knowing. In this passage, there is debate. The pharisees are pushing Jesus, prodding with questions and asking for how...
info_outline The Woman Caught - Imaginative Contemplation - John 8Contemplative at Home
A 23-minute audio meditation with John 8:1-11, using Imaginative Contemplation. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. In imaginative contemplation we invite the Spirit to speak to us through...
info_outline Let Anyone who is Thirsty Come to Me - a meditationContemplative at Home
A 16-minute meditation with John 7:37-39, using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation. In chapers 7 and 8 of the book of John, politics are whirling and public opinion around Jesus is intensifying. In these choppy political seas - with which we are all familiar in our own way - Jesus speaks these words: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ (John 7:37-38 NRSV) To learn more about the celebratory water drawing festival that Jesus is...
info_outline Where He is From - A MeditationContemplative at Home
A 19 minute audio meditation with John 7, verses 14-18 and 25-31, using Lectio Divina and breath work. In John 7, the public opinion of the Rabbi Jesus is becoming fraught, with many following, many criticising and others wanting him out of the way. In todays text Jesus has made his way to Jerusalem for the festival of booths, but has come quietly, on his own, without an entourage or public entrance. In the middle of the festival he stands up and speaks and many are moved by his teaching. What John reports here is around Jesus' authority, which is very much under scrutiny by those present...
info_outline True Food - a meditation with John 6Contemplative at Home
A guided audio meditation with John 6:52-60, 66-69, using Lectio Divina. "Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who...
info_outlineDuring Advent, we remember and prepare for the coming of Christ in three ways: firstly, we remember the generations who awaited the birth of Messiah, recorded in the prophecy and longing of the Old Testament. Secondly, we prepare our own hearts for dawning of Christ’s light in new and deeper ways, and thirdly, we look to Christ’s return.
Again, advent is a time to be “present to our longing and vulnerable to hope” (Gertrude Mueller Nelson). For personal meditation on that theme, see the Contemplative at Home bonus episode “Advent Meditation: Longing and Hope”
In this passage we meet Joseph, heavy and burdened by a difficult decision in painful circumstances. Just as he decides to back away quietly, from deep in his sleep an angel of the Lord encourages him instead to step forward into trust, into light, into his important role of the coming of Emmanuel.
Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
If you wish to engage further with this text, I recommend this meditation: https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/arts-faith-advent-fourth-sunday-imaginative-prayer-exercise/
Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.
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For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.