Mike's 30-Day Retreat: Week 1: Knowing Yourself as a Loved Sinner -- Day 3 (Monday May 21)

I put myself before Jesus Christ our Lord, present before me on the cross. I talk to him about how he creates because he loves and then he is born one like us out of love, so emptying himself as to pass from eternal life to death here in time, even death on a cross. By his response of love for God his Father, he dies for my sins.

I look to myself and ask -- just letting the questions penetrate my being:

In the past, what response have a I made to Christ?
How do I respond to Christ now?
What response should I make to Christ?

As I look upon Jesus as he hangs on the cross, I ponder whatever God may bring to my attention (Spiritual Exercises 53).

We are people of the slow, burning heart. That's the conclusion I reach when I read Luke 24: 13-35 (The Road to Emmaus).

We experience the world around us, while on our respective faith journeys, in constant tension -- faith and fear, worry and wonder, sorrow and happiness, despair and hope. We know that through it all Jesus walks with us, but sometimes we can look right at him just like the disciples did and not even recognize him. Our hearts are slow.

Still we get glimpses of how good the journey can be when Jesus gives us a shake and wakes us up from our slumber. So we stay on the road, because our hearts burn at those times.

We're so much more able and apt to respond in faithful ways when our hearts are burning. But I know the times that my heart seems to burn with a passion for God, for Jesus and for the Kingdom are far outweighed by the times when my heart is slow. Today is about investigating our slowness of heart and how it keeps us from making appropriate responses to Jesus.

Using Composition of Place read and pray through the following passage:

Luke 24:13-35

Questions to Reflect On:

What attachments, addictions, and sins have prevented me from responding to Jesus in the way I know I need to?
What keeps me from recognizing Jesus in the events and people around me?
Have there been times when my heart has "burned" that I've neglected that burning? If so, why?
In what ways have I omitted responding to Jesus call from my life?

Click on Comments to view Pastor Mike's reflections and to make comments of your own

Developing Your Breath Prayer

Sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed and remind yourself that God loves you and that you are in God's loving presence. Recall a passage of Scripture that puts you in a prayerful frame of mind. Consider: "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)
With your eyes still closed imagine that God is calling you by name. Hear God asking you: "(Your name), what do you want?"
Answer God with whatever comes directly from your heart. Your answer might be a single word like peace or love or forgiveness. Your answer could also be a phrase or brief sentence like "I want to know your love." Because prayer is personal, it naturally rises out of your present concerns... Your response to God's question "What do you want?" becomes the heart of your prayer.
Choose your favourite name or image for God like God, Lord, Creator, Father, Teacher, Light, Shepherd
Combine your name for God with your answer to God's question. You then have your breath prayer.
Edit your prayer so that it is 6-8 syllables in length. A prayer of this length will have a rhythm that will flow smoothly when spoken or expressed as a heart thought.
Pray this pray starting with 3 minutes a day, and move up 1 minute each day. This pray will naturally become a prayer of your heart that leads you into God's presence

Composition of Place

This Composition of Place ... uses pictures and images to present what is otherwise beyond all conceiving; it prepares the soul for the Application of the Senses ... and paves the way for the images, symbols and dispositions whereby the senses of the soul will be enabled to touch and savor spiritual truths. (Ignatius the Theologian; NY1968, p.189) As I prayed with Mk 10:46-52, which is the story of Bartimaeus, a blind man, I began to imagine the landscape of the setting. It was dry, hot and dusty as I found myself being Bartimaeus, sitting by the roadside. I can smell the animals as they pass by and hear people's voices in the background. Then I realize from the conversation that Jesus is near, so I cry out to him. I hear the footsteps of someone I believe to be Jesus approach me. I become filled with eager anticipation. Jesus is so close I feel his breath on my face and I hear him say, "I trust you. If there is anything you want to tell me I will listen to you." At this point in my life I was thinking about how to pursue some of my passions through my work. As I revealed my fears and hopes in prayer, I felt more freedom to really go after some more opportunities in the area of contemplative prayer with others in the church. I was asking to see how I could grow spiritually in order to help others by encountering Jesus in a deeper way. This was one example of Jesus restoring my sight in order to follow him. The revelation of God through the stories of Jesus is made present through imaginative participation. The mind engages the heart. As Hugo Rahner comments, "... the aim of this mode of prayer is to make the events of salvation 'present' in the mind, and thus to attain that direct experience of love."(ibid.p.194) One notices this love through one's desires.

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina or Divine Reading of Scripture is an age old conteplative method of prayer. Give it a try as you read through the Scripture passages with each execise. 1. Read the scripture slowly. Watch for a key phrase or word that jumps out at you or promises to have special meaning for you. It is better to dwell profoundly on one word or phrase than to skim the surface of several chapters. Read with your own life and choices in mind. 2. Reflect on a word or phrase. Let the special word or phrase that you discovered in the first phase sink into your heart. Bring mind, will and emotions to the task. Be like Mary, Jesus’ mother, who heard of the angel’s announcement and “treasured” and “pondered” what she had heard (Luke 2:19). 3. Respond to what you have read. Form a prayer that expresses your response to the idea, then “pray it back to God.” What you have read is woven through what you tell God. 4. Rest in God’s word. Let the text soak into your deepest being, savoring an encounter with God and truth. When ready, move toward the moment in which you ask God to show you how to live out what you have experienced.

1 comment:

Pastor Mike said...: I do it to myself so often, this slowness of heart. I can see that now. Not only do I shy away from responding to Jesus in every day events, I often nurture those things that deafen me to hearing his voice. And like the disciples on the raod to Emmaus my own agenda for who I want Jesus to be for me keeps my heart slow too. I think it's when I really try to seek out his agenda that my heart beging to burn with passion. I want and ask for healing for a tired soul and so many other things. I want Jesus to be my healer. Perhaps what I should be seeking is simply for Jesus' love to move through me to others. I guess that's nothing profound. But I get it in a new way, a way that makes sense.; May 25, 2007 at 11:56 AM

Mike's 30-Day Retreat

Week 1: Knowing Yourself as a Loved Sinner -- Day 3 (Monday May 21)

1 comment:

Developing Your Breath Prayer

Some Helpful Hints for a Good Prayer Experience

Composition of Place

Spiritual Autoboigraphy

Questions to Consider

Lectio Divina

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