Lectio Divina – Jesus Before Pilate – John 19

A 22-minute audio guided meditation on John’s Gospel, John 18:33-40 using Lectio Divina.

James Tissot . Jesus Before Pilate, Second Interview (Jésus devant Pilate. Deuxième entretien), 1886-1894

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 about me?”  Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”  Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”  Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him.  But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”  They shouted in reply, “Not this man but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a rebel.

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. I invite you to a way of unknowing, a place of deep being. 

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

Lectio Divina – Peter Denies Jesus

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.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

The Truth Will Make You Free – Lectio Divina – John 8

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 confidence and grace?
  • Where do I feel most alive? Where do I feel least alive?

Every blessing as you reflect and pray.

You are more loved than you can ever imagine. May this be the truth that sets you free.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

The Light of the World – Lectio Divina with John 8:12-20

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 he measures to the framework of their law.

You will have your own responses to this, and as you listen I invite you to stay in your deep inner knowing, to allow one word or phrase to open meaning for you, and to let the rest fall away.

I see Jesus here deep in his own inner knowing, profoundly connected with his Source, and focussed wholly on that alone.

May you come close to Jesus as you pray with this text.

All love, all Light, all blessings.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

The Woman Caught – Imaginative Contemplation – John 8

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 the faculty of the imagination, allowing the text to come alive as we fill in the sensory details in our minds (eg what do I hear, how does she appear?), as we allow the story to become our own in some way.

As always with guided meditation, keep yourself in a safe emotional space – if you don’t feel comfortable with the experience, gently come back to your breath.

Deepest blessings as you pray here.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or  becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

Let Anyone who is Thirsty Come to Me – a meditation

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 attending in Jerusalem, and the ritual of the “last, great day” (Jn 7v37) you might find this article interesting.

Blessings as you pray.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

Where he is From – A Meditation

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 (and presumably by those amongst and for whom John was writing, decades later).

Jesus reasserts, as he does throughout the book of John, that he is from and of the Father, that he speaks not his own words but the words of the One who sent him, for the glory of the One who sent him.

I am revisiting Teresa of Ávila at the moment, and her teaching takes us to contemplation of the great mysteries of the Divine indwelling in our deepest selves, and the profound union with God of the soul in its most interior places. I can’t help but read this text with that in mind. Jesus is entirely centred in and confident of the profound one-ness between himself and the Father.

In verse 18 he talks about what is true and false in a person, and Thomas Merton, a modern contemplative teacher, talked about the true self and the false self. To Merton the false self is the ego attachments to success, power and status. The true self is the deep, inner, soul-dimensions of the self where I am free to give and receive love purely, where I experience and rest in my belovedness.

Perhaps these thoughts will enrich your reading of the text. May you receive from this meditation whatever it is our Lord would offer you.

All blessings.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

True Food – A Meditation with John 6

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 feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”


The language here is definitely alarming at face value, but I’m very confident that our Lord is not promoting cannibalism.

What then might it mean, to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ?

His flesh and his blood point, of course, to his life and his death, and all their layered symbols.

And the invitation here is to partake, to share, to step in.

Christ’s invitation is truly so intimate, he speaks of abiding in you, and you abiding in Him (v56). This hints of union (v56), of shared being (v57), of an eternal oneness (v58).

I have now come to see the communion or eucharistic meal as something that nourishes all my energies with the very presence of Christ. He in whom I live and move and have my being.

“This [eucharistic] sacrament is operative to produce both love and union with Christ. The greatest showing of love is to give oneself as food.” – St. Albert the Great

I can only pray that my ongoing transformation through this deepening union enables me to bring some shard of His presence, His light, His food to those near me, to the world.

These are a few of my own meandering thoughts.

May the meditation with these words lead you more deeply into your own reflections.

And may it lead you into deepening intimacy with Christ.

BLESSINGS, DEAR ONES.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch

Upcoming Events…

Hello Friends…

Many of you receive my monthly-ish newsletter, which is always the best way to hear what’s coming up at contemplative at home. If you aren’t yet on that list, please do sign up here.

Lent Retreat in Daily Life

I’m really looking forward to the 8-week “Ignatian Adventure” retreat beginning on 6 February. Last year two groups shared in this retreat together, and it was a very special time for all of us.

Participants commit to praying for 30-40 mins per day. The prayer material is published online (freely available to all) at IgnatianSpirituality.com. Participants with Contemplative at Home will also receive links to audio meditations for most of the daily prayer prompts. We will gather weekly in small groups (max 6) for group spiritual direction, to reflect together on the prayer experience.

Applications to join these small groups are open now. If you’re curious about this or think it may be for you, you can find full information, and the application links, here.

Monthly Mini-Retreats

I am passionate about holding space which enables you to pause, breathe, connect to your deeper self and encounter your Beloved.

With that in mind, I’ve designed a new format of “mini-retreats” – live two hour sessions which incorporate gentle body movement, breathwork, and creative approaches to contemplative encounters with Christ.

I personally find it difficult to find the time to step out of the busy-ness of life, and when I do, I’m often unsure of how to best use the time. If you feel the same, this is just for you.

“Come away with me to a quiet place.” There are riches in store.

Online and In-person dates available from February to June here.

Website News!

In a few months time the website will be taking on a new format! Very exciting! It will, however, probably mean that you will stop receiving these emails in your inbox. So if you would like to continue to hear from me, please make sure you’ve signed up to receive my newsletter here.

And finally – this week’s episode “Bread of Life” had a broken link to the audio yesterday. It is up and running now so go check it out if you’re after a 20 minute meditation this week.

Thanks for being here!! All blessings

Lissy

Bread of Life: Lectio Divina

A meditation with John 6:30-35, 38-39, using breath work and Lectio Divina.

This passage is so beautiful.

I know that bread has taken many different forms in different times and places, but I can’t help but see a loaf of sourdough rising in the oven – expanding, filling, bubbling, opening.

There is so much language in these verses about giving life. Manna. Nourishment. Food. Satiation of hunger and thirst. Being raised up.

They said to him “Sir, give us this bread always” I imagine it sounding like “Rabbi – we always want this bread.”

Don’t we though? Life. To the full. Yes, please.

Blessings as you pray, loves. All blessings.

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.

Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here

Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

All music by Pete Hatch