Updated on April 22, 2024
Let Anyone who is Thirsty Come to Me – a meditation
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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
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.
Updated on April 22, 2024
Where he is From – A Meditation
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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
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.
Updated on April 22, 2024
True Food – A Meditation with John 6
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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
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.
Posted on January 23, 2024
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.
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.
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
Updated on April 22, 2024
Bread of Life: Lectio Divina
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A meditation with John 6:30-35, 38-39, using breath work and Lectio Divina. I am the bread of life.
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 around 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.
Updated on April 22, 2024
Looking for Jesus: A Meditation
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A meditation with John 6:24-29, using Lectio Divina.
In this text, the crowd realises that Jesus has gone to the other side of the lake, and decide to follow. It got me thinking about “Elvis has left the building”… or rather “Jesus has left the building.” “When the crowd saw that Jesus had gone…” (John 6:24) What are the signs for you that Jesus has left a place? That the pillar of smoke is moving on? Have you had this experience in your own way? And how did you respond?
When the crowd finds Jesus, he questions their interest in him. He suggests they are interested in the sensational magic, rather than the spirit of hope and love. What is it that draws you to Jesus? Why are you attracted to him? What compels you to follow? What do you see?
May these questions take you further into meditation today, and every blessing 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
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.
Updated on April 22, 2024
The Sea Became Rough – Imaginative Contemplation – John 6
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An imaginative contemplation with John 6:16-21, Jesus walks on water.
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. 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.
Updated on April 22, 2024
He Withdrew to the Mountain – A meditation
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A meditation on John 6:15, using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation.
Image: Christ in the Wilderness by Elsie Anna Wood
Today we meditate on one verse: “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”
I very nearly skipped this in my travels through John’s gospel, but was drawn in when I realised that this crowd wasn’t taking him by force in order to arrest him, but in order to make him king. A study in his response to the buzz of the ego.
Blessings as you pray with this one today.
(Apologies for the slightly tricky music/speaking mix at the beginning… tried to fix a few times but ran out of time to sort properly… it doesn’t last too long)
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.
Updated on April 22, 2024
The Fragments of the Five Barley Loaves
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A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 6, verses 1-13, using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation.
The miracle of the five loaves and two fish is the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels. Here we have a meditation with the text from John’s gospel, also known as Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand.
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. I invite you to a way of unknowing, a place of deep being.
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
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.
Updated on April 22, 2024
Father and Son
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A meditation with John 5:19-22, 24 using Lectio Divina.
After the man is healed at the pool of Bethesda, and some take issue with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus goes on to describe the relationship between himself and the Father.
I invite you to listen with the ears of your heart, staying in your deep-self centre as you remain open for layers of meaning to come out of this text for you today.
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.