Contemplative at Home

A 23-minute audio guided meditation in Mark's Gospel, in the contemplative Christian tradition. In this story we see Jesus confronting an unclean spirit, commanding him to come out of the man it is possessing. I noticed as I came to this passage a bit of resistance in myself. I don't worship in a tradition where exorcisms are common. While I have been aware of times where they have been carried ou...

  A 21-minute audio guided meditation in the contemplative Christian tradition. In today's meditation, I invite you to gaze at the image of a tree in Autumn, and to listen to the voice of the Beloved as you consider this tree. View this post on Contemplative at Home where you will find an image to pray with. Or you may want to go outside and sit with an autumn tree in your own vicinity. You are al...

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in the contemplative Christian tradition. Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 There is a time for everything,     and a season for every activity under the heavens:   a time to be born and a time to die,     a time to plant and a time to uproot,   a time to kill and a time to heal,     a time to tear down and a time to build,   a time to weep and a time to laugh,     a time...

A 24-minute audio guided meditation with an excerpt from  The Second Dwelling by Teresa of Avila, in the contemplative Christian tradition. Teresa of Avila's feast day is on the 15th of October, so I wanted to revisit her words in meditation this week. I have selected a few phrases from the Mirabai Starr translation of the Interior Castle that caught my attention. Teresa pictured the soul, the inn...

A 26-minute audio guided meditation in Mark's Gospel, in the contemplative Christian tradition. Mark 1:16-22 (this is a mix of NRSV, TLB, the Message and one or two of my own phrases...which I believe are true to the text!) "As Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew fishing with nets. Fishing was what they did for work. And Jesus called out to...

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in Mark's Gospel, in the contemplative Christian tradition. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,   and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.' Mark 1:14-15 We pray with this very short section of text today, because I was struck by the dramatic t...

A 23-minute audio guided meditation in Mark's Gospel, in the contemplative Christian tradition. Baptism, Spirit, Dove, "Beloved", Wilderness, Angels. Mark is sparse with his story telling - the pointed highlights only, sharp and quick fire. But it's all here: Spiritual awakening, the voice and presence of God, the immediate expulsion to the wilderness, the angels in the wilds. May these familiar w...

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in Mark's Gospel, in the contemplative Christian tradition. The beginning of the good news.... As it was written in the prophet Isaiah, "See! I am sending my messenger ahead of you... the voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" (From Mark 1:1-4) We prayed with Mark 1:1-8 last week, but I wanted to come back t...

An 18-minute audio guided meditation in Mark's Gospel, drawing on the contemplative Christian tradition. John the Baptiser appears in the wilderness with clarity of mind and heart and speech. He offers those who come the "baptism of metanoia". Metanoia comes from two greek words: 'meta' which means after or beyond and 'noein' which means perception or way of thinking. There is an invitation to ste...

A 22-minute audio guided meditation , referencing Isaiah 43. Spring is a season of new beginnings, new life, renewal and hope. As the northern spring begins to find its stride, birdsong and flowering bulbs hint at a waking world. In this meditation you are invited to imagine yourself in this 'waking world' -to breathe in this new life, and to listen to what this first flush of generative energy ma...

This 16-minute guided meditation invites you to review your Advent meditations, to hold silence on the threshold between Advent and Christmas, and to imagine God's new life being born again within you. Dear Ones--- This guided meditation is for anyone who has been praying throughout Advent and would like to hold a moment of stillness between the longing and hope of Advent, and the celebratory feas...

A 22-minute audio guided meditation with the teaching of St Ignatius. "I want and I choose what better leads to God's deepening life in me." Last week we had a meditation on the 'Principle and Foundation' of St Ignatius of Loyola, and today I offer you a meditation with a more contemporary translation of the text. You may find this translation easier to connect with in places. The closing phrase "...

A 19-minute audio guided meditation on the Ignatian 'Principle and Foundation,' using Lectio Divina. In his "Spiritual Exercises," Ignatius invites us to consider who God is, who we are, and how we therefore invited to relate to God and all of the created order. In the Principle and Foundation, with which you are invited to pray in this meditation, Ignatius assumes that the pilgrim is comfortable...

A 23-minute audio guided meditation with Exodus 3:1-15, using Lectio Divina. 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...

An 18-minute audio guided meditation with the letter to the Philippians, Philippians 2:4-16, using Lectio Divina. When we read Paul we get a sense of his intensity, his high energy, his focussed mind. But he can also be read contemplatively. Here you are invited to connect with Paul's faith, the great experience he has had with the love and life of Christ. This Love sees and holds and knows him, a...

A 20-minute audio guided body scan, resting in God's love, Psalm 46:10 A deeply restorative meditation in the body, for the mind and spirit. You will emerge feeling calmer, more centred and more deeply connected with the Spirit of God. This kind of meditation is known as yoga nidra, and I love to offer it to groups in-person. It is best experienced lying flat on your back. Tuck up with a blanket i...

A 21-minute audio guided meditation, with text from John 19:38-42 Though it is wildly tempting to rush to Easter morning, I invite you to tarry a while with me, to stay here in the holy, devastating moments as the body of Jesus is removed from the cross. As Michael Rosen so wisely said: we can't go around it, we can't go over it, we can't go under it. We have to go through it. My prayer is that we...

A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John's Gospel, John 18:1-14, using Lectio Divina. An audio guided lectio divina meditation with John's account of the arrest of Jesus. 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...

A 23-minute audio guided meditation in John's Gospel, John 13:21-30, using Imaginative Contemplation. Everyone has gathered in Jerusalem for the passover, and Jesus knows that his hour has come. As he sits around the table with his disciples, he becomes visibly distressed before he says aloud "One of you will betray me." This meditation brings us to this room, to this table, joining Jesus and his...

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John's Gospel, John 13:1-17, 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. Here we have Jesus, at a meal with his friends just...

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John's Gospel, John 12:27-28, 34-36, and 42-43, using Lectio Divina. Glory. Light. An access to eternity that doesn't look like the power and longevity we might have imagined. I think that Jesus is inviting us to listen very deeply here. I remember my high school French teacher setting out to teach us a tense that doesn't exist in English. "I need you to open...

A 19-minute audio guided meditation in John's Gospel, John 8:12-20, 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. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, y...

A 24-minute audio guided meditation in John's Gospel, John 12:1-11, 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 y...

A 16-minute guided audio meditation on 2 Corinthians 4:5-11, using Lectio Divina. This meditation emerged as a reflection on the human capacity for bringing both beauty and pain into the world. While this is true collectively, it is also true on an individual level. We are all capable of bringing forth beauty and harm, and I would imagine that if you took a few moments to reflect, you could severa...

A 20-minute meditation with the writings of Julian of Norwich, using Lectio Divina. You are probably familiar with Mother Julian's saying "All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well." On her deathbed, Julian was given a vivid and powerful vision of Christ on the cross. She revived from this extreme illness, and went on to spend the rest of her life as an anchor...