Contemplative at Home

Dear Friends, This is a special edition of Contemplative at Home, offering you a brief imaginative contemplation with each of the 14 stations on "The Way of the Cross". The Way of the Cross a resource inspired by the traditional stations of the cross, but using 14 moments from the gospel accounts. You will also find a bonus 15th station, which is to be used on Easter Sunday, or any time thereafter...

Looking towards the events of Holy Week, we are now with Jesus just outside Jerusalem, in Bethany, at the home of his friends Mary, Martha and their recently risen brother, Lazarus. His mind is very much on the events to come, though a feast is being held in his honour, for the life he has returned to Lazarus. Mary anoints Jesus' feet with pure nard, foreshadowing his death. Our prayer experience...

I wonder how you have found our Lenten sessions of imaginative contemplation? If you're still trying to connect with this way of praying, you might find this article from the British Jesuits helpful. They write: "The most frequent method of prayer that Saint Ignatius uses in his Spiritual Exercises is that of imagining ourselves in a Gospel scene, taking up a character, being with Jesus and being...

In this episode, we consider the woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years. After a prayerful listen to the account in Luke 8, we imagine ourselves approaching Jesus in the crowd as we hope for our own healing. If you could ask Jesus to heal one thing today, what would it be? Explore this as you pray today. Every blessing on you, dear ones. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative pra...

This imaginative contemplation with Mark 10:17-31 was written by the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, and is shared with you here by their kind permission. https://carmelitesistersocd.com 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 a...

A mindful stilling followed by imaginative contemplation with John 1:35-59. John the Baptist says to his friends "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" As the friends follow Jesus, he turns around and asks them "What are you looking for?" If at any stage during the imaginative experience you don't feel safe, please promptly move away from it. If you find it difficult to engage with the prayer prompts, u...

A mindful stilling exercise followed by an imaginative contemplation. You in the crowd following Jesus when Bartimaeus, blind and begging at the side of the road starts making a lot of noise. Based on Mark 10:46-52. 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 - draw...

A guided imaginative experience with Luke 5 - the great catch of fish, when Simon Peter, James and John decide follow Jesus. For weekly updates for this podcast and other contemplative resources to your inbox, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP 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 -...

Psalm 69 "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold" Psalm 69:1 I'm not sure how your week has been, but the groundhog day effect of lockdown has been wearying in our house. Motivation lagging, malaise taking hold. I'm encouraged by Teresa of Avila to entrust my inner self to communion with the presence of God. As you 'Behold the Lord B...

Psalms in times of uncertainty. Psalm 62. 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. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or find us on Facebook. All music by Pete Hatch. petehatch.com.

Psalms in times of Uncertainty Psalm 60:1-5 "You have rejected us, broken our defenses... You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger" Instability and "desperate times" are by no means a new phenomenon in the human experience, however as an American, these words feel heartbreakingly current. "But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be un...

Mediation for 8 January 2021. Its been a week, loves! We turn our meditation to Psalm 57 "I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings" We are not called to hide from the distress of the world, but we are invited, in our inner being, to entrust ourselves to the steadfast love and faithfulness of the God of heaven. This is an interior posture, an anxiety management tool. "I am in the midst of lio...

Happy New Year, friends! Has our generation ever been as collectively hopeful for the new year? This examen prayer gives you space to name the sorrows and gifts of this remarkable year, and to think towards your intentions for the year to come. As always, every blessing as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being bor...

Christmas Blessings!!! A meditation on the infant jesus and Isaiah Chapter 11. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge b...

Isaiah 9:2-7 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across the...

In this week's meditation we pick up the Advent theme of preparing room. How might I prepare room for the dawning light? Isaiah 40:3-5 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then...

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus. An Advent Meditation. "The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy." -Isaiah 35:1-2 The weary world is ready for bursts of bloom, indeed. As we meditation on the expectation, the anticipation of good news, may your hope be restored. Every b...

Registration for the virtual Advent retreat closes this Sunday, 29 November. If you're hoping to join us please sign up as soon as possible! In what has been a very unpredictable year, as we now face deeply amended holiday celebrations, GRATITUDE remains an essential spiritual practice. I know that many of you have celebrated an amended Thanksgiving this year, or are struggling with how to amend y...

Registration for the Contemplative at Home Advent Retreat will be open until Sunday 29 November. More information at http://contemplativeathome.com/advent-retreat/ In this episode we pray with Ephesians 1:17-23, which holds both Paul's prayer for the Ephesians for a deepening awareness and intimacy with the Divine, and well as Paul's reflection on Christ the King, who we celebrate this sunday. "Go...

ADVENT and CHRISTMAS RETREAT with Lissy on Zoom begins Deceber 1st 2020.More information here: contemplativeathome.com/advent-retreat. You are warmly welcome. In Galatians 5 Paul contrasts the instincts of the flesh/ego with the fruit of the Spirit. I am invited to consider where my habits are inclined to the instincts of rage, control, greed, envy and where I inhabit the freedom of peace, kindnes...

In this episode I invite you to enter one of my favourite gospel stories in your imagination. John 20:19-23 finds the disciples locked in fear in the upper room, unsure of what has happened, what will happen, or how they are to go on. There is much anxiety in the air this week, so I invite you to find your way into that room with the disciples, to ponder who or what it is you have figuratively loc...

In this episode I invite you to enter one of my favourite gospel stories in your imagination. John 20:19-23 finds the disciples locked in fear in the upper room, unsure of what has happened, what will happen, or how they are to go on. There is much anxiety in the air this week, so I invite you to find your way into that room with the disciples, to ponder who or what it is you have figuratively loc...

Good morning friends, Concluding our meditation on love, we pray with 1 John 4. "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" This knowing is a deep sense, not knowing with our minds, but understanding intrinsically, having an experience of, God. Everyone -- every single human on the earth -- who loves, who gives time and energy and h...

We continue our meditation on love, this week looking at Paul's words about what love looks like in action. Notably, many of these 'actions' are interior (be hopeful, patient, perservere in prayer), whilst the external actions are very much born of what is happening in the heart: extend hospitality to strangers, be willing to associate with people of low position, and as far as it depends on you,...