Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Thursday, Week 3 '23

 Prayer of the heart is prayer of the total person, body, soul, and spirit. But since the heart is the place of the Divine indwelling, prayer of the heart is praying in which it is not only I that speak, but it is the prayers which Christ and the Holy Spirit are saying within me. 

Those who attain prayer of the heart have the experience of being prayed in. 

~ Kallistos Ware*

Lord and Spirit of my Heart ~
    It's true, then. I have felt You here, within me, but I was afraid to recognize You, to acknowledge You, and I have also denied to myself that I have felt You. It hasn't happened often but I would like it to happen again, and, more often. 
   The times of my life when I have needed the most comfort have sometimes been the most difficult to enter into prayer. And sometimes the happiest times distract me from praying my thanksgivings. I'm working on all of that and I ask You ~ I invite You ~ to come into my heart, my soul, and all of me and help me to discover again all that deep prayer can do with and for me. Pray in me, please, and let my heart and soul feel full of You.  amen.

*Timothy Ware [1934-2022] of Bath, England was raised in the Anglican Church and read classics and theology at Magdalen College, Oxford.  In 1958 at age 24 he affiliated with the Eastern Orthodox Church. After much travel in Greece and a significant amount of time at the Monastery of St. John of Patmos and elsewhere, he was ordained to the priesthood and tonsured [shaving of all or part of the head] as a monk in 1966.  At that time he received the name "Kallistos."  He was later consecrated bishop and his career path led him to be a Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford University, a position he held for 35 years before retirement.  He authored many books and articles on the Orthodox Christian faith.

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Wednesday, Week 3 '23

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

        ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson* 

Holy Creator of Dawn, Noonday, Sunset, and Night,
      How I often go through each day with a particular agenda of things to do, places to go, and people to see without taking a moment to recognize the blessings of my life.  I'm always quick to complain, whine, or moan to You and yet while I might remember an exclamation of  "Thank God!" when something dramatic occurs (such as the birth of a child, an improvement in health, or a disaster averted), I'm less likely to remember to breathe a small prayer of thankfulness for waking, for the light of the day, and for the stars of the night.              
     Whatever the circumstances of my daily life, I always have small moments for which I can be thankful. All I have to do is remember. It's easy enough on Sundays to remember to be thankful for the Resurrection or the Nativity of Your Son, but please help me, Lord, to add thankfulness into my daily life even if only in small ways. While I'm not suggesting that You are the Do-er of everything, I do want to acknowledge the parts of Creation that impact me in positive ways as a thanksgiving for the miracle of life itself. 

     Lord of Heaven, Lord of Life, Lord of All, thank You for this moment, right now! amen.

*Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-1882] was a noted lecturer and leader of the Transcendentalist Movement of the mid-19th century. With a Unitarian background and Harvard Divinity School education, he came to champion the belief in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and, particularly, that only from truly self-reliant and independent people can genuine community be formed. A well-traveled and well-written life, Emerson forms the backdrop of American intellectual pursuits and long collegial relationships with contemporaries such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Henry James and other literary luminaries such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and Thomas Carlyle. His work resonates to this day and speaks to much of our current experience and dilemmas.

Photo by Christina Brennan Lee, one Easter Sunday Morning in Rice, Virginia 

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide: Tuesday, Week 3 '23

The Gospel of St. Mark

But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table...

~ Mark 16:11-13, 14a

O Jesus,
      Some days I question everything. I can definitely understand why the disciples didn't believe the reports they heard that You had been seen alive. We can be a skeptical lot. Even though You told them, even though they loved and trusted You, still, it was beyond their experience and their realm of possibility. And now, today, more than 2000 years later I believe it when I read it - after all, these accounts have lasted for all this time. But I need help sometimes. While I can imagine You sitting at my table, when my heart hurts or my head isn't on straight, imagining doesn't always relieve me. Today, I'm fine, my faith is strong and so is my willingness to proclaim the Good News. Tomorrow or next week? Please, in those times, remind me to read again, to be with those so close to you who were also having trouble believing until they finally did. If they could so can I believe, and to proclaim that You are risen! Indeed! amen.

The Gospel of Mark is thought to be the earliest of the four canonical Gospels despite its second place in the New Testament. It has the flavor of a Reader's Digest Condensed/No Frills Book as it chronicles the highlights of the life of Jesus without much of the detail of the others. Biblical scholars disagree on a variety of aspects of this Gospel, especially the ending, and the identity and biography of the attributed author, Mark. Whoever and whatever, the words tell the story of the One we choose to follow. The details in and about the Gospel of Mark make for interesting reading and engaging conversations.

 

St. Mark is remembered on liturgical calendars of many Christian denominations on April 25.

                                            

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