2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (A Spiritual Exercise)
I want to guide us through a spiritual exercise. I ask you to sit comfortably and to direct your eyes toward the altar. And if you’re like me, in that you find it helpful to close your eyes, please do so.
I invite you to take a few breaths as you acknowledge the stillness around us. Breathe a little deeper and a little slower than what you might ordinarily, to slow down. Focusing on the breaths themselves can be helpful. Now, perhaps also silently invite the Holy Spirit to guide your breathing and to fill you with His peace.
I'll now guide us through five steps. As I do so, continue to sit comfortably, to breathe slower and deeper, and to try to push away distractions or intruding thoughts.
o First, begin as Jesus instructed his disciples, offering a prayer of praise to the Father. Offer a sentence or two that says how great, how beautiful God is. If you were to tell God what you believe is amazing about God or to tell Him why you love Him, how would you say it? I’ll allow some silence for you to do so.
o Secondly, we seek to allow Jesus in to ruminate through our hearts. Invite him in to let him show you what you need to see. For about a minute, review the past 24 hours, so that He can show you the true causes for gratitude that have the past day brought. I’ll again, allow silence for this purpose. Let us conclude this step by silently saying thank you.
o Third, I invite you to go back through those 24 hours and allow Him to examine your heart to show you the ways that you struggled and where you failed to live in His love. Let’s use this moment of silence for this purpose. Let us now, in our hearts, ask Him for mercy and patience.
o Fourth, now take a minute or so, allowing God to meander through your consciousness to help you consider who you need to pray for and what you wish for them. Again, I’ll give us this time in silence.
o Fifth, look ahead to the next 24 hours and all that you anticipate coming your way: perhaps those you will be meeting with, challenges you will be facing, along with any impulses or behaviors it brings. Perhaps also consider any ways you have been struggling with sin or fears. Ask Him for help in all this, that you might rise above your tendencies that keep you from living in His love. Ask Him to show you, in your mind, what that better way looks like. Let’s take this moment of silence for this purpose.
o Let us now conclude by praying together, slowly and softly, Our Father…..
Now please turn your attention to me. I’ll add a few things about this exercise. We offer praise to God, not because he needs to be flattered, but because we need to remember who our God is, why He’s great and amazing. We say thanks, not because he needs it, but instead because we need to be reminded daily of our causes for gratitude, our blessings.
This exercise can take between five and ten minutes. If you are morning person, try to do this in the morning. If you are a night owl, do it in the evening. But do it when you can focus, free of distractions and interruptions, and do it daily. You won't likely find inspiration every day, but nonetheless do it, and I trust you will find good fruit that comes from this exercise.
Having just begun a new year, you may have made resolutions. Your resolutions may be to get back to what you’ve ceased doing, or even to advance in it. For many of us, prayer and nurturing relationship with our Lord is what we seek, where we hope to grow.
Understand also, the more you are rooted in prayer, it will help you in whatever ways you struggle in life, and to know yourself in truth. Thus we do so also as a measure of responsibility for the people in our lives. And through it you come to know a little more, the God who made you, who loves you; to know a little more, his strength, his mercy, and his blessings.