Meditation in the Ignatian Style for Thursday in Advent 4
Scriptures: Canticle 15 - Luke 1:46-55 Micah 5:2-5
Opening prayer: God of all holiness and peace:So draw our hearts to you through meditation on the mystery and meaning of your Wordthat we may hear you speakingand be moved to seek and do your willand to give you thanks and praise,today and always. Amen.
Read the lessons for the day, and choose one for your meditation. Read that one a second time, slowly. Let it evoke pictures in your mind… Draw back from the scene now and see it as though it is a painting before you. In your reflection… Consider: as I heard this passage, how does it point to or stir my heart’s desire? Ask yourself, as I hear this Bible passage and reflect on it, how might it be pointing to a place in my life where I have fallen short of God’s desire for me? Consider: what gift might God be offering me in this passage and my meditation on it? What insight? What call to a change of life? What summons to prayer? Finally, give God thanks for the word, for the invitation to draw nearer to the divine heart and mind by prayer and reflection Meditation:
From the very small comes the very great. The powerful are toppled from thrones. The humble are lifted from the gutter. Everything is being overturned by the strange activity of God. All the stories of this season are full of marvels juxtaposing the great and the small. A little group pf shepherds are overtaken by a glory of angels. Three magi are drawn by a compelling and brilliant star that lights up the heavens. An old woman brings forth a child, and so does a young woman who hasn’t known a man, and these humble births are cosmic events in a divine plan. Little Galilee becomes a leader of the nations. Powerful Herod has his plotting and planning foiled. The whole downward spiral of history gets a new twist in the direction of hope. An ordinary moment of time is broken open by eternity. In any ordinary life may come pivotal moments where something changes and you start in a new direction you would never have imagined before. Or a moment when the darkness overwhelms and then light appears, grace visits. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. So, are you ready to be surprised by God?
Meditation for Wednesday of Advent 4.
Opening prayer: God of all holiness and peace:So draw our hearts to you through meditation on the mystery and meaning of your Wordthat we may hear you speakingand be moved to seek and do your willand to give you thanks and praise,today and always. Amen.
Scriptures:
Luke 1:24 The steps: Envisioning the place.Asking God for our hearts’ desire as it relates to the scene.Ask “how does this show me where I have fallen short?” and ask forgiveness from God for it.Ask “what new gift is God offering me through this scene?Give thanks for the forgiveness, gift and insight. What a marvel! When the old priest Zechariah came home in such a state, with all his words vanished, and wrote on a scrap of paper that a holy angel had visited him in the Temple, and that its name was Gabriel, I wondered if he was right in the head. But he seemed so sure — and so overcome with emotion that he couldn’t even name. “A son,” he wrote, “the angel said we shall have a son! Soon!” How could I believe such a thing? But filled with energy and hope, he made love to me like a young husband again that night, except with a lot less to say! I wondered afterward whether we should consult a physician…but how could I doubt the words of a man whose faith is always so strong and sure, and who is certainly not given to fancies and fantasies.
When the first weeks went by I thought nothing of it, my monthly times were far from regular at this stage of life. But then, the things I was hungry for all of a sudden, and the increase in my waist…at last I couldn’t deny that it had happened. A child was growing, the one the angel said should be named John and raised as an ascetic to be a prophet in years to come. I’ve been hiding myself indoors. I get water when the other women have finished and gone home so few see me, wrapped in my shawls. Not that they look for me. It’s surprising how invisible you are when you reach a certain age and have no children. Everyone assumes it’s somehow been my fault, though I’ve always been a good wife to my husband. I started wondering, though, whether my faults were greater than I knew, whether God might be punishing me or testing me in some way, all those years when I gave up daring to hope that we might have children. But now, the pregnancy is plain to see. My back has begun to ache, but my heart is lighter than it has been since I was a girl. God has done this for us, for me. God has lifted the cloud of shame and disgrace, and showed me favor.
I am like Hannah, and I sing her song: The Lord has done great things for me and holy is God’s name, who has lifted up the lowly and satisfied the hungry and scattered the proud and haughty ones and sent them empty away. An amazing thing is coming, coming to me.
Meditation for Tuesday in Advent 4
Opening prayer: God of all holiness and peace:So draw our hearts to you through meditation on the mystery and meaning of your Wordthat we may hear you speakingand be moved to seek and do your willand to give you thanks and praise,today and always. Amen.
Scripture:Luke 1:21-24
The steps: Envisioning the place.Asking God for our hearts’ desire as it relates to the scene.Ask “how does this show me where I have fallen short?” and ask forgiveness from God for it.Ask “what new gift is God offering me through this scene?Give thanks for the forgiveness, gift and insight. A crowd has gathered by the outer door of the Temple. Every day at this time, the old priest comes out and offers a few words of instruction and blessing to those assembled. If God has given him a word of warning or encouragement, he passes it on at once when his prayers are complete. The sun is moving toward the horizon - so where is he? Has the old man fallen asleep in there? Surely not, for he is so faithful, such a creature of habit. The sun makes long stripes on the marble as it slants down, and the crowd is oddly quiet, expectant, even a little concerned. There are some there who came particularly hoping to hear a word just for them, for their circumstance and need.
–At last. There he is, at the door. His steps seem a little uncertain. His hand is on the wall as though to keep himself upright. Is he ill? There’s a murmur in the crowd. He’s opening his mouth, but there is no sound, no words at all, just a gurgle. But now his hands are gesturing. Is Zechariah crazy? Sick? What can have happened. He is signing that he is not able to speak - everyone can see that. But what are those other gestures? His eyes are so wide, so surprised. He looks stunned– but not unhappy, not ill, just amazed. Someone says “Maybe he’s seen a spirit!”
Someone else answers, “Perhaps the Shekinah has visited him.”But the old man doesn’t pause for long at the top of the steps. After a brief and frantic signing indecipherable to the people around him, he hurries down the steps and toward the outer gate and then he has turned the corner and everyone can hear his running footsteps receding down the street toward his home. He is later than usual and Elizabeth has come to the doorway. The room is hot from cooking, so she has opened the door and is standing on the step outside enjoying the cooling air of late afternoon. A hurrying figure is coming - it’s Zechariah. He spots his wife and starts waving his arms and his mouth is making open shapes but no words. What can have happened to him? Some accident at work? But no, for he takes his wife in his arms and dances her in a circle. Startled, she grabs his elbow. “Come inside, sit down, and tell me, or write for me maybe, what has happened. Whatever it is we’ll get through it together.”
The steps: Envisioning the place.Asking God for our hearts’ desire as it relates to the scene.Ask “how does this show me where I have fallen short?” and ask forgiveness from God for it.Ask “what new gift is God offering me through this scene?Give thanks for the forgiveness, gift and insight. What a marvel! When the old priest Zechariah came home in such a state, with all his words vanished, and wrote on a scrap of paper that a holy angel had visited him in the Temple, and that its name was Gabriel, I wondered if he was right in the head. But he seemed so sure — and so overcome with emotion that he couldn’t even name. “A son,” he wrote, “the angel said we shall have a son! Soon!” How could I believe such a thing? But filled with energy and hope, he made love to me like a young husband again that night, except with a lot less to say! I wondered afterward whether we should consult a physician…but how could I doubt the words of a man whose faith is always so strong and sure, and who is certainly not given to fancies and fantasies.
When the first weeks went by I thought nothing of it, my monthly times were far from regular at this stage of life. But then, the things I was hungry for all of a sudden, and the increase in my waist…at last I couldn’t deny that it had happened. A child was growing, the one the angel said should be named John and raised as an ascetic to be a prophet in years to come. I’ve been hiding myself indoors. I get water when the other women have finished and gone home so few see me, wrapped in my shawls. Not that they look for me. It’s surprising how invisible you are when you reach a certain age and have no children. Everyone assumes it’s somehow been my fault, though I’ve always been a good wife to my husband. I started wondering, though, whether my faults were greater than I knew, whether God might be punishing me or testing me in some way, all those years when I gave up daring to hope that we might have children. But now, the pregnancy is plain to see. My back has begun to ache, but my heart is lighter than it has been since I was a girl. God has done this for us, for me. God has lifted the cloud of shame and disgrace, and showed me favor. I am like Hannah, and I sing her song: The Lord has done great things for me and holy is God’s name, who has lifted up the lowly and satisfied the hungry and scattered the proud and haughty ones and sent them empty away. An amazing thing is coming, coming to me.
Monday in Advent 4
Opening prayer:
God of all holiness and peace:So draw our hearts to you through meditation on the mystery and meaning of your Wordthat we may hear you speakingand be moved to seek and do your willand to give you thanks and praise,today and always. Amen.
Scriptures: Luke 1:5-23 The steps: Envisioning the place.Asking God for our hearts’ desire as it relates to the scene.Ask “how does this show me where I have fallen short?” and ask forgiveness from God for it.Ask “what new gift is God offering me through this scene?Give thanks for the forgiveness, gift and insight. Zechariah is old. beyond expecting anything new in his life. There were no children for him and his wife, and instead he turned to his work at the Temple, putting in more hours, doing everything meticulously, studying and praying, lighting the incense, and offering the suitable sacrifices day after day. He had almost forgotten that he had prayed for a son, it was so long ago that that had seemed a real possibility. His wife Elizabeth was also getting on in years. The promise and the hope had faded.
But suddenly there is a great light in the swirl of incense smoke and the figure of an angel stands before Zechariah. All those years as a priest and never had he been visited by a heavenly being, though he had read of such things. The smoke burned his eyes - could the vision be real? And then came the great resonant voice, sounding both inside and outside him at the same time, deep as thunder, bright as music, and terrifying but wonderful as well. “Do not be afraid! Your prayer has been heard.” “My prayer? What prayer is that? I pray every day on behalf of my people…”“No your prayer, that your wife Elizabeth might conceive and bear you a son.”“How can this be? Surely not! Not now, after all this time.”“Oh yes. And you shall call him John. There will be joy and delight for you. He will be important in the sight of God, filled with the holy Spirit, an ascetic, and a prophet with the power of Elijah to call people to repentance.”“How can I believe such a thing, in my old age? And Elizabeth as old as I.?“Because I say it. I am Gabriel the archangel of annunciation, the message-bearer from God’s presence. I was sent to you.”“No surely not. This is too hard to believe. I’m speechless! I must be dreaming. Surely…”“Shut up old man and listen. All your words are going to be taken from you now. You will indeed be speechless until you see with your own eyes that what I have told you is coming true. Believe it.” And the angel was gone, vanished with all Zechariah’s protestations, leaving the old man silent and staring for a long time before the altar.
