Meditation awakens the heart to the spirit who dwells within every person. Each of us is called to continually renew that spirit as we follow our life’s path. We might express this in another way by saying that we are each called to give birth to Christ in our hearts just as Mary did in…
Deepening our intimate relationship with Christ
Faith Development He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” In any important relationship we pay attention to the other person and to what they have to say to us, through words or otherwise. In meditation,…
The key feature of every type of relationship
Mindful Living Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon…
A rigid focus on dogma can take away from joy of being
Mindful Living The Garden of Love by William Blake I went to the Garden of Love, And saw what I never had seen: A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And Thou shalt not. writ over the door;…
Meditation and the climate crisis
Mindful Living The COP26 Climate Change Conference, which took place in Glasgow in November 2021 was widely regarded as humanity’s last chance to prevent catastrophic global warming. The consequences of the unjustified war in Ukraine makes it even more difficult to achieve the targets we must attain. In recent years we have seen with increasing…
The ocean of God
Mindful Living To talk about what matters most in life we often have to turn to metaphor because words are inadequate to the task. James Finley has an evocative metaphor that captures an essential truth about the human condition. He suggests that we spend a great deal of time walking on the outer circumference of…
You are called to be the Body of Christ in the world today
Mindful Living “The blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God” (Hebrews 9:14). In his writings, St Paul uses the metaphor of the body of Christ in two quite…
Being drawn into an intimate relationship with God
Mindful Living Today I want to finish up my reflection on the parallels between meditation and marriage. All relationships struggle at some point and, very likely, at several points along the shared journey. Change is inevitable in every aspect of life and not all change is immediately welcome, so struggle is inevitable too and must…
Love as an active verb
Mindful Living In my article in February I wrote about meditation and marriage and how both contribute to deepening our sense of who we are at the deepest level of our being. Couples are often reminded at the marriage ceremony to view love, not as a noun, but as an action verb; to see love…
Ukraine and Veronica’s Veil
Mindful Living Laurence Freeman who leads the World Community for Christian Meditation spoke recently about the sickening invasion of Ukraine. He said: “It’s a really dark time for the world and we have to approach it with as much faith and hope and love as possible. The way forward is going to be difficult and…