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Dear Adorer,

Since the first Sunday of Advent we have adopted a different method of prayer for the new Liturgical Year: the “Lectio divina.” It is a way of praying hallowed by several centuries of Christian tradition. This method is very dear to monks and other religious who dedicate their entire lives to the service of God and neighbour. In recent years, many lay faithful too practice this kind of prayer all over the world. It is a simple yet effective way of entering into the tremendous riches contained in the Word of God. It is particularly suited to times when one finds it difficult to pray, e.g. when traveling or in a noisy distracting place. We adopt this method primarily because this liturgical year (2007-2008) is dedicated as the Year of the Word of God.

The method consists simply of reading the passage/s set out for the liturgy of a given Sunday. After going through the entire passage chosen, one returns to the start and reads again. But, now the reading is done slowly, literally ‘word by word’, noticing, attending to, entering into, as it were, the deep meaning of each word, especially the ones that offer a special message for the one praying. The reason one reads and prays in this way is first of all, the respect we show for God’s Word. Secondly, the scriptural authors were extremely gifted writers who chose their words very carefully and took great pains to arrange them in very effective ways of communication. Without pretending to be great scholars, we can still derive a lot of profit by simply attending to every single word – even though what we use is only a translation, which sometimes misses the genius of the writer expressing his thought in the original language. Nevertheless, we always remember that the Spirit of God guides those who approach the Word with an open and receptive heart and spirit. After the prayerful reading comes the personal reflection followed by an expression of our love, gratitude, admiration and so on, of God in his dealings with us.

We offer just one simple example which we trust will guide anyone who wishes to learn this method of prayer: The Gospel of St. John opens with this statement: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” As we read this carefully, we pause and reflect: why does John start off with ‘in the beginning’? Does he mean to link up his Gospel with Genesis which also begins with the identical expression? The work of Jesus, commonly known as Redemption, is indeed a new beginning, but on a totally different plane. In fact, it has very little to do with the old order of life. Further, Jesus will take us back to the original beginning enabling us to be what Adam and Eve should have been, but could not because of their tendency to self-centredness and sin. Jesus will have nullified the power of this evil within us giving us the possibility of transcending Self even to the point of loving our enemies and laying down our lives for others. We could reflect also whether our lives show any signs of this new beginning, or are we simply a continuation of the old order? This short reflection is given only by way of example: one could spend more than an hour of prayer only on this first sentence – provided one stops long enough to notice the wording, to reflect on it by linking with other such expressions, searching for its deeper meaning, listening attentively to the Spirit and discovering a revelation of the Father’s love in it.

It stands to reason that initially our practice of this kind of meditative reading will necessarily tend to be somewhat shallow or even bookish. But as time goes on and we get more and more acquainted with the Scriptures, we would need not more than a line or two for the entire hour. Of course, we have to keep ourselves open to the guidance of the Spirit and also, where possible, put in a fair amount of background work in which we force ourselves to read the text slowly and reflectively. In these helps to prayer, we shall be offering you some reflections, but do not restrict yourself only to these. Allow yourself to be guided by the Spirit. If some line of thinking you adopt strikes you as ‘strange’ or out of line with traditional Catholic teaching, have it checked out with a more knowledgeable person – that approach will gradually infuse you with more confidence.

With this little introduction, we launch into this year’s suggestions for your weekly prayer.

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Jesus: Begin with a brief period of silence in which you quieten your mind and heart. In this period we will reflect on how to make the Lord known in your surroundings. For that you would need to listen deeply and accurately. After you have reduced the distractions crowding your mind give Me a brief account of how you fared in the last week as you tried to live the graces that you received in prayer.

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: After going through the entire Gospel passage you return to a prayerful reading from the start. You could pause, for example, at the following places and ponder or marvel at what you read. “And everyone who heard it was astonished…” Probably most people today are not astonished at what they hear in the Christmas story; it all seems so familiar and played out. But imagine that you met a ‘person’ from Mars or some other planet who told you about how things are there back home! We deal here with how things work out when God is in charge of the situation. For him nothing is impossible and he often does ‘extra-ordinary’ things just in order to draw our attention and make us realize that he has a very special plan in mind for us. Recall the burning bush that drew the attention of Moses and ended with his being commissioned to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. All God asks of us is our unquestioning obedience to his plan – and if we can rise to that level, untold blessings will be ours too.

Pause and recall some of the ‘strange’ things that have happened in your life. Maybe your life was spared in an accident, while someone close to you died – or something like that which makes you ‘wonder’: is God saying something to me?

Further, the Gospel says: And Mary pondered all these things in her heart. Join Mary in pondering over God’s marvelous ways in your life. Don’t overlook even small blessings which you usually take for granted – the fact that you have good eyesight, hearing, ability to move and use both hands and legs freely … There are so many around you who don’t enjoy these privileges, and would possibly envy you the blessings you have received. Express your gratitude to the Lord and ask him seriously: ‘Lord, You must have had something in mind when granting me these blessings. Is there something special You want me to do with these gifts? How can I repay You for Your kindness to me?’

Make your prayer freely and at length. When you have exhausted all you want to say to the Father, remain in silence for as long as you can. A few minutes before the end, move into intercessory prayer for some known people around you who are blessed with far less than you and remember them in your prayer. Conclude with a short ejaculation or hymn which you could possibly repeat several times during the rest of the day.

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Jesus: We now get back to our regular routine with the festive season almost over. Recollect yourself through a few minutes of deep silence and stillness. The way you do this preparatory exercise will determine to a large extent the success of your prayer. You need to be totally focused on Me and the message I offer you. Recall the key message you received in last week’s prayer and tell Me how you lived it out during the week…

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: Read St. Matthew’s charming story about the visit of the Magi to the new-born Messiah. Recall first of all that the details of the story are not as important as the key message, viz. that I came for the salvation of all people. For ‘God has no favourites but any person or any nationality is acceptable to him if he obeys the commandments of the Father.’ Turn your gaze towards the people around you and pick out those who you feel are close to God. Remember, no one is totally perfect! Yet, in each person there is at least a spark of My divinity. The secret is to be able to pick that out and respect the person for what he is. Often a person’s oddities hide a number of special blessings s/he possesses. This approach of the Father of ‘hiding these things from the wise and learned and revealing them to mere children’ makes life very interesting and exciting. Pick out a handful such persons and reflect on what you can learn from each of them. Give sufficient time for each. There is one thing you will notice at the end of this prayer: these people who looked so familiar and ordinary now shine with a glowing message for you. You, almost literally, stand in awe in their presence.

As you proceed further with the Gospel text, you notice that when the wise men were stumped as to where they would meet the Messiah-king, it was the Scriptures that came to their rescue. This happened also with regard to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus – they too thought, perhaps, that their enterprise of following Me had ended. It is at such times that the Father always sends you the right person who can help – provided you listen to him, no matter what his external appearance. With the help of the Scriptures, they indicate to you where you could find the Messiah in your life. How familiar are you with the Scriptures? Don’t forget that the Bible is a very difficult book to master. However, this being the year of the Word of God, you would benefit from making a habit of reading a passage of Sacred Scripture each day. You could ‘ponder over’ what you have read right through the day – you will notice that this will have a very steadying influence on your life…it will certainly lead you to discover Me present in a thousand different ways, often in the most unlikely places and incidents.

As you sit in silence, a few Scripture texts might come to mind. Look at them closely. It could be that the Father wishes to say something to you in your concrete circumstances today. Could you implement what the Father says? It could lead you to something new and exciting, offering you the fullness of life and love.

Notice also that the Magi, in spite of being learned and experienced, obeyed the instructions they were given and ultimately ended up successful in their quest. You will probably recall My words: ‘search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you!’ Is there any area in your life in which you are not quite docile to the Word? Listen deeply to what the Spirit has been saying to you repeatedly in the depths of your heart … express your genuine readiness to follow all that you are told, no matter how difficult it be.

At an appropriate moment, move into deep inner silence and stillness. Allow God’s Spirit to work on you, particularly on your will, making you more docile to his stirrings in your day-to-day life. As you prepare to come out of prayer, spend a few minutes interceding for others in need. I came precisely as the Saviour of all mankind and desire that ‘all the ends of the earth may see the saving power of God.’ Conclude with a short hymn or prayer of praise.

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Jesus: We meet again for our weekly appointment in prayer. Enter into this hour of prayer with the usual time of silence and stillness in which you quieten your mind and heart. If there are certain thoughts/feelings that keep pestering you, pause and make them the subject of dialogue with Me for a while. You might discover in one or other of these thoughts something that the Lord himself is pointing out to you… Before we take up the theme of this week, do report briefly on your efforts of the past week so that we can learn from the mistakes made.

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: As you prayerfully begin to read the Gospel of today, you will notice that John the Baptist tried to dissuade Me from seeking baptism from him, feeling that it should have been the other way around. Nevertheless, since this was a baptism of repentance for sin, it was important for Me to receive it if I was going to identify Myself totally with sinners. My coming as a human being would not have meant much to anyone unless and until I shared the painful condition of most people. Being a sinner does not only mean that one has committed sin; it also includes one’s acceptance all the consequences of sin. In this sense, although I had not personally sinned ever, yet in becoming human I freely and lovingly accepted all the consequences of sin – which for me would ultimately involve accepting the desertion of friends, the betrayal of Judas, the passion and death on a cross, the whole gamut of experiences and feelings that went with it.

If I were to seek exemption from these painful situations, My work of redemption would not have been accomplished. This is the paradox of My mission that in dying one gains eternal life. The more one tries to escape suffering, pain, disappointment, rejection and so on, the further one gets from true inner freedom. Notice how almost all great world leaders were first refined in the crucible of imprisonment and personal suffering. Yet, when they accepted this freely and lovingly, they emerged purified and strengthened. Is there any suffering which you currently dodge or seek to escape? Recall the situation and also your baptism or at least your renewal of your baptismal vows on Holy Saturday night. There you promised to renounce Satan and all his works and empty promises. Isn’t unending happiness, a Shangri-la on earth one of these empty promises of Satan? Brace yourself and work to embrace your particular cross lovingly… take all the time you need for this. Do this in the deep silence of your inmost being.

Once you have done this, it will be relatively easier for you to live as a child of God, one who places all his/her trust and confidence in the Father. Remember also, that receiving God’s favour does not mean exemption from suffering and the other consequences of sin. In fact, you could almost say that the greater share you have in My sufferings, the closer you are to God, the greater favourite of his you are. Review your life of suffering and try to see where you stand in this matter of suffering, especially ill-treatment received unjustly or undeservedly.

At an appropriate moment, move into deep inner silence and stillness and remain in it for a long while. Allow yourself to be moulded by God’s Spirit in this silence. As you come out of prayer, remember a few people in your intercessions for their needs and conclude with a brief ejaculatory prayer or hymn.

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Jesus: We enter into another session of prayer with the usual approach: some time spent in quietening your mind and heart. Eliminate firmly all the distracting thoughts, and especially feelings that crowd your mind till you find you are interiorly free to listen to Me. Then calmly recount the key experiences you had during the week as you sought to live out the inspiration received in prayer. Could you discover something that you could learn from these experiences? Was God saying something to you… revealing some areas of weakness in your life?

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: With My Baptism I launched into My public ministry after John who was assigned to introduce Me to people, had done his work very effectively. Using biblical language he pointed to Me as the ‘lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.’ This image refers to the ceremony observed on the feast of Yom Kippur. A goat was brought before the people, who filed past placing their hands on the head of the goat; thereby they expressed their desire to rid themselves of all sin by passing them onto the animal. When all had finished this ritual, this goat was led out into the desert and left there to die of starvation. With its death, the sins of the people would be taken away. Notice the rich symbolism in this image. My mission was to accept the full impact of the consequences of people’s sins – this implied hunger, thirst, rejection, being misunderstood or misrepresented – all of which I would experience during My public ministry. Yet, even this would not be enough. Having accepted all this I would need to die – it is only in death that this sin would be taken away effectively.

As a Christian, in your baptism you have accepted to share this work of redemption with Me. Go back over your life and see how you accept the various consequences of sin in your life: do you see suffering as necessary for accomplishing your task (and not necessarily as a punishment for your personal failings!) Evidently, if you are going to be able to do this, you would need to be absolutely sure that the Father loves you not only in spite of your limitations, but even with your failings. What he permits you to suffer is needed for the redemption of others. If you are able to keep this clearly before your mind, it would save you a lot of unnecessary worry, doubt and self-recrimination. Though you may not be able to accept suffering with joy, yet you would at least accept it with patient resignation and inner peace. Review some of the crosses you carry currently and see whether this insight gives you the needed strength to accept it calmly.

As you continue reading the Gospel you will notice that it mentions that John ‘saw the Spirit resting on Me.’ That was meant to be a confirmation for John that he was on the right track, that his work of introduction was successful. In your life, you will not necessarily see any such signs – yet there will an inner reassurance you experience, maybe a deep sense of peace even in the midst of intense suffering; a measure of joy knowing that the Father is with you suffering together with you because the work of Redemption is actually his and not yours. He is happy that you offer him the possibility of working through you.

With this approach firmly embedded in your consciousness, there is no point of time in which you need feel useless or worthless, lonely or unwanted. Your contribution towards the well-being of the world is tremendously valuable. Even the greatest suffering will be acceptable and light for you. Like John you will be witness to the Chosen One of God. And remember what I said: ‘If anyone witnesses to Me, I Myself will witness for him before the Father.’ Review some areas of your present life to see where you could witness to Me much more powerfully than you do at present.

When you are ready, move into deep inner silence and stillness allowing God’s Spirit to work on you in the depths of your being. Listen deeply to whatever inspiration he grants you and see what you can do about this in your day-to-day life. As you prepare to come out of prayer, spend some little time interceding for the needy in your vicinity. Conclude with a short prayer of hymn.

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Jesus: We move into yet another session of prayer. This time too we shall begin with a few precious minutes of silence and stillness. Focus all your attention on My presence, keeping out all other extraneous thoughts and feelings. You could repeat a mantra or ejaculation like “I have decided to follow Jesus.” Before you actually take up the prayer for this week, spend some time reviewing with Me your efforts of the past week…

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: Read the Gospel of this Sunday slowly and prayerfully right through and then again, pausing at any phrase or idea that lends itself to dialogue. By way of example: You read that after John had been arrested I moved to Capernaum. Was that just a coincidence or a planned move? It was a well-thought out step because I did not want My message to be confused with John’s. John’s call to repentance was only preparatory; it was like teaching people the alphabet and how to form words and understand the meaning of these words when strung into a sentence. Having learnt the art of reading, they would then be ready to read/listen to the “message” I came to give. Besides presuming the ability to read, I would first need to ensure that the basic concepts of God and human beings that we would work with are understood in the right sense. Thus the term ‘God’ could mean quite a number of things to different people. To some it meant ‘Law-giver and judge’ to others ‘A saviour in time of desperate need’ or ‘Protector and provider for his people.’ So, it would not suffice to merely use the term ‘God’ and presume that all would understand it in the same way as I did.

Further, I did not limit myself only to showing people the meaning of such important terms, but demonstrated to them in practice, through the events of their lives, what this is all about. You know from your own experience that it takes a long time to erase wrong concepts and get people to consistently think in terms of the correct ones. Once this happens then things move pretty smoothly. Remember how even the Twelve chosen ones took a long time to grasp God’s ways. After having trained them for almost two years, I sent them out ahead of Me to prepare the way for My coming. They entered a Samaritan village where people refused to accept Me because I was heading for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the two brothers James and John were prepared to call down fire from heaven to burn them up as a punishment. I had to rebuke them strongly because that is not the way I had taught them to deal with rejection.

The important reflection from all this is: have you been able to pick up what is My characteristic way of revealing the Father? St. Luke consistently presents the Father as ‘compassionate.’ What would be your characteristic way of speaking of the Father? Articulate this in your prayer – even if it takes you some time to do this.

Further, once people enter into the Father’s kingdom, they attain wholeness of being. The healings people experienced were an external sign of their being really in God’s kingdom. As you look at your life, do you experience any growth in different areas: physical, emotional, intellectual, inter-personal and so on? If you do, spend some time thanking the Father for this. In areas where you do not experience as much growth as you would have liked, pray to the Father asking for more challenging opportunities and situation which will promote growth in these areas.

As you near the end of your hour of prayer, move into silence and stillness for as long as you can sustain it. Remain focused on God and leave everything else aside. After you have done this to your heart’s content, spend a few minutes interceding for others and then conclude your prayer with a bhajan or hymn.

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Jesus: As usual enter into this session of prayer with a period of deep silence and stillness so that your mind can be focused entirely on God. Spend a few moments recounting your experience of the past week regarding your prayer… Seek to learn something that will help you live the coming week more effectively.

[Time for silence and reflection]

Jesus: As you begin the read the Gospel passage slowly and prayerfully, you will notice that no sooner did I begin My ministry than I spoke of what the kingdom of God is like. You find this in the familiar ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ Read it slowly and prayerfully, even though it is a very familiar passage and you possibly know it by rote. The first thing you would need to notice is that this is not a prescription or recipe telling you what you ought to do in order to enter into the kingdom. In fact, there is nothing you could do to qualify for entry into God’s kingdom, except to gratefully accept the Father’s loving invitation to join the kingdom fraternity. He takes the initiative and invites you. So, the Beatitudes do not tell us what we should do (e.g. become poor, meek, zealous and so on) but rather shows us the characteristics of those who are already in the kingdom.

Let us see how this unfolds in the very first beatitude which reads: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If you begin with the second part and read it as a present reality, not a future dream that will be yours only if you comply with the conditions required, you will see the difference. I impress on the hearers that when they accept God’s invitation to join his community, the kingdom is literally ‘theirs’ – received as a gift from the Father. When they live as kingdom people what makes them stand out is precisely their total detachment from things of this world. They radiate an inner freedom which permits them to undertake whatever the Father asks of them, even accepting a tragic death on the cross. But for this to be true and visible even to strangers and passers-by, the person must first have really received the kingdom wholeheartedly.

This acceptance is generally a process that takes time and effort. The acceptance needs to be re-affirmed time and again – which is what you do at each Eucharist where the Father invites you to enter more deeply into the kingdom after reminding you of his unfailing love. If you can do that consistently at each Eucharist, there is no reason to feel that you could not reflect this serenity even here on earth. Several saints and holy people did radiate this peace and joy in the midst of intense suffering. Others could not understand how they could possibly behave like this – but that is truly the transformation that the Father effects in his chosen ones. As St. John puts it: ‘they become children of God, born not of human desire but are truly born of God.’

Remain in deep silence and allow this profound truth to seek deep into your consciousness… After you have allowed God’s Spirit enough scope to transform you from within, you could move to the next line, and understand it in a similar manner. Once you have deeply experienced the Father’s ‘comfort’ (read Isa. 40:1-7) you would have no fear of situations that are mournful or cause you to mourn. In fact, even while you mourn the loss at one level, you will find that you are at peace deep down within yourself. There is no fretful reaction to the adversity – you experience the Father very close to you, in fact, sharing your suffering and pain. For, ‘if God is for us who can be against us? Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.’ Again allow yourself sufficient silence and stillness to appreciate this truth from deep within.

As you emerge from this silence, spend some time interceding for others, especially for those you know who somehow have missed the point with regard to their Christian vocation … who still think of it in terms of ‘saving my soul from hell!’ Conclude with a brief prayer or hymn.

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The Season of Lent

We offer our adorers a few challenging insights on Lent which can be used throughout the season. Lent is first and foremost a time of preparation for Easter, a concerted effort Christians are challenged to make to enter into the dynamics of the Pascal Mystery. Jesus accepted death not because it is something desirable, but simply because it was part of the Father’s plan for the redemption of people. Recall how he expressed this at Gethsemane: “Father, take this cup from Me, but not according to My will – let your will be done!” We know that this is but a summary of his entire life. Our Lenten effort trains us also to accept God’s will lovingly and cheerfully in our daily lives, especially when it goes against the grain. One way of checking whether the Lenten season has achieved its purpose is to see how much more Christ-like you have allowed the Lord to make you: more patient, trustful, kind, loving, joyful, forgiving, peaceful, ready to help, other-centered, more self-giving and committed to your duty in the home, place of work, among friends. Also check to see how much more spontaneously and lovingly or grudgingly/reluctantly you accept God’s will in your day-to-day life.

One general suggestion: Please do not undertake any penitential practices like fasting, extra prayers and so on, unless at the same time you mean to become more Christ-like especially in your relationship with others, starting with the family and neighbours. Let your biggest penance be to love, serve, forgive – especially in the home, and small Christian community. You could choose one particular area in which you will make a special effort to be Christ-like, e.g. avoiding gossip, sacrificing some material things which you then share with the needy around you, spending some more time in silent prayer before the Sacrament. Helps to gaining a Christ-like outlook include: reading Scripture prayerfully, sharing in a spiritual discussion, attending talks and recollections on spiritual topics, consciously maintaining silence for reasonable lengths of time, avoiding needless talk, gossip, harmful conversations. Let God’s Spirit suggest what is most appropriate for your particular situation.

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Jesus: After the usual period of silence and stillness, you could reflect on just this one point: your Lenten effort must bring about a change of attitude in your life. Against the background of the story of Zacchaeus (Lk. 19:1-10) what matters is that you make room for God in your life which in other words means that there is less room for Self in your behaviour. God and Self cannot go together – the more you have of God, the less of Self there will be and the other way round too!

Further, these changes that you bring about must not be aimed at making a favourable impression on people around you. It is God who sees your heart and he who sees in secret will reward you. In other words, it does not matter what others say or don’t say about you. It is what you are in God’s sight that is important.

In silence, listen deeply to God’s Spirit pointing out to you which area you need to tackle first. My suggestion to you would be that once you have identified which area you need to work in, plunge into this effort with great enthusiasm right from the start: well begun is half done – as the saying goes. Make the maximum effort in the first few days till you get into the swing of the Lenten programme – then you will find the rest relatively easy.

Before you emerge from this hour of prayer make a few intercessions for people in need, especially those in your neighbourhood or small Christian community. Remember that this too is an expression of your selflessness and readiness to place yourself at the disposal of others. Conclude with a short ejaculatory prayer.

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Jesus: We begin this hour of prayer with the customary period of silence and stillness in which you consciously seek to quieten your mind and heart. This effort itself could be part of your Lenten striving to come closer to Me, for you will notice that all your distractions are linked with the Self and its preoccupations. End this section with a brief review of the past week, especially from the beginning of Lent. Pick out one point that you need to learn from this experience and place that trustfully into My hands.

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: Begin by reading the Gospel passage slowly and prayerfully; even though it is a very familiar one, read it as if for the first time, paying attention to every single word. You could pause for deeper reflection, e.g. at “Jesus was led by the Spirit…” This reminds you that temptations are a part of our spiritual activity – they help test your sincerity and singleness of purpose. And you know from your own personal experience that if you sincerely want to achieve something, then that must become a passion as far as you are concerned. You will have to be ready to set aside everything else and pursue this goal with single-mindedness. If you are in two minds, then it is very easy to go astray.

Notice that temptation and sin do not come from the outside, although in the Scriptures and in our common way of speaking, we do refer to them as coming from outside. ‘Satan tempted me, the serpent tempted Eve’ and so on. Actually they come from within ourselves primarily. And it is also a matter of what/who we love most, or what is the centre of our lives. When a man is deeply in love with his lawfully wedded wife, he experiences no ‘temptation’ to fool around with other women. But if his relationship in the home is unsatisfactory, he easily falls prey to all the allurements around him. Similarly you will have noticed that when you are engrossed in a work or subject of study that you like, your mind does not easily flit from one thing to another – you can be perfectly concentrated for hours on end. Or, as we say, ‘time flies’ in such situations.

So, after focusing My attention on and deeply understanding God’s plan for Me in view of the redemption of the world, I first accepted it wholeheartedly, knowing full well that it would entail suffering and possibly death. And so, temptation was unable to take Me in another direction. Besides, as you will have noticed, I had recourse to the Word of God to stay focused on My goal. This might look like an external support, but once the Word has been internalized through constant reflection and prayer, it becomes a part of one’s life itself. Hence, another suggestion that you could look at profitably is: what place does the Word of God have in your life currently? Does it nourish you especially in difficult circumstances? Now that we are in the ‘Year of the Word of God’ how much has your appreciation for the Word grown? For it to be truly nourishing, you will need to focus on the love of the Father that stands out in every passage of the Bible. Once you pick this out, the rest is easy.

Remain in silence for as long as you can, allowing this truth to sink into the depths of your being. Watch for areas in which you sense you are not quite ‘whole’ or integrated, areas in which the chinks in your armour appear quite clearly. Place these into My hands and allow God’s Spirit to work on these areas till they are properly aligned with kingdom values…

If you have time you could also reflect on how temptation creeps in through natural ‘openings’ in which you are most vulnerable. After fasting for forty days and nights, evidently hunger and fulfilling its demands would be the most likely avenues for temptation to strike. Recognizing this law of Nature, as it were, can you spot which are your vulnerable and weak spots? Once more remain in silence letting God point out which are the areas that are likely to cause you trouble … After you have spent sufficient time in silence take up a few petitions for others in need and conclude your prayer with the usual hymn or ejaculatory prayer.

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Jesus : We begin this hour of prayer as usual with a period in which you seek to quieten your mind and heart from deep within. As we said in the last hour of prayer, once your mind is focused on Me, you will not easily get distracted. So, practice that now for a few minutes and then tell Me how you were able to spend the week – the first of Lent.

[Time for personal reflection and silence]

Jesus: Once again, begin by reading the Gospel passage slowly and carefully, pausing to catch every little point the Spirit makes through his inspirations. You could reflect, for example, that each time a person is victorious regarding temptation, his/her attachment to Me deepens and s/he becomes a little more like Me. You see the full range of transformation in the Gospel story because My victory over temptation was total and complete – besides it was pleasing to the Father because of the genuine and wholehearted love it contained…

You could also reflect on the possible topics of the conversation between Me and Moses and Elijah. Obviously, they would all centre round the work of redemption and the way the Father wanted that done – through the suffering of the cross, and death. Luke expresses this clearly when he says that they spoke of My ‘exodus’ that I was to accomplish. It would be good if you too could more or less visualize the path that your life would take – evidently there would be ups and downs with perhaps more downs than ups. How much are you prepared genuinely and internally to joyfully embrace these? Spend some time allowing this thought to sink into your mind and heart …

The reaction of the three disciples shows that they focused mainly on the positive and glorious side and hence wished this experience to endure – build three tents! But this lasting victory comes only at the end of your life’s journey; as long as you journey through life here on earth, there will be the cross. In silence, seek to get yourself to deeply accept this truth, so that suffering does not dislodge you from your grasp of the eternal life that I bring you…

Towards the end, spend as much time in deep silence as you possibly can – just relax and feel at home in this silence. Ultimately successful prayer consists not so much of what you do as what you allow Me/Spirit to do. The more still and silent you are, the better will be your prayer. Towards the very end, spend a little time in intercessory prayer as you usually do, and then wind up with a short hymn.

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Jesus: As you begin this hour of prayer, spend quite some time in deep silence. The quality of the rest of your hour depends on these first few minutes. So, put your heart and soul into creating this kind of spiritual vacuum within yourself … then very briefly give me an idea of how you handled the week that has passed. Were there any difficult moments that we need to look at now?…

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: The Gospel story is pretty long, but still read the entire story once, slowly and prayerfully. Then begin again, pausing at whichever word/thought offers you food for reflection. You could dialogue with the Samaritan woman for a while, trying to enter into her thinking – was she looking for something different and ennobling in life? Or was she content with herself and how things were at present? What made her to go against local customs which had been honoured by generations of her people and the Jews – never mixing with one another? You will notice as you read Sacred Scripture and also observe people’s behaviour down the centuries, that somehow life erupts always in the ‘in-between’ – neither on the side of the Law nor in the total disregard for it. Life sparks forth only when a person somehow goes ‘beyond’ literal adherence to the Law as well as arrogant violation of the Law.

Secondly you will notice that this ‘going beyond the law’ is not something that is pre-planned; it just ‘happens’ – some force from within seems to impel the person to let-go. S/he doesn’t even realize that s/he is moving into a ‘dangerous’ situation which could end with a complete revolution in one’s life. It is only later, when looking back and reviewing the course of events that one realizes what a bold step the person has taken – for the better. Basically the same process is experienced when two people ‘fall in love.’ There is a total surrender on the part of both, even while they are aware of the demands and consequences of their actions. Each step is taken ‘instinctively’ or blindly as it were, yet with conscious awareness. When love draws a person onwards, there is no fear, no calculation, no looking back.

You see further that although this woman has been completely stripped of all her defences and of her safely guarded secrets, yet she is happy and has no inhibitions about announcing it all to everyone in the village. She is now interiorly free and lives on a much higher plane where what others think or say will not make a difference. Even when the villagers tell her to her face that it is not because of what she said that they believe, she does not react negatively or sulk. What a marvelous transformation in her life! Now that is a picture of what I wish to do in your life too – if only you would allow Me to.

Remain in silence and follow the lead of the Spirit, surrendering generously and fearlessly as the Spirit leads you to. Much of this transformation takes place when you are immersed in deep silence and perfect stillness. That is when the ‘self’ is practically at its lowest and weakest and hence My Spirit can act very effectively. After you have spent the maximum amount of time in this deep silence, don’t forget to reach out to others in need… Conclude with the usual brief prayer or hymn.

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Jesus: We move deeper and deeper into the understanding of the Christian vocation. I am sure you would have understood and enjoyed last week’s message in which you saw how the Samaritan woman moved from being an outsider to being in the kingdom, one who truly belongs to God. For this week you have another powerful story – but then you need to be spiritually attuned to be able to pick up this deep and stirring message. So enter into this prayer with the usual period of stillness and silence … A brief review of last week would be in order!

[Time for silent reflection and prayer]

Jesus: This week too the reading is rather long, nevertheless prayerfully go through the entire passage at a stretch without a break so that you refresh your memory about the sequence of events. Then revisit the passage and read slowly till a phrase or a line strikes you. Notice right at the start how the customary view of the Jews comes to the fore: ‘Is this man blind because of sin?’ That certainly was the way the Jews were trained to see all the misfortunes that occurred in their lives. This approach goes back to the story of Adam and Eve’s sin in Genesis: physical suffering and pain are there shown as the punishment for sin.

However, almost midway through the Bible, in the Wisdom literature, we see this view challenged in the story of Job – here we have a just and good man suffering unwarranted misfortunes in his life for no apparent reason. At the start we were told that this was God’s challenge to Satan vindicating the uprightness of Job – God proudly proclaimed that no matter what suffering was brought to bear on Job, he would not abandon his fidelity to God. And that is what happens in the original story which is rather brief.

In the New Testament, however, this second view is taken to its extreme where you see Me the Messiah, the Son of God himself, suffering even though clearly innocent. Not just that, but all that I worked for was the good of My brethren and yet the external label of all that suffering was ‘blasphemer’, turning the people against authority and so on. So, it is not surprising that the blind man too was seen as a sinner.

Could you take this truth (that a person’s suffering need not be the direct result of sin but is an opportunity to express one’s fidelity to God’s way) and let it simmer in your consciousness as you remain in silence for as long as you can? Allow the Spirit to point out to you occasions where you were/are challenged to accept being mis-judged by others around you and review in the light He sheds, how exactly you handled those situations: listen carefully for ways in which you could improve or change. What needs to change first is your attitude towards suffering, especially when it seems to be unjustly thrust on you …

After a fairly long silence turn your heart to prayer for others, remembering especially those who presently struggle with similar situations, be they real or imagined. This is one of the biggest difficulties people face everywhere and so there is no dearth of examples and people to pray for. End with the usual brief hymn or prayer.

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Jesus: As we draw nearer the feast of Easter, the call to share in My glory by entering wholeheartedly in the suffering and death becomes more and more insistent. However, most people have an instinctive dread of suffering which makes them reject precisely what would bring them the greatest happiness and peace. So, enter into this prayer with a few minutes of deep inner silence and stillness so that you are truly disposed to listen at some depth. Don’t omit a brief review of how you fared as you tried to live what you prayed over.

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: Once again you have a very long passage for this week’s Gospel. Nevertheless, as you have done before, first read the entire story at one go and then go back over it step by step in a more reflective and prayerful manner. You possibly would have noticed at the very start that the way John presents the story, “There was a man named Lazarus…” he is taken here more as a symbol than as a historical person. So, the passage and its life-giving message also apply to you and everyone else. The key point is that ‘this sickness will not end in death but in God’s glory…’ Review all the anguish and pain the family would have gone through, because they would not have realized that it would all end in joy and peace for everyone. God’s ways are strange indeed – and at times seem to be rather cruel. Yet, He wishes to win our hearts completely and hence needs to impress his message by working it out in bold strokes and colours. Recall any such incident in your own life and see whether you were able to catch God’s message from the very start …

Further, you notice how the disciples bring up a valid objection militating against My going to Bethany – but since I knew God’s ways better, this did not deter Me. Had I not known, maybe I would have preferred not to provoke an encounter with the Jews… However, it is worth reflecting that when it is a matter of doing God’s will and reaching out to someone in need, one’s personal comfort or safety should not be the determining factor. No good is ever done without some risk or suffering involved. Here again, stop and review your philosophy of life: would you accept suffering (maybe even death) when it is the result of your doing good to someone else? Are others and their good more important in your view that your own personal benefits?

Another little consideration: On arriving at the place, the first thing I hear is Martha’s womanly complaint: ‘if you had been here …’ Here again, if I wasn’t secure in the Father’s love and his ways of working things out, if I was more given to self-doubt and recrimination, I would perhaps have felt emotionally attacked and reacted in a negative manner. Rather, I was able to see her remark in perspective and accept it for what it was – an expression of her pain and hope which seems to have been dashed to the ground. How do you react when others apparently attack you for a seeming fault – especially when you cannot explain and justify your intentions before them, or they will not easily understand you in those circumstances? Can you remain calm and patient and continue doing the good that is possible? …

You could go through the entire story, picking up several useful and ‘meaty’ points such as those indicated – the key feature however, is that it provides you with something you can use as a base to communicate with the Father and secondly that it enables you to improve your responses both before God and others.

Spend as much time as you can in deep silence, either after each point you reflect on, or right towards the end. But let this be an unhurried chunk of time where you allow God’s Spirit full scope to achieve the transformation he wishes to work out in you. As you near the end, move into intercessory prayer for others – and wind up with a short hymn or prayer.

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Jesus: We enter now into the most eventful week of the liturgical year. It is especially in this week that you would need to be deeply attentive to all that the Spirit points out to you. This would be the week when your redemption, your entry into the kingdom will be worked out more deeply and personally. So, begin the process well with this hour of prayer – start with the usual time for silence and stillness – the key idea is to be focused and tuned in to the workings of the Spirit. After settling down, briefly recount your spiritual experience of the last week …

[Time for silent reflection and prayer]

Jesus: For this week you could take either the Gospel used for the Procession before the main Eucharist, or the Passion Narrative used in the Eucharist itself. Follow the usual procedure of reading the entire text first and then returning to a slower, more prayerful perusal of the passage.

With regard to the Procession gospel, notice how everything unfolds according to plan – indicating that God is in control of the whole situation. His designs are always for our good and so once you can surrender yourself totally and lovingly into his hands, nothing can go wrong, even if a lot of pain and suffering is involved. Can you spot some series of events occurring right now in your life and see these as part of God’s plan for you and others around you? Try to deepen the level of your surrender till there is hardly any trace of self in it.

If you take the passion narrative, the simplest way to bring the passage to life, is to become one or other of the personages figuring in it. You could read it from the standpoint of Judas, or Peter or Pilate or the Jews or even from My point of view. The key idea is to be open to what the Spirit says to you and how he indicates that this Passion continues in your life. Don’t miss the love of God that shines through in this entire story – “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son… so that anyone who believes in him may have eternal life…” It would be helpful also to discover how we usually seek to escape the painful aspects of the story, or rationalize and explain them away, sometimes even to blame them on others and seek to get even with them.

You could also reflect on what you may have heard in homilies during these Holy Week services – pick out something which clear the Spirit wants to impress on you. Ensure that there is something concrete in your life that changes because of these reflections and prayer. When you are ready, move into deep inner silence and stillness and remain in it for as long as you possibly can. As you emerge from this silence, reach out to others in need and conclude with a short verse or two of an appropriate hymn.

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Jesus: Enter into this prayer in the customary manner – with a few minutes of deep silence and inner quiet. After the moving ceremonies of Holy Week, there will undoubtedly be a number of images in your imagination, all clamouring for your attention. You will need to focus on just one or two, particularly on the ones the Spirit indicates to you. So, get started with the effort to quieten your mind. Don’t forget the brief review of the previous week – so as to learn something from past experience!

[Time for silence reflection and prayer]

Jesus: The resurrection narrative in St. Matthew’s gospel focuses on the fulfillment which I brought to the entire Old Testament message through My dying-rising. Maybe you could focus on the mission given to Mary Magdalene who is shown as the first to learn of the resurrection. She goes and tells the disciples all that I explained to her, but without much success – only John seems to have believed. Notice though, that the others would slowly change from their previous attitude and take up the challenge of spreading the Good News.

Real internal change is always slow in coming; nevertheless these are the most important changes a person needs to make in his/her life – and perhaps the most difficult. The joy of personal private victories is unsurpassable, even when it occurs in small little things. Just as My coming was prepared for by John the Baptist and all the previous prophets, so are these great big victories prepared for by small little victories in which you ‘deny’ your self, or put others before self. In all these small victories, you might not even notice that you are conquering yourself, but you will “see” their effect when the big occasion arrives. Remember ‘he who is faithful in little things, will be faithful also in great things!’ So, what you would need to focus on is simply, the present moment – attend to the ‘sacrament of the NOW.’

Experience, however, shows us how difficult this is, although it sounds very simple and easy. We live mostly in the past or in the future, but hardly in the present. So, My resurrection should enable you to derive the maximum out of every task you undertake. Being fully present to the now enables the power of My resurrection to flow into what you are doing and thus benefit the others who interact with you. You will almost visibly see My risenness and its power to transform situations of sin and suffering into occasions of grace. Wouldn’t you feel great to be an active part of this kind of transformation in your life and in the lives of others? Open yourself then to the power of the Spirit as you remain in inner silence and stillness for as long as you can.

Come out of this silence and prepare to conclude with a few petitions for others and then take up the concluding hymn or prayer.

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Jesus: We enter into this prayer with the customary silence and stillness – once you are sufficiently quiet within, calmly recount your key experiences of the past week: did you experience anything new? Were you able to sense My power at work in your life? Give thanks for such occasions and see how you could do better in the coming week. If you perchance lost some opportunities to allow My risenness to shine through your activity and life, place these before the Father asking for more opportunities this coming week so that you could ‘redeem’ yourself by making better use of these.

[Time for silent prayer and reflection]

Jesus: You have several options for this week: you could stay with the Gospel text marked out for this day, or focus on the ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’ theme or even look towards the feast of the Annunciation celebrated this year on the 31st – Monday. I shall offer you a few suggestions based on the Gospel of the day.

Notice how for the early Christians, the first day of the week becomes the pivotal one around which the entire week revolves. For you today, Sunday is seen as the ‘week-end’ but for them it was rather the beginning of the new week. It represented the start of the new creation and in coming together on that day the Christians celebrated the newness of My resurrection and pledged themselves to show forth that newness throughout the week. Instead of being a holiday on which one abstains from work or literally does nothing, for Christians Sunday is a day of very serious work, of engaging in salvific or redemptive activity that raises the level of life all around to a higher plane. You will recall how I quite deliberately healed the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath because that was the day of liberation. How much do you engage in such transforming works on a Sunday? Do your words and actions bring new life, put a new spirit of hope and energy into the lives of others around you? Is Sunday a day on which you think less of yourself and more of others? Would you consciously choose to reach out to someone in need precisely because it is the Lord’s day? Or do you focus primarily on yourself and your immediate commuity?

No doubt, you could do the same thing on any other day of the week. But when you choose Sunday for this kind of activity, what you indicate is that you do this in the power of My risenness. And if you can do this consciously then you will certainly see the difference. The reason for this is that on this ‘first day of the week’ I Myself am very active pouring out My Spirit upon the community as they gather together in My name. The very first time I visited the fledgling community after My resurrection, My disciple Thomas was absent; you can see vividly the result of his absence – he found it difficult to believe his companions. He had to wait till the next Sunday to experience for himself and then make that marvelous act of faith! This should encourage you and all Christians never to miss out on the Sunday Eucharist, as it is the occasion when I equip each of My followers for the task allotted to him/her for the week. Missing this opportunity means that either you have no ‘task’ which you have received willingly and joyously from Me, or that you would attempt to do it on your own and risk failure, because ‘without Me you can do nothing.’

Sunday is not just the day of fulfilling an obligation; it is your special encounter with Me, a kind of ‘rendevous’ reporting back on what you have achieved during the week and accepting your assignment for the coming week. Further, you will have realized that the Sunday Eucharist is not just a question of being present and giving in your attendance, as it were. You would need to take a very active part in the Eucharist, contributing your mite to the welfare of the community. Even if you do not move out of your place in the pew at all, yet within yourself, you could be very busy reaching out to parishioners you know who are in need. You could even meet a few and pass on a word of encouragement, of thanks and support, of forgiveness and healing.

Recede into deep silence and review how you understand and live your Sunday Eucharist and check out what needs changing in your approach. After renewing your own attitude, could you influence a few others in your neighbourhood to also approach the Sunday in a very active manner? It would certainly benefit the whole community.

If you have time to spare you could reflect on the ‘forgiveness of sins’ that is mentioned in the Gospel. This does not refer to sacramental forgiveness, but rather the wiping out of all grudges, hurt feelings, animosities and the like, in short, of shedding the ‘labels’ that one usually puts on others forcing them to remain fixed in that category all through their lives. We label people as unreliable, liars, cheats, procrastinators and so on, which might have been their particular problem at some time in their lives, but is not necessarily so right now. You could train yourself to look at all people in a refreshingly new way. This very new, unbiased and non-judgmental approach of yours will release the person concerned and challenge him/her to continue acting in a new way.

You have to try this to realize how effective this approach can be! Also, you need to personally experience (by being at the receiving end) what it means to be labelled by others in a given wrong-doing of the past - it literally kills all desire to change for the better. For, as the saying goes, ‘since I have the name I might as well play the game!’ This is particularly important in the home and when dealing with children, especially teenagers who are at a very important juncture in their growth as persons. They are still “feeling their way” through life and so experience tremendous ups and downs, real turmoil, in their behaviour patterns. In this situation they need someone who has the patience and love to understand what they are going through and accept them unconditionally, giving them the space and time required to grow. With the help of My risen power you could be a pillar of strength to such persons as they emerge into adulthood. And if these are your own children you are dealing with, what a powerful legacy will you not have left them with?

At an appropriate moment, move into deep inner silence and stillness and stay that way for as long as you can. When you have finished, add a few intercessions for others in need and conclude with a meaningful hymn or prayer.

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