We Are All One - Body, Mind, Spirit
May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it. - 1Thessaolnians 5:23-24
This week it will be important to pay attention to your body, mind and spirit before the prayer time. Sit for a few minutes and notice how you feel physically? Does anything hurt? Are you weary of energized? Have you taken medicine or eaten something that is especially comforting or discomforting?
Then pay attention to your thoughts and memories. What have you been thinking about? Are you worried about something? Happy over some news? Planning something? Etc.
Finally pay attention to your spirit. Are you happy or distressed? Do you feel peace? Fear? Delight? Anger? Are things going well for you or are your worried about a project, a person at work or in your home, or among your friends? Are you disturbed by the news?
Each day do this exercise for about five minutes before you meditate or even ask for a grace. Bring this to Jesus and leave it at His feet or in His hands – after you meditate you may want to discuss some of it with Him.
Week 8 Prayer
Graces for this week:
To know the Resurrected Lord better
To know your own reality better. Especially to understand when inner thoughts feelings or your spirit are changing during your prayer or during the day.
Day 1 and Day 2
Meditation: Take first reading of day one and day two from the Mass (Acts of the Apostles) and read through the text. Then think about the apostles and what they are going through. Why do they have such courage and strength?
Day 3: Go back to place in the readings of the first two days and repeat the meditation from any place you might have noticed greater attention on your part, or a change of thoughts or feelings. Meditate on a portion of the text that is the place where the change occurred.
Now spend some time in colloquy with Jesus or with one of the Apostles discussing their experience; OR talk to Jesus about the things you handed him at the beginning of prayer. What would you like to “turn over” completely to Jesus to manage for you? What advice or wisdom would you like him to share with you to handle your situation better?
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Days 4 and 5 do the same preparation and ask for the same graces
Meditate on the Gospel from the Mass for each of these days.
Engage in a colloquy with Mary about her experience of Jesus’ Resurrection and what it meant to her.
Engage in a colloquy with Jesus about the things you have handed over.
Day 6 do a repetition on a key moment of the prayer of day 4 or day 5
Day 7: Spend your prayer time in colloquy with Jesus about this past week. Where have you received the graces your asked for? How sincerely did you ask for the graces? Were there moments when you felt cut off from the graces. This is a good time to discuss with Jesus what gifts you would really want in this prayer, and this process.
If you do not have a prayer book with the Readings from the Mass for these days you can find it on line at https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading