Lent #1 Luminescence

Livan Kudriashev, Luminescence

Introduction

This is the first Sunday of Lent, the period leading up to Easter that considers the pain and suffering of Jesus and celebrates his resurrection and sovereignty

We will aim to combine Celtic spirituality’s belief that God speaks from deep within our lives and all life with the Benedictine practice of meditating on scripture through the Lectio Divina approach.

Reflection

There is a confidence instead of a suspicion around the practice of listening within ourselves for the truth of God, for deeper than any confusion or darkness in us is the light that enlightens every person.  We are made in the image and likeness of God defines who we are.

And this painting by Livan Kudriashev helps us to sit in this place in stillness and join with Jesus’s task which was and is to reconnect us to this deep image, to remind us of our origins and to bring us into the Life of life.

Scripture to meditate on in the fashion of Lectio Divina:  I am made in the image and likeness of God.  (Genesis 1:27)

Lectio (reading or rather listening): Recall and repeat the scripture, almost listening to it being spoken within yourself, to the point of the sacred text becoming your own.  Recall this passage and allow it to give voice to what is deepest and truest for you.

Meditatio (repetition): Allow a single word, phrase or image from the passage to capture the attention of your heart. This is a way of being attentive to God at a level deeper than thought.  It is about being filled with a sense of the presence of God, and of his love.

Oratio (prayer): Given that ‘the sacred words stir memories within us’ the repetition of these words from Scripture is intended to evoke memories of our experiences of God’s grace.  We may now be aware a desire that has emerged and out from that expressions of prayer can be uttered. This may be for God, for yourself or for others.