Week 33 - Take, Lord, and Receive
Welcome to this last meditation of this season in our beautiful chapel.
Theme:
The final chord is reserved for love which is where these meditations began. I acknowledge that this is the only thing I can depend upon: nothing else matters but Love.
In order to pray for this, I become aware of God’s presence in this chapel and of His gaze of love and friendship which falls on me.
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What I desire:
That I am able to give myself completely to God with the whole of my being so that His work becomes visible in me.
Christ has given me His Holy Spirit. Christ is in me and in everyone around me. He gives me the strength I need to devote myself to God with my whole being. So that His work becomes visible in me.
Music: The Deer’s Cry. CD After Silence. Voces8
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down
Christ in me, Christ when I arise
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Christ with me
Spotify Link:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3Nnt9pgXsI2tuJ7uk9s3HH?si=c54b18aea4ef4b09
YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/Ir3htl3UlBk?si=wXr6OAAGdDmy-idy
1 John 4, 11 – 16, 19
My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God, if we love one another God abides in us and His love comes to perfection in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us a share in his Spirit, We, ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And we have come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God and God in him.
Beautiful poetic words but also with a deep meaning. No one has ever seen God but during the last few months in this chapel we have seen Jesus. The meditations have helped us to get to know Jesus more clearly, to love Him more dearly amd to follow Him more nearly. I look back on this season of meditations. What have I received?
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Let us love because He first loved us.
An unconditional gift from God. Where have I seen God’s love in my own life? What do I feel thankful for?
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The thankfulness which Saint Ignatius of Loyola felt for God’s love led him to write the Suscipe prayer which ends the full spiritual exercises. After listening to the prayer, I consider which words I can bring to my own prayer? Which words evoke resistance in me? Which words can I pray with all my heart and soul?
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Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Suscipe prayer)
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
You have given all to me;
to you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
Music: The Deer’s Cry