1. Preparation:

• Take time to find calm and silence. Adopt a comfortable posture, balanced between tension and relaxation.

• Become aware that you pray not only with your heart, but also with your body: your head, face, hands and torso.

• Place yourself in the presence of God. Ask for the grace to notice where God is present in your life, and to listen to what He may be saying to you.

Welcome in this meditation for week 4. The theme is God’s presence in my life. I become still within and open myself to what unfolds.

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Theme:

I look at my own life story in order to discover where God was present in my life until now. My life with its good and it’s bad days, with moments of light and also moments of darkness.

What I desire:

That I can see how God has been present in my life as it has so far unfolded.

Theme:

Everything has been set in motion by God’s creative power of love.

We are part of this movement which is still in progress.

What I might wish to ask for:

That I am able to discover God’s presence in creation.

That I can look at creation as something which is still taking place.

That I may have a role to play in this ongoing process of creation.

In order to start my meditation well I become still and silent in order to let God’s gaze of love reach me.

Theme:

God is seeking me just as I am seeking Him. He is looking at me with a loving, friendly gaze.

He tells me: You are precious in My eyes. He longs for me.

What I desire:

That I may discover that God is seeking me.

That I may become aware that God longs for me.

That I can let God’s loving gaze rest upon me.

I pause for a moment and reflect on what this means. What stirs in me?

want to learn to see my life more through the eyes of faith, and discover how God works in me.

Welcome or welcome back to our beautiful Stanislas Chapel. It is good to once again come together, in the silence and stillness, aware of God’s loving gaze upon us.

We begin the meditation with a song and a Bible text. During the half hour meditation, there will be a few times when a brief reflection on the text is given. It is not necessary to follow the whole of the meditation which will be read aloud. You can allow yourself to be guided by something which touches you in the song, in the text or in the reflection questions. It is good to remain in the presence of God and to sense and see what that brings to mind for you.

Breathe a few times calmly in and out and take the time you need to become fully present in this Chapel and in this circle of people. During those calm breaths in and out, become aware of God’s loving presence in you and around you.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola developed the Spiritual Exercises to help people live happier, more loving and more fruitful lives. The Spiritual Exercises are based on Ignatius’ own personal prayer experiences and those of the people he guided. They have been used by the church for centuries to help people see the relevance of Bible texts to their own daily lives. The emphasis is on developing a deeper and highly personal relationship with the God who loves us as well as enabling us to get to know Jesus more and love Him more deeply so that we can follow Him more closely becoming the kind of Christians God wants us to be.