Return to Lenten Meditations

Lent 2022: Learning to Live With God...
"Not my will but Thy will be done"

Lent is a time of preparation for the Paschal mystery, when we awaken more fully to the reality of resurrection life. When we realize that God is at the center of all life, the self-denial traditionally associated with Lent becomes,  ultimately, a process of self-fulfillment. Following Christ, we come to understand and experience our selfhood as intimately part of God's nature. Below, you will find material and practices offered with love by members of the Trinity community for your Lenten journey. Use the links sent in our Tuesday emails for new material, or just visit the website and browse at your pace. As we consider the overarching theme of these Lenten Meditations, we invite you to join us in using this Prayer to help you be more receptive to God's guidance in your life:  

Make known to me Your ways, O Lord;
teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth,
and teach me.
​~Psalm  25:4-5

Meditations, Week 4
Collect and Readings, Fourth Sunday in Lent
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Link to readings:   Joshua 5:9-12, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, Psalm 32

Offered by members of the Trinity Community...

A Meditation on Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

​“But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”
 
The parable of the Prodigal Son is one of a number of times Jesus expressed his concern for and love of the sinner.  Like the good shepherd who is concerned about the one lost sheep, Jesus tells us of the father with a lost son.
 
Jesus, like the joyous father, does not condemn, but forgives and rejoices in the return of the wayward.
 
Who are the prodigal sons in my life?  Am I like the self-righteous stay-at-home son, or can I freely forgive and rejoice at the return of a lost soul?  In my daily life, am I too sure of my own beliefs and opinions?  Can I look beyond the sin and love the person?
 
Submitted by Michael and Gale Donoghue

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A Meditation on Psalm 46 

"Be still and know that I am God"
​​Begin this meditation by reading  Psalm 46  (God is our refuge)
 
“I have come to see prayer as a gift, as something to be received
rather than achieved. So our stance becomes one of open receptivity,
of careful attentiveness to the gift God is wanting to give us in this
moment, in this day, in this season of our life. Listening and
watching become just as important, or more important, than speaking.”
Br. David Vryhof
Society of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, MA

David Vryhof was one of the brothers at the monastery who taught me how to pray.
It took me a little practice to stop my inner voices and to learn to sit in silence, since I am a talker and always came to prayer with a list of things to consider. Try sitting in silence from time to time this Lent. Come with a quiet heart, open to receiving the presence of God in the stillness. Remember how Elijah found God in the still small voice.
( l Kings 19: 11-13)
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Submitted by Rev. Bill North

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​Silence 

Be still.
Then you can listen
To the trees growing
To a mouse walking on spongy grass,
To a flower opening its petals in early dawn
Be still.
Then you can listen
While in the depths of the ocean
To the silence
All around you
BE still.
So you can hear your own heartbeat,
The still small voice of a butterfly’s wings
The quick soft breeze of a baby’s breath
Be still and hear the Voice of God.

Practice:
Take a moment away from the "busy-ness" of your life.
Come to stillness and enjoy the peace that only God provides.

Submitted by Heather Koelle

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The Power of Prayer

Back in 1947, Ben and I were looking forward to our marriage. Our rector had a meeting with us when he gave us one-piece of advice that we took very seriously: pray together every night. On our wedding night we prayed the Lord’s Prayer together, then our own prayers separately, followed by a kiss goodnight. That became our ritual nightly for the rest of our lives when both of us were physically in the same location. During our 73 years of marriage, I can only remember one night that I was still too angry to forgive Ben for whatever he did to upset me. So, I refused to pray with him. At no other time in all those years was he as angry at me as he became then. I learned my lesson. All disagreements died with prayer and never brought up again. 
 
Submitted by Dorothy Dangerfield 

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​Breath Prayer 

Minister Adele Ahlberg Calhoun suggests a form of breath prayer that allows us to bring our heart’s deepest longing into our intimate relationship with God:
Breath Prayer reminds us that just as we can’t live on one breath of air, we can’t live on one breath of God. God is the oxygen of our soul, and we need to breathe (God) in, all day long.
After all, it is in (God) that “we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)
Breath Prayer reminds us that each breath we are given is God’s gift and that God’s Spirit is nearer to us than our own breath…

To practice Breath Prayer, ponder the nearness of God. Settle deeply into the truth that Christ is in you. Deeply breathe in, repeating any name of God that is dear to you…As you exhale, voice a deep desire of your heart. The brevity of the prayer allows it to be repeated over and over throughout the day.
 
Examples of Breath Prayers are:
Breathe in “Abba;”  Breathe out “I belong to You.”
Breathe in “Healer;”  Breathe out “Speak the word and I shall be healed”
Breathe in “Holy One;”  Breathe out “Keep me true.”
Breathe in “Lord;”  Breathe out “Here I am.”
Breathe in “Jesus;”  Breathe out “Have mercy on me.”
 
My own personal Breath Prayer is: Breathe in “Jesu;” Breathe out “I am yours.”
 
Practice:  Make up your own Personal Breath Prayer and try to use it throughout the week.

Submitted by Sue Welfley