Passage
Jesus is speaking to the crowds: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11.28-30
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Meditation
This meditation is a response to the person of Jesus. If you find it difficult to picture scenes and people in your mind’s eye, put it into words in your imagination.
Take up a posture that is comfortable and close your eyes.
Now become aware of your breathing. Become aware of the air as it enters and leaves your nostrils . . . Not as it enters your lungs, just as it passes through your nostrils . . .
Do not control your breathing. Do not try to deepen it or change its rhythm. Simply observe your breathing, in and out, in and out . . .
Now imagine that you are one of a crowd listening to Jesus speak.
Take some time to imagine the scene as vividly as possible . . . the setting inside or outside . . . the sights, scents and sounds . . . the people in the crowd, the disciples, some Pharisees, locals . . .
Compose yourself in the scene.
I’m going to read a short passage from Jesus’ teaching. Watch Jesus in your imagination as he teaches, how he looks at his disciples, the people in the crowd, how he looks at you.
[Read the passage]
Jesus is one with God, and God is love. Jesus is now looking at you with love. How do you respond to his gaze? Let him love you . . .
[Jesus is now making a call on your life. What is he asking of you? How do you respond?]
Now if you wish, in your imagination tell Jesus about your thoughts and feelings. How does he answer you? Let a conversation emerge, or let the words return to silence . . . Stay with that . . . Enjoy simply being in silence with Jesus . . .
If your attention becomes distracted, become aware of your breathing again and then gently return to the scene . . .
Now return gradually to an awareness of your breathing and your posture . . .
When you are ready, open your eyes.
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Notes
This is the last of a series of meditations responding to Befriending Silence by Carl McColman, one of the books which the Slow Book Group at Exeter Cathedral has been reading. The book comprises an Introduction, eleven chapters, and a brief Final Word, which we are dividing into six sessions for reflection over the six months April, May, June, July, September and October 2024. In October we covered Chapters 10 and 11 on stability and perseverence.
The style of the meditation is based on Ignatian meditation and the “unsuspected and untapped source of power and life in our fantasy” as presented by Anthony de Mello in Sadhana: A Way to God, Christian Exercises in Eastern Form (pdf).
