Evening Prayer
SILENCE (sit or kneel, light a candle if you wish) Allow yourself to be ‘still’ for a moment, a minute or longer. Open your hands on your lap. Receive this time as rest.
MUSIC (sing, hum, or move your body gently to the rhythm of the music.)
Listen: Wait for the Lord (Taize)
Listen: Jesus, Remember Me (Taize)
Crucifix, Philadelphia Museum of Art
image by photographer Jeff LeFever
SILENCE Allow yourself to be ‘still’ for a moment, a minute. Receive this time as rest. Close your eyes and listen.
LECTIO DIVINA (divine reading)
Lectio Divina offers a way of “attending to Scripture, which invites us into God’s presence to listen for His particular, loving word to me at this particular moment in time.” —by Adele Calhoun
John 6: 45-51*
Reading (lectio): Read the following Scripture two or three times
“Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from Him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; He has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Meditation (meditatio): After reading, take some time to reflect in silence on one of or more of the following questions:
What word or words in this passage caught your attention?
What in this passage comforted you?
What in this passage challenged you?
Prayer (oratio): Read the Scripture passage one more time. Bring to the Lord the praise, petition, or thanksgiving that the Word inspires in you.
Contemplation (contemplatio): Read the Scripture again, follow with silence and reflection:
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. How can I become more attentive to the Father’s voice? How can I learn from him?
*portions taken from Lectio Divina of the Gospels
skyline by m r n
