Tag: Lectio Divina

Saturday of Easter Week, 22 Apr – Mark 16:9-15 ~ go and tell… everyone

Saturday of Easter Week

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Prayer

Our God and Father, your Son Jesus lived among us, flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood. He died for our sake and you raised him back to life. May we experience his love and his presence to such an extent that we can never stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard, and that people may give glory to you, our God. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
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Reading: Mark 16:9-15 (NLT)

After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened. But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.

Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country. They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.

Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone….”
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Reflection & Prayer:

Lord God: the message of Easter is joyously loud and clear –

“Christ the Lord is risen from the dead!”
“I’ve seen him!”

And yet, this life-changing Good News was met by skepticism and disbelief, even by those who were closest to him. And so it is today, we are not prepared to receive this message until we have personally experienced his love and his presence.

Lord Jesus: you call me to be a personal witness of the Good News of Easter.

+ Transform my life by your saving power, that I may credibly say: “I have seen the Lord!”
+ Fill me with your peace and joy, that I may rejoice in your victory over sin and death.
+ Strengthen my faith that I may persevere as your witness in the face obstinacy and disbelief.

Holy Spirit: help me to live as a child of the light, among my friends and neighbors.

+ Show me how to serve the poor and powerless, and the lost and lonely.
+ Show me how to heal those who feel unworthy, those who feel empty.
+ Show me how to love those who feel content, and self-satisfied.

Lord God: make me a credible witness of your saving power. Through my Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Soli Deo gloria!
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“All the Poor and Powerless” – All Sons & Daughters


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Concluding Prayer

May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.– Psalm 67:1-2 (NLT)

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

The Resurrection of the Lord: 16 April – John 20:1-9 ~ the paradigm shift

The Resurrection of the Lord: 16 April 2017

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening:

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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Reading: John 20:1-9 (NLT)

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed — for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.
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Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ: in the midst of the chaos and confusion of our world, we turn to you, the author of life, to turn our mourning into gladness, and our grief into joy. Help us to set our sights on the realities of heaven.

+ You have died; we have died with you.
+ You are risen; we will rise with you.
+ You will come again in glory; we will live in glory with you.

Holy Spirit: the resurrection has changed everything. Conform our thinking to the realities of heaven, and teach us how to live in faithful obedience to your Word.

+ Teach us how to live holy lives; loving others as you have first loved us.
+ Teach us how to make allowance for others’ faults; forgiving them as you have forgiven us.
+ Teach us how to become more like Jesus; full of tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Heavenly Father: on this day, you opened for us the way to eternal life through your only Son’s victory over death. Guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus that we may live peaceful, thankful lives following as he leads. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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“Easter Song” – Glad


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Closing:

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

– Colossians 3:1-4
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+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.