Praying the Sunday Mass Readings with St Beuno’s Outreach

St Beuno’s Outreach is based in St Beuno’s Jesuit Spirituality Centre in the hills of North Wales, in the Diocese of Wrexham. The Outreach began in 1989, with the idea of helping people develop and maintain a personal relationship with God through Christ by praying the Word of God in the Sunday liturgy. From a prayerful awareness of the Spirit working in and through us will come a sense of mission, a desire to join Christ in his mission.

How to pray with Scripture - from St Beuno's Outreach
It is usually most helpful when entering into a formal period of prayer to spend some time quietening down and centring on God. The following indications, known as “Anchor Points” have been found to provide a good framework for your prayer. Particularly important after coming to some inner quiet is the slow entry and slow exit from prayer.

FOUR ANCHOR POINTS

  1. PREPARATION

Choose your place of prayer. Make yourself comfortable, you may like to light a candle. Get in touch with your feelings: What is my frame of mind? What do I want to say to the Lord; what do I desire?

  1. ENTRY INTO PRAYER

Become quiet and still. Relax. Try to put aside any distractions. Choose a passage of scripture. Make the sign of the cross, visibly or in your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer. Read your chosen text slowly several times. Notice what comforts or disturbs you.

  1. SLOW EXIT FROM PRAYER

Speak to the Lord in your own words about this time of prayer, what has it meant to you. Perhaps finish with the Glory be to the Father or a favourite prayer of your own. Make a sign of the cross, internal or external. Leave your place of prayer, thanking God for the time he has spent with you.

  1. REFLECTION AFTER PRAYER

Ask for whatever grace you need to respond to our Lord, “with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole mind”. If possible, do this in a different place. Recall the prayer period: Was it good to be at prayer?  Did you learn something; maybe feel that the Lord was asking something of you? Notice how you are feeling now. You may find it helpful to jot down your thoughts in a notebook.

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, 29th October 2023

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’

The readings for this week invite us to consider how to live as followers of Jesus in our communities and in our world. 

In the First Reading, God speaks to the people of Israel about how they should treat the oppressed and down-trodden, in order to please God.

The Psalm reminds us that we can only live the lives that God wants by relying on him: he is our rock, our strength, our saviour, our mighty help.

St Paul writes to the Thessalonians that we should all be imitators of the Lord, in the joy of the Holy Spirit (Second Reading).

In the Gospel, Jesus asks us to express the love of God that fills our hearts, our souls and our minds, by treating others as we would want to be treated ourselves. We find in others the image of the God who is love.

This week, we pray for and with our sisters and brothers in so many parts of the world who yearn for peace and justice. We ask especially that God will help us to grow in love of him and of one another, and that we might more and more recognise Christ Jesus in our midst, especially in those who are suffering.

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