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.

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, 12th February 2023

They are happy who follow God’s law!

The readings today are all concerned with the law and commandments of Moses. They reflect on the happiness which can be ours if we keep to the spirit of the law and not just its letter.

In the First Reading from the book of Ecclesiasticus, the author stresses that we are given absolute freedom to choose to keep the commandments or not.

In the Psalm we are assured of happiness if we keep God’s law. The psalmist addresses God in trusting words, as one friend would to another.

St Paul is keen to tell the Corinthians that wisdom comes from God. We cannot fully understand God’s purpose for us, but need the help of the Spirit to really appreciate the depths of God (Second Reading).

Finally, in the Gospel, we hear Jesus telling his disciples that he has come to complete the law, not to abolish it. He is the fulfilment of the law. Using a few everyday examples, he shows how we need to go beyond the letter of the commandments and truly understand what is behind them.

This week, we might pray for all law makers, ecclesiastical or secular, that they always work for the greater good of all. We also pray that the Spirit will be with all those who have the power to bring greater peace in the world.

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