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.

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, 28th April, 2024

‘I am the vine, you are the branches.’

We are deeply rooted in the love of Christ. The risen Christ is the source of all that we need to grow ever closer to God.

In the First Reading, we hear how shortly after his conversion, St Paul was initially treated with fear and disdain by those he had been persecuting. Paul’s zeal for the Lord was grounded in a very personal encounter with Christ. Knowing that he was loved completely despite all that he had done before, gave him the encouragement to spread the Good News.

As a faithful worshipping Jew, Paul would have been familiar with praying today’s Psalm, an encouraging song of praise. It foretells how generations yet to come will be filled with the love of the Lord.

In the Second Reading, the writer counsels that even if we feel we have failed or fallen short in our response to God’s love for us, his love is so immense and all-forgiving that we need not be afraid. Knowing this, we can be free to live out the great commandment to love one another. 

The beautiful image of a vine carefully tended by the Father is used by Jesus to describe his and our relationship to God (Gospel). We are all sustained in an intimate co-existence with the Holy Trinity. Jesus invites us to remain close to him. Without him, our life is nothing, with him, we discover our true identity and purpose

This week, let us try to consciously be aware that we are branches of one vine, rooted in God’s love. Although we may have our differences and shortcomings, we are forever loved completely by a God of compassion, love and forgiveness. Let us pray that like St Paul, we will have the grace to live out this amazing Good News.

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