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.

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year B, 12th May 2024

God is love

On this Sunday, which comes between the Ascension and Pentecost, we continue to follow the development of the infant Church and return to St John’s theme of God’s love for us.

In the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples come together to discern and pray, so as to chose an apostle to replace Judas. The lot falls to Matthias.

The Psalm is a hymn of praise and describes the love of God that covers the whole universe.

The Second Reading emphasises that God’s love for us is the reason and example for our love for each other. As long as we do this, God will live in us, and will share his Spirit with us.

In the Gospel, taken from Jesus’s priestly prayer to the Father, Jesus prays that the disciples will remain true to his name. As the Father sent Jesus into the world, so he now sends his followers. May they be united in faith and love.

The readings lead us to contemplate the love and unity within the Trinity, a fitting preparation this week as we look towards Pentecost.

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