Welcoming the Holy

Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.

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By: Sister Sheila Briody

With joy you are ever at home in my Heart, as I have always lived in yours. (Ps.60)

Opening Prayer

Loving God, you have called me
as a follower of Joseph to stand open,
receptive and expectant before You,
to know my dependence upon You,
to wait for your grace in the Holy Spirit.
Liberate me to a radical sense of mission
through the rhythm of contemplation
and courageous action,
to be a healing presence in any and all situations.              Amen.                               
                                             (SSJ Federation Research Team, adapted)

Reading

During this Month of January, we reflect on The Baptism of Jesus and the start of his public ministry.  He is model and inspiration for following the Great Love of God.

In this reading, Rainer Maria Rilke speaks to one of the mysteries He must have faced:

‘Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to LOVE THE QUESTIONS themselves. Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them and the point is to be able to live everything. Live the Questions now perhaps you will them gradually without noticing it live along some distant day into the answers.’ Rainer Maria Rilke

Reflection

How does this reading reflect the courage we are called to embrace at the start of the New Year and the message of the Baptism of Jesus? How does it inspire you to recommit to the following of Jesus in your daily life? For this chaotic era, name the ways we are being invited to embrace God’s Great Love amidst such troubling and violent times?

Pray the names of the men and women in your life who have modeled faithfulness to the questions.

Closing Prayer

Remain ever before me, O Living Presence, for in You I am safe. You are my Beloved; in You I can do all things.    Psalm 27

Reminder

My enthusiasm and the energy I expend for God’s cause are proportionate to the love for God I have in my heart. If I am “madly in love,” I will do great things for God.   (Paraphrase of Maxims of Perfection, Olivier)