Obedience makes us greatest in your kingdom. If you are new to mental prayer, we invite you to visit our page on the ways of mental prayer, Don’t know how to Pray to God, to learn more.
We begin Day 18 of this Lenten prayer journey with this opening prayer :
Trust and Believe…
Lord,
I know you love me intimately. Please help me prepare my heart as I begin these 15 minutes of mental prayer with you. Lord, let me be present to you and aware of the movements of the Holy Spirit in my heart, receiving the grace you give with humility and obedience. Lord, help me visualize you in my presence right now as I strive to complete this Lenten reflection. Let me fully contemplate the readings as I strive to have the virtue of obedience. I want to follow you all the way to Calvary, Jesus, please make me greatest in your kingdom.
AMEN.
Wednesday of the Third week of Lent (Liturgical Year I)
Obedience Makes Us Greatest in Your Kingdom
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Let’s begin Day 18 of our Lenten journey as we continue traveling with Jesus in our hearts and minds toward Calvary by meditating on the daily Mass readings for today: the First Reading, the Psalms, and the Gospel Reading. As you make your self-reflection, feel free to journal your responses to the Lord. This meditation is suited for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, but you can also pray this meditation while looking at a Crucifix or an image of Jesus that you have.
Obedience Makes Us Greatest in Your Kingdom
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Start with Love…
Holy Spirit,
I believe you are truly here and present to me right now. I desire to be present to you. Guide my heart and mind and show me how I might pick up my cross and follow Jesus all the way to Calvary. Help me turn my heart more fully to God so that I might better understand God’s love for me.
Breathe on me as I spend these next 15 minutes fixated on today’s Mass readings. Holy Spirit, help me pray with humility, honesty, love and affection. I want to grow in virtue and holiness.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for every consolation, desolation, time of silence, difficult trial, and temptation of the evil one. I understand that you love me and that everything in my life happens by God’s holy will, whether it be divine providence or God’s permissive will due to my sin and negligence.
Please humble me as I walk with Jesus toward Calvary.
AMEN.
Say Nothing Just Take Him In
Spend 1-3 minutes in silence gazing at Jesus with love and gratitude, in a prayer of silent contemplation.
Make a Movie in Your Mind…
Now we will contemplate the First Reading. We will be traveling to the plains of Moab in the valley near Beth-Peor, east of the Jordan River. Moses is giving a farewell message to the people before they enter into the Promised Land. After leading them out of bondage and for 40 years in the desert, they have arrived.
Imagine yourself as one of the people of Israel, about to enter the promised land. You will hear Moses remind you to obey the laws and commandments God has given you. Imagine yourself physically there in the scene. What do you hear? See? Feel? Sense?
Obedience Makes Us Greatest in Your Kingdom
Careful Obedience to God Makes Us Great
Deuteronomy 4: 1, 5-9
Moses spoke to the people and said:
“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”
“Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the LORD, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.”
Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'”
For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?”
“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”
Reflection:
Let us take a moment to reflect on the message in the First Reading.
Did you imagine what it would have been like to be born in the desert and then live your whole life traveling through that desert? Then, did you think about finally arriving at the place you had longed for your entire life? Can you see how obedience to God brings you to the promised place?
What emotion does this create in your heart?
Now let’s personalize this passage from our First Reading…
Be Completely Real…
Is there something in your life that you’ve been praying for and asking God for? Have you been asking for years? How can you relate to the children of Israel who wandered for 40 years, hoping in the promise of God? How did they arrive to this place? What did they have to do to make it to the promised place?
Moses told the people to remember that the LORD is close to us when we call upon him. He told them to carefully obey the statutes. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you about obedience. Ask for humility as the LORD probes your heart and mind.
Can you remember all the LORD has done for you in your life? Have you been faithful to him, or are you guilty of disobedience? In what way? Speak to the LORD. Be honest.
Give the Holy Spirit time to respond.
You may want to ask yourself, am I praying with faith every day? Do I know the commandments and do I follow them in obedience to the LORD and the Church? Am I surrendering things to God with humility and letting his will be done in my life?
In the next part we will read a prayer of praise from Psalms. Pray this with FAITH, and from your heart. Can you relate it to your own situation? You may want to pray it a second time, replacing the words Jerusalem, Zion, and Jacob with your own name.
Let us continue our mental prayer with today’s Responsorial Psalm:
Obedience Makes Us Greatest in Your Kingdom
I Glorify You, LORD, And Praise Your Name
Psalms 147:12-13,15-16,19-20
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia
Visualize Christ…
Next, try to put yourself in the presence of Christ by visualizing Jesus walking with you and his disciples. You are going to the Mount of Beatitudes. It is located in northern Israel on the Korazim Plateau. After much walking you arrive to this sight that overlooks the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The soil is rocky, and there are beautiful flowering grasses and forbs as far as you can see.
Take a moment to close your eyes and picture Jesus looking at you and the other disciples. Behind him you see the multitudes. He smiles at you and says, “Listen to me.” You know he is about to speak an important message.
Now we are ready to use our image of Jesus for today’s Gospel Reading. Put yourself in this scene much like you did in the First Reading. Then prayerfully speak to Jesus about what stirred your heart. What do you want to tell him?
Obedience Makes Us Greatest in Your Kingdom
Jesus, Let Me Obey and Teach Your Commandments
Matthew 5:17-19
Are You Listening?
Contemplate Jesus looking at you with a deep loving gaze. He wants you to know your righteousness is impossible without him. He fulfills in you what you cannot accomplish on your own. Do you understand that loving him requires you to obey his commandments? Do you know the commandments? He is telling you that you must know and obey them or you will suffer the consequences of your ignorance and be led into sin.
Take a moment now to speak from your heart to the Lord. How can you make an effort to know the commandments and to obey the Lord’s words? Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in making a firm resolution. Finally, promise to continue humbly meditating on the commandments found in the Catechism and in Scripture and then obeying them in your life.
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 19 Lenten Meditation
Harden My Resolve and Soften My Heart Jesus
“Harden My Resolve and Soften My Heart Jesus” – Join us in our 19th Lenten reflection for Liturgical Year I