We Know that Jesus is the Son of God. 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 32 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 obedience and faith. 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 ponder how we know that Jesus is the Son of God. I want to follow you all the way to Calvary, Jesus, and I want to do it with my whole heart.
AMEN.
Friday of the Fifth week of Lent (Liturgical Year I)
We Know Jesus is the Son of God
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Let’s begin Day 32 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.
We Know Jesus is the Son of God
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 are traveling with Jeremiah and the elders and priests of Jerusalem. It is a very solemn walk because they are accompanying Jeremiah to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is also known as Gehenna, to hear a prophecy from the Lord. As they walk near the Valley of Ben Hinnom to the Potsherd Gate, we can only imagine the thoughts in Jeremiah’s mind.
He is ordered by God to tell them about the coming destruction. He takes them to the gate that overlooks Gehenna. This is the place where some of the most prominent people of Judah sacrifice their children by burning them on the altar of a pagan god named Baal.
Jeremiah laments to the elders and priests that the Lord is going to punish them because they have filled Gehenna the blood of the innocents. As instructed by God, Jeremiah breaks a clay flask, symbolizing the impending destruction of Jerusalem and its people.
This prophecy causes Jeremiah to be beaten and persecuted by Pashhur the priest. He is locked up in the stocks overnight.
Slowly imagine yourself physically there in the scene. Now we will hear Jeremiah’s prayer to God after he is released by Pashhur. We hear him speak to the Lord from his heart after enduring persecution from these evil men.
We Know Jesus is the Son of God
The Lord is My Mighty Champion
Jeremiah 20:10-13
I hear the whisperings of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. “Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.”
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion. O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause. Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, For he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!
Reflection:
Let us take a moment to reflect on the message in the First Reading.
Do you recognize the steadfast love that Jeremiah has for the Lord and his willingness to endure persecution for the sake of righteousness? Can you see how assured he is that God will take vengeance on the wicked and rescue the innocent from their power?
Now let’s personalize this passage from our First Reading…
Be Completely Real…
Do you see any parallels in your own life? Can you see instances where the wicked persecute the innocent and those who speak out for the sake of righteousness are persecuted? Take a moment to pray for the innocent who need to be rescued from the power of the wicked.
Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in this prayer.
In the next part we will read a prayer of thanksgiving from Psalms. Pray this with gratitude and faith, knowing that the Lord hears your prayer and will answer you.
Let us continue our mental prayer with today’s Responsorial Psalm:
We Know Jesus is the Son of God
The Lord Keeps Me Safe from My Enemies
Psalms 18:2-7
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
Visualize Christ…
Next, we travel to the Temple in Jerusalem during the Feast of the Dedication. It is winter, and the Jews are gathering to commemorate the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees after they liberated Judea from the Syrians. This feast is also known as Hanukkah, and it recalls the miracle of God’s intervention when a small amount of oil burned continuously for eight straight days.
Now we are ready to take our image of Jesus and visualize today’s Gospel Reading. Jesus is walking in the Temple in the portico of Solomon, and seeing him, a crowd begins to form.
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?
We Know Jesus is the Son of God
I Know the Father is In Jesus
John 10:31-42
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”‘? If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be set aside, can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize (and understand) that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
(Then) they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in him.
Are You Listening?
Contemplate the signs God has given you throughout your own life. In what ways has Jesus shown you the truth? How have you responded to these signs?
Take a moment now to speak from your heart to the Lord about the signs you have been shown that prove Jesus is the Son of God and that the Father is in him. Consider how you have responded to this knowledge throughout your life. Are you like Jeremiah, who is willing to suffer persecution for Jesus? Or are you more like the crowd in the portico of Solomon, who idly watch from a distance and speak among themselves quietly?
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 33 Lenten Meditation
Jesus Gathers Us Together to Be as One
“Jesus Gathers Us Together to Be as One” – join us in our 33rd Lenten reflection for Liturgical Year I