Second Week of Advent

2.BEGINNINGS: The Second Week of Advent
Change is a foot, new beginnings,
new birthings, new becomings!

Advent [a coming into being] is a creative space of potentiality. In our tradition of apophatic prayer, we experience this space through letting go of who we think we are, so that we may be incarnated into the beloved and the beloved into us.

SCRIPTURES:

"I will send my messenger ahead of you
who will prepare your way
a voice of one calling in the wilderness
prepare the the way for the Lord
make straight paths for him."

--------Isahiah 57:14

MYSTICS:

God our deliverer,
whose approaching birth
still shakes the foundations of our world:
May we so wait for your coming
with eagerness and hope
that we embrace without terror
the labor pangs of a new age,

-----Janet Marley

INVOCATION:

Let us awaken inside the breathing of the Creator. As the Beloved gazes into our eyes, we are overwhelmed in rapture and love! We are coming into being! What joy! What delight ! Let us rest in his loving embrace!





[FIRST TWENTY MINUTE SIT]




LECTIO DIVINA:

Oh Beloved,
Your way of knowing is amazing!

The way you recognize every creature
even before it appears.

The way you gaze into the face
of every human being
and see all your works gazing back at you.

Oh what a miracle
to be awake inside your breathing.

-------Hildegard of Bingen





[SECOND 20 MINUTE SIT]






WELCOMING PRAYER:

Gently return to your body and your in
Welcome

We welcome
God's presence in the all in all of life.
Welcome ... Welcome ... Welcome

We welcome everything that comes to us in this moment
because we know it is for our healing.
Welcome

We welcome all thoughts ... all feelings ... all emotions
...all body sensations ... all persons ... all situations ...
and all conditions ...
Welcome

And then we let go

We let go of our need for security
We let go of our need for approval
We let go of our need for control

We let go of our need to change any thought, any
feeling, any emotion, any body sensation,

any situation, any condition, any person
including our very selves...

And we open our hearts to the love and healing
presence of the divine;
And the healing action of grace within.

Amen
-------Mary Mrozowski
(modified by MJG)

[PRAYER REQUESTS/ FINAL REFLECTIONS]

+entire meditation last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes+

Third Week of Advent

3.BEGINNINGS: The Third Week of Advent
Mary as vessel of God's Presence
Divine Feminine Spirit

Advent [a coming into being] is a creative space of potentiality. In our tradition of apophatic prayer, we experience this space through letting go of who we think we are, so that we may be incarnated into the beloved and the beloved into us.


SCRIPTURE:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God ... to [Mary] and said: "Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what kind of greeting this might be. The angel said to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus."

-------Luke 1:26-27;29-32

INVOCATION:

Can we emulate the humility, wisdom, and acceptance of Mary? For we participate in the shocking awareness of being impregnated with God! We are incarnated in God, and God is incarnated into us! Can we sit with that Reality?






[FIRST 20 MINUTE SIT]





LECTIO DIVINA:

If
you want,
the Virgin will come walking down the road
pregnant with the Holy
and say,
"I need shelter for the night,
please take me into your heart,
my time is close."

Then under the roof of your soul,
you will witness
the sublime intimacy,
the divine,
the Christ
forever

as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us
is the midwife of God, each of us.
Yet there, under the dome
of your being does creation
come into existence eternally,
through your womb, dear pilgrim -
the sacred womb in your soul,

as God grasps our arms for help; for each of us is
His beloved servant
never far.

If you want, the Virgin will come walking
down the street pregnant
with Light and sing.

------'Sabbath Poem'
John of the Cross




[SECOND 20 MINUTE SIT]





WELCOMING PRAYER: Gently return to your body and your interior state.
Welcome

We welcome
God's presence in the all in all of life.
Welcome ... Welcome ... Welcome

We welcome everything that comes to us in this moment
because we know it is for our healing.
Welcome

We welcome all thoughts ... all feelings ... all emotions
...all body sensations ... all persons ... all situations ...
and all conditions ...
Welcome

And then we let go

We let go of our need for security
We let go of our need for approval
We let go of our need for control

We let go of our need to change any thought, any
feeling, any emotion, any body sensation,

any situation, any condition, any person
including our very selves...

And we open our hearts to the love and healing
presence of the divine;
And the healing action of grace within.

Amen
-------Mary Mrozowski
(modified by MJG)


q[PRAYER REQUESTS/ FINAL REFLECTIONS]

+entire meditation last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes+

Fourth Week of Advent

4.BEGINNINGS: The Fourth Week of Advent
Mary as vessel of God's Presence
Divine Feminine Spirit

Advent [a coming into being] is a creative space of potentiality. In our tradition of apophatic prayer, we experience this space through letting go of who we think we are, so that we may be incarnated into the beloved and the beloved into us.



SCRIPTURES:


Cousins meet with earth shaking consequences! The God who Mary and Elizabeth know turns the world
upside down.

Mary went to visit Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary greet her, Elizabeth's child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holt Spirit, saying: "Blessed are you, Mary, among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"

-------Luke 1: 40-43


My soul is magnifying the Godhood
and my heart is rejoicing!
For God is mindful
of my humble state!
In 'space' and' time' all call me blessed!
Because the all-potent God
does great things in me!
In the Now all generations are Blessed in me.

--------Luke 1: 46-48
The Aramaic Christ



INVOCATION:

Can we open ourselves to the realization that we are vessels of the Divine? Teach us how to live with the shocking reality that we too are wombs of incarnation. Awaken within us the sacred remembering. Teach us to be silent, to be still, and listen.

--------MJG





[FIRST TWENTY MINUTE SIT]






LECTIO DIVINA:

Divine feminine spirit,
Womb of Creation, Heart of the earth,

You who are the rivers that nourish,
The moon that pulls the tides within us,
The hands that comfort, the voice that guides,
We honor your presence with every breath.

Great Mother,
Awaken within us, the sacred remembering,
That we too are sacred vessels of life and light.
Help us soften where we have become hardened,
And rise where we have been made small.

Teach us to listen deeply,
To speak truth wrapped in kindness;
And walk this earth with reverence,
With strong backs, soft hearts, and open hands.

We reclaim the beauty of the sacred Feminine,
Not to dominate, but to restore,
Not to possess, but to protect,
Not to control, but to create.

We call on the sacred Feminine,
Teach us to walk in harmony,
To honor the earth as a temple,
And to remember that our power resides in prayer.

Amen.

-----------Flordemayo
(edited by MJG)





[SECOND 20 MINUTE SIT]






WELCOMING PRAYER:

Gently return to your body and your interior state.
Welcome

We welcome
God's presence in the all in all of life.
Welcome ... Welcome ... Welcome

We welcome everything that comes to us in this moment
because we know it is for our healing.
Welcome

We welcome all thoughts ... all feelings ... all emotions
...all body sensations ... all persons ... all situations ...
and all conditions ...
Welcome

And then we let go

We let go of our need for security
We let go of our need for approval
We let go of our need for control

We let go of our need to change any thought, any
feeling, any emotion, any body sensation,

any situation, any condition, any person
including our very selves...

And we open our hearts to the love and healing
presence of the divine;
And the healing action of grace within.

Amen
-------Mary Mrozowski
(modified by MJG)

[PRAYER REQUESTS/ FINAL REFLECTIONS]

+entire meditation last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes+



August 2025

MYSTICS: TEILHARD DE CHARDIN (1885-1955): The Not-Yet God

Teilhard de Chardin sought passionately for God in the heart of every substance - this was his form of mysticism, a return to origins. And his mystical writings reflect a paradigm shift in understanding the relationship of modern man and the not-yet-God in all of creation.

Teilhard is a Creationist and his writings reflect the four paths of Creationism: Via Positiva [Origins], Via Negativa [Emptying], Via Creativa [Union and Creativity], and Via Transformativa [Compassion and Celebration].



COMPASSION AND CELEBRATION: "[Teilhard] exhorts us toward adoration of God through our creativity...with our efforts and energies we complete the world, we bring fulfillment to God, and we move the world closer to the Omega Point."



-------- "Meditations with Teilhard de Chardin"

by Blanche Gallagher

SCRIPTURE:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another to be of one mind, to live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you."

-------- 2 Corinthians 13:11

"For you, there is only one road that can lead to God and this is fidelity; to remain constantly true to yourself, to what you feel is highest in you. The road will open as you go."

-------- Teilhard de Chardin

INVOCATION: May we consent to the creative source of all that is to awaken within ourselves that same creative energy so that we may participate more completely in the ongoing work of creation. We pray for discernment that we may know our path and follow it faithfully.

-------- MJG

[FIRST TWENTY MINUTE SIT]


LECTIO DIVINA:

Just trust life:
life will bring you high.

If only you are careful in selecting
in the maze of events;
those influences or those paths,
which can bring you each time,
a little more upward.

Life has to be discovered
and built step by step
a great charm

If only one is convinced
(by faith and by experience)
that the world is going somewhere.

-------- Teilhard de Chardin

[SECOND TWENTY MINUTE SIT]

================================================================================

November 24, 2025

4. THE MYSTICS: Brother Lawrence Practice of the Presence of God

(1606-1691)


Brother Lawrence was a lay monk who served as a cook in the severe order of the Discalced Carmelites in Paris, France. He developed a spiritual practice cultivating holiness by practicing the presence of God in ordinary living. His simple faith and humble way of life has shed light and truth to four generations since through his famous recorded conversations and writings.

Preface:



Brother Lawrence identifies four ways to help us remain in God's presence.

Remembering
Heart Prayer
Relationship
Contemplative Presence

The Fourth Way: Contemplative Presence

"The pure gaze that finds God everywhere."

--------Brother Lawrence

God comes to us through the all in all of life. We are alive in and one with it, and still preciously who we are. Consecrated contemplative practice is allowing the source of love to bring us toward the place which is our home [one with the source].

--------Gerald May

SCRIPTURES:

O women of the city,
Swear by the wild field doe
Not to wake or rouse us
Till we fulfill our love.

--------Song of Songs

INVOCATION:

As our ultimate state of being approaches, let us recognize that we are the very likeness of our beloved. Let us rest in that union and the realization of the endless interconnected of all life itself.

--------MJG


[FIRST TWENTY MINUTE SIT]


[audio of me reading the LECTIO?]

LECTIO DIVINA:

When God gazes at us and we gaze at God,
we light up...
And God lights up with the joy
of being recognized by the one God
created in God's own image and likeness
for this sake of this recognition.

That we might rest in it...
resting in this communion

in each other. . .as each other . . .
through each other . . .beyond each other,
in this endless interconnectedness
of life itself,
Of Love.


--------James Finley


[SECOND TWENTY MINUTE SIT]

Concluding Prayer:

[insert concluding prayer audio here]

WELCOMING PRAYER:
Gently return to your body and your interior state.
Welcome
We welcome
God's presence in the all in all of life.
Welcome ... Welcome ... Welcome

We welcome everything that comes to us in this moment
because we know it is for our healing.

Welcome

We welcome all thoughts ... all feelings ... all emotions
...all body sensations ... all persons ... all situations ... mL
and all conditions ...

Welcome

And then we let go
We let go of our need for security
We let go of our need for approval
We let go of our need for control

We let go of our need to change any thought, any
feeling, any emotion, any body sensation,
any situation, any condition, any person
including our very selves...

And we open our hearts to the love and healing
presence of the divine;
And the healing action of grace within.

Amen

--------Mary Mrozowski
(modified by MJG)

[PRAYER REQUESTS/ FINAL REFLECTIONS]


+entire meditation last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes+