Matthew under the arm 9

One of the great skills in drama - plays and operas at their best - is that actors and singers will make sure that they do not get in the way of the art; the 'story', the atmosphere which the play or opera is created to present. Columba made sure that he did not get in the way of Christ's presence on the pilgrimage. I'm on pilgrimage with Columba now and he keeps on smiling at me to watch more, to be quiet more in order to let the pilgrimage be one made with Christ and not to do with my achievement. Oh well!
Let me pick up my bible again with you and get some help with this 'upstaging' that I'm inclined towards!

Matthew 4.12-17
Matthias Grünewald’s painting of the Crucifixion shows John the Baptist pointing towards Christ with the Scriptures open at the words: ‘I must decrease so that he may increase.’ He followed in the footsteps of Elijah, one of the great Old Testament prophets, who exposed the hearts of humanity. The Old Testament [The Hebrew Scritptures] is a vital means of understanding the roots of Christ’s presence in human history. John saw into the heart of Christ and prepared the way for this new Inspirer. He did not get in the way. To know Christ is to receive the gift of ‘seeing’ where lostness is to be recovered and hunger is to be fed. Much more than being a prophet, Christ is the way God is.



I thank You for all those who have brought me insight into Your Presence



It will be helpful to have paper for this meditation. John the Baptist is pointing you in the direction of Christ. He is introducing you to Him, Let John take you to Christ personally and intimately. Let the Spirit show you those in your own story who have pointed you to Christ’s presence. They may be people you know intimately or have simply met briefly. They maybe people you have read about or heard speaking. They maybe people in history. See them in front of you and above all thank God for them. They have got out of your way!

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 8

I am constantly reminded of the importance for Columba of ensuring that he had the time to pray. It seems that for him and for so many of the saints, such time was essential - without which they could not do. In my experience, this shows itself when I stop finding the time. My ability to see the 'working' of God around me diminishes. I suppose the reason for me not finding the time comes about as a result of a 'temptation', which often includes the voice that says insistently: 'You, Martin, are too busy...' Oh well, Get behind me!
(But I'm sorry, Columba, I'm having a sit on this rock, pulling my Thermos out and having my Hot Chocolate... with this passage...)

Matthew 4:1-11

To test someone else’s faith is to undermine their humanity. Faith is being in union with God even when I have no sense of what that might mean. In the desert there is no security. There the greatest danger to faith is the desire for security – to avoid hunger and poverty, to be protected and to have power and influence over others. All this finds its roots in fear. The desert simplifies choices: to react out of fear or out of love. Love is the activity of God where there is insecurity. The Holy Spirit leads Christ into insecurity not as a test but to strengthen His obedience to God.

Let the Holy Spirit lead you to live by My Grace, My Simplicity and My Freedom



The Holy Spirit acts in you as you desire to pray at depth. So, use the sentence to still you and take you to a place that is without securities or perhaps certainty. Be in the desert with Christ. The securities you desire may reveal uncomfortable facets of your personality. The security of sufficiency… the security of protection… the security of having influence… Do not judge yourself or analyse these facets. They are illusions. Just notice them. Let them be. Tell them to get behind you, even if it is only for a while! You are with the giveness of God, the simplicity of prayer and you are free to react just as you feel.

+Martin

Argyll and The Isles.

Matthew under the arm 7

Matthew 3:13-17
‘This is My Son...’ These are words spoken now in this moment. I am asked to be there with John the Baptist and to experience that which he experienced. It was a given experience with which John the Baptist could do nothing. Acceptance in surprise, apprehension and delight... and it happened right in the middle of the experience of repentance. Jesus enters right into the heart of human lostness and the consequent alienation from God and brings the forgiveness of God. The Spirit is the vital active means of this experience that continues right through to our praying. @This in My Son is breathed with the breath in this praying.

Holy Spirit, open my heart that I may know Thy Son in the work of forgiveness


Notice the work of the Spirit in this passage. Be there with Christ as the Spirit descends on Him. Hear the words ‘This is My Son’ spoken to you. What do you see? What do you feel? In your meditation, respond from your gut. What do you naturally do when you have been given an experience that is for you? The words ‘...with whom I am well pleased’ are about sheer delight. The union that comes from the intimacy of Love that is self-abandoned. You too are precious. Like Christ you are made in God’s image. Enjoy this prayer.

Matthew under the arm 6

One of the most important preparations for prayer is to be aware of your breathing and practice the art of gentle and rhythmic breathing. With the sentence in the middle of each of these little pieces on Matthew's Gospel, you can repeat the sentence in time with your breathing. That way lends itself to using the sentence at many points throughout your day. After all, if you are going to be a companion of Columba's on the Way, your breath is literally a vital companion.
So having read this passage from Matthew, and the little comments attached, enter your silence with one of your best friends, your breath.

Matthew 3:1-12
John the Baptist states clearly, before any baptismal activity, that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The Kingdom is the process by which those alive and dead in Christ are brought into the unity and love of God. It is at hand and it is not yet. Baptism is the sign of purification, being turned towards and a readiness for that Kingdom. To be turned involves deep courage and humility. Repentance, which is a turning towards God, is demanding. To allow myself to be turned involves letting go of resistance. When I begin to let this happen then I begin to experience a little of what the love of God is – what the Gospels call the Kingdom of God.

Turn to me and I will transform your living for My Loving


You are now entering prayer. That involves trust. In order to let go of so much that gets in the way of the Love of God, trust in prayer must be practiced. Repentance is about one simple and yet costly question: What is replacing the Love of God in my life? Simply observe and do not be harsh on yourself. God wont be! God now comes to you and gently turns you towards the new – the way of costly love. When you come out of this prayer it may be that you have someone in mind who can help you to talk through what arose in your prayer.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 5

Every pilgrimage is about 'sacred/holy places', some will be noticed and most go unnoticed. Following Columba means being acutely aware of the possibility, if not the probability, that sacred places will be revealed to you. They are vitally important.... Here's why...
So get yourBible out and read the passage with your hot chocolate... or....
Enter the holy!

Matthew 2:19-23
At the beginning of the Gospel, the Holy Family make their way into the region of Galilee. At the end of the Gospel, the angel tells those who are looking for Jesus to go to Galilee where the risen Christ is. It is also in Galilee that disciples first encountered Jesus. The sacredness of place because of the significance of the event there… Such places are embedded in our memory. For Mary and Joseph, Galilee gave some safety, as the child was still under threat. Pablo Picasso, the 20th Century sculptor and painter, when he was a little boy was loved and held firmly and lovingly in the arms of his grandfather, when he experienced an earthquake – love and tenderness in the middle of trauma. The place of such love is sacred. A ‘Galilee’ place.


I thank You for Your Holiness in the places You have led me.


In the silence of your prayer, recall from your memory a few of the places where you have experienced important events in your life. Allow your imagination to relive the event with as much detail as comes to you. Use all of your senses to relish each moment of the experience. The Spirit of God will bring the memory into the present moment. This is a recollecting of the sacredness of place. It is your ‘Galilee’ moment. It may well be that it is a place which is important to you because of surrounding darkness in your life. Christ is with you there bringing deep healing and strength. Take a brief note of your prayer experience. It could be important in God’s love and will for you.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 4

Not everyone finds it necessary, but it is worth considering having someone accompanying you in your spiritual life. There has been a great deal written and spoken about this subject. However, I am often asked what are the qualities that a Spiritual Director or someone who accompanies you in your prayer life. Simple really. 1) That person will have a deep and committed life of prayer themselves. 2) They will have profound listening skills while having the skill to challenge. Friendship is an important element. 3) That person will understand the importance of belonging to a Christian community in which and from which the spiritual life is offered and lived.
Anyway back to Matthew:
Take a break from the road and let Columba look over your shoulder as you read and pray.

Matthew 2:13-18
If the child Jesus was not taken to Egypt, maybe his ‘crucifixion’ would have arrived somewhat earlier. The countless ‘innocents’ would not, on the other hand, have been slaughtered. At what price, Christ’s survival? However, the apostles (the disciples who became witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ) also lost their lives in brutal circumstances. (See W H Auden's 'The Twelve') Hard though it is, we are asked to focus on Jesus Christ in the middle of those circumstances. It is he who makes God’s Way through history including hell itself. The child’s parents were asked to wait in Egypt until the guidance of God became clear. Those who follow Christ rooted in their prayer are such as the parents of Christ: people of hope, who have the courage to wait, despite apparent hopeless.

Grant me obedience and determination to wait on Your Will being awakened within me

One of the greatest difficulties in prayer is to be weighed down by a sense of hopelessness – a kind of depression that would suggest that praying is a waste of energy, let alone time. This sentence is created from the Gospel passage to ask that you be obedient to Christ because of the circumstances of his life. Therefore your circumstances, no matter how dark they may be, are where Christ is. In fact, it may be in the middle of the darkness that God in Christ slowly makes His Will known deep within you.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 3

Perhaps it may seem a little harsh to begin with mentioning the early morning! Yes, I am aware that the words 'metabolism', 'lifestyle and 'habit' are relevant here. Experience shows that human consciousness in the early morning is at its most receptive. The wisdom of the mystics and the way of devotion in all religious cultures, speak of that time being the best for meditation.... Well, that makes sense. When the issues and tensions of the day begin to make themselves felt, attention in meditation is much harder. Perhaps rather than speak of the early morning, it might be more helpful to speak of 'first thing in the morning', whenever that first for you happens to be....
So make yourself your coffee, or in the Spirit of Following Columba, get your Thermos out and sit by the path and read the passage.... Then.... pray....

Matthew 2:1-12

Francis of Assisi portrayed the child Jesus with his arms stretched out on his Mother’s lap – the 'eternity' of the Cross. The Christ-child was known already by some as the King of the Jews and, as such, a threat to the powerful. Christ puts a question mark over all temporal power, that has also individual implications. The power of Christ the King is discovered where justice and well-being has been denied people. He is to be found among the deprived in whatever form. The wise men visited this poverty and brought their priceless gifts. Looking for the suffering Christ among the alienated is wisdom. Bringing our gift is the demand of the Love of God.


Christ the King, let me find You in the small and vulnerable and bring my gift


It is essential that commitment to prayer is given priority because that is how unity with the Holy Spirit is perceived and experienced. The wisdom to see Christ in the alienated comes from prayer. Without it, union with God is a theory, an idea. The difficulty is that the small and vulnerable are easily missed. More often, they are ignored. Busy-ness and pre-occupation are stilled by entering deeply into prayer. Allow yourself to ‘look at’ the Christ-child. Let the imagination run free. Then look at where you see this fragility in your day. The gift you have may not amount to much in your eyes. It may, for the vulnerable, be life-giving.

+Martin

Argyll and The Isles.

Matthew under the arm 2

I am using the New Jerusalem Bible for this exercise.
So get your coffe or tea, or something, out and have a read:
Matthew 1. 18-25.
Then.... prepare for some prayer....

The emphasis on the Holy Spirit is fundamental as it is the presence of the activity of God at the very roots of our living. The Holy Spirit, in a sense, is the means by which all human life comes into being. It is mistake to see Christ’s birth as unique in some distant inaccessible way. Of course, all birth is unique. The birth of Christ draws attention to God’s involvement in this creativity. Nor is this limited to the conception of a new child. The Holy Spirit IS the creativity of God who constantly is in the ‘new’ - firmly in the history and life-system of the universe.

So use this sentence in the moments of your day that you give to silence:

I would realise the Life of Christ within me through the Holy Spirit



This meditation demands self-acceptance, the love of yourself and, of course, patience. Realising the depth of the Holy Spirit within you is a lifetime’s process. As your development as a human takes time, so does your spiritual development. So, slow down and take time with this sentence. By practicing this prayer at the beginning of the day when you are alert and expectant, you are cooperating with the vibrancy of God within, who wants to bring to birth in you the Christ. Christ is not limited to the biblical Gospels. He is Gospeling himself in you. You not only have a Gospel to tell that is your story of Christ within you, but that you are a Gospel by the way you are.

+Martin

Argylland The Isles

Following Columba with Matthew under the arm 1.

The Matthew postings are focused on the sentence in the middle.... Each sentence is meant to be a kind of infusion - and affective experience of brief but deep prayer wherever you are.

(Matthew 1.1-17)
Have a coffee or something and read these verses.....

While learning to know Christ in prayer with Matthew’s Gospel, the names of the generations are not so importance as the sense of process that lies behind them. Risk, Hope in the new, suffering and delight in God’s presence. Those of us who place ourselves alongside the Gospel, begin to know Him. This is about falling in love with God in Christ who is in Abraham, the one who risks leaving his home to create the new community. (Following Columba) There is the looking in hope to fulfilment of God’s promise of unity with Him – the realisation of Love. There is the suffering of the great ones in the development of Israel, leading to the Suffering of God Himself – Jesus Christ. God is present in our history intimately. My task is to know this history intimately in the heart, so that I can participate in its creativity and healing.

Lead me, Christ, into a deeper Knowledge of Thy Way


You are part of a race with all its memories, many of which lie deep in the unconsciousness. This meditation does not happen in isolation although you may be alone. Christ comes to you from a vast array of human beings throughout history. The wonder of that is almost numbing. The meditation implies a trusting attitude that you will perceive Christ deeply in you as he hungers to be here for you right now in the Gospel. Do not be hindered by a false sense of inadequacy. It may be that following your praying with Matthew through each sentence you will want to know more, understand more. You have begun to read the Gospel. Allow this sentence to ‘take you by the hand’ and lead you to your intimately friendship with Christ amongst the staggering myriad of followers known and unknown.

+Martin
Argylland The Isles