Lectio Divina for 23 September 2024
Lectio
“O Yahweh, demonstrate Your ways to me, and teach me Your paths. Direct me in Your truth, and teach me. For You are God, my Saviour, and I remain with You all day long.” (Psalm 24:4-5) (more…)
Lectio Divina for 22 September 2024
Lectio
“To you, Yahweh, I have lifted up my soul. In you, my God, I trust. Let me not be put to shame.” (Psalm 24:1-2)
This psalm is a cry of trust and surrender to the Lord. David lifts up his soul in a gesture of complete reliance on God, expressing faith that God will not allow him to be disgraced or abandoned.
Meditatio
“To you, Yahweh, I have lifted up my soul.” This is an act of offering and surrender. Lifting up one’s soul means entrusting our deepest self to God—our thoughts, desires, and emotions. It’s a movement of turning everything we are over to Him.
“In you, my God, I trust.” Trust in God is foundational to the Christian life. This is an act of placing our confidence in God’s care and providence. David declares that he finds security and hope in the Lord alone.
“Let me not be put to shame.” Shame here refers to being abandoned or disappointed in hope. David asks God to be faithful to His promises, to protect him from disgrace, and to show His power and love in his life.
As we meditate, we recognise our own need to trust in God, lifting up our souls to Him and asking for protection from all that would cause us shame or disgrace.
Oratio
O Lord, I lift up my soul to You. I trust in Your mercy and Your faithfulness. Do not let me be put to shame; do not let my hope in You be in vain. Strengthen my faith, especially in times of trial, and let me always rely on Your goodness. I surrender myself to You, knowing that You will not abandon me. Amen.
Contemplatio
Sit in silence before God, imagining yourself lifting your soul up to Him. Allow your heart to rest in the security of His presence. Contemplate His faithfulness and the trust you can have in Him. Let go of any fear or anxiety, resting in the assurance that God will never put you to shame. Simply be with Him, trusting in His love and care.
Actio
Surrender any area of your life where you are struggling to trust God fully. Lift it up to Him in prayer, offering your soul into His hands.
When you face moments of doubt or fear, remind yourself of this psalm: “In you, my God, I trust.” Repeat this verse as an act of faith.
Live confidently in the knowledge that God will not abandon you or allow you to be put to shame, trusting in His constant care and protection.
This passage invites us to lift up our souls to the Lord in complete trust, knowing that He is faithful and will never allow those who rely on Him to be disgraced. Place your hope in Him, and trust in His unfailing love.
(Guest author)
Lectio Divina for 21 September 2024
Lectio
“Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, eternal gates. And the King of Glory shall enter. Who is this King of Glory? Yahweh who is strong and powerful; Yahweh powerful in battle. Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, eternal gates. And the King of Glory shall enter. Who is this King of Glory? Yahweh of virtue. He himself is the King of Glory.” (Psalm 23:6-10) (more…)
Lectio Divina for 20 September 2024
Lectio
“Who will ascend to the mountain of Yahweh? And who will stand in His holy place? The innocent of hands and the clean of heart, who has not received his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. He will receive a blessing from Yahweh, and mercy from God, his Saviour.” (Psalm 23:3-5) (more…)
Lectio Divina for 19 September 2024
Lectio
“You have prepared a table in my sight, opposite those who trouble me. You have anointed my head with oil, and my cup, which inebriates me, how brilliant it is! And your mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and so may I dwell in the house of Yahweh for length of days.” (Psalm 22:5-6) (more…)
Lectio Divina for 18 September 2024
Lectio
“Even if I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they have given me consolation.” (Psalm 22:4) (more…)
Lectio Divina for 17 September 2024
Lectio
“Yahweh directs me, and nothing will be lacking to me. He has settled me here, in a place of pasture. He has led me out to the water of refreshment. He has converted my soul. He has led me away on the paths of justice, for the sake of his name.” (Psalm 22:1-3) (more…)
Meditation: On the Exercise of the Presence of God
A strong awareness of God’s presence is a powerful way to drive sin from the world, to bring even the worst sinners back to God, to awaken the lukewarm, and to inspire them towards fervour. It also helps the righteous grow in virtue until they reach perfection. This is what God told Abraham in Genesis 17:1: “Walk before me, and be perfect,” as if He were saying, “In everything you do and every step you take in your earthly journey, keep Me in mind, and you will be perfect in virtue.” The patriarchs and ancient fathers followed this teaching, of whom it is written that they “walked in the sight of God” (Genesis 48:15). The psalmist did the same, saying, “I keep the Lord always in my sight” (Psalm 16:8), and he urged others to do likewise: “Seek the Lord and be strengthened; seek His face (His presence) always” (Psalm 104:4). This practice has always been followed by the saints, and it is what made them saints. (more…)
Lectio Divina for 16 September 2024
Lectio
“Be exalted, Yahweh, by your own power. We will play music and sing psalms to your virtues.” (Psalm 20:14) (more…)
Meditation: On the Presence of God
Consider this undeniable truth, a core tenet of our faith that no Christian can doubt: the great God who created us all—the eternal, incomprehensible, and infinite majesty, to whom all creation is as nothing—is present everywhere. He is truly in every place and in every being. Wherever we are, God is there, with all His divine attributes. The entire deity, the whole Blessed Trinity, is present. As Scripture says, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so I cannot see him?” says the Lord. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jeremiah 23:24). And in Psalm 138 (139:7) “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are there.” How is it that Christians know this and yet still dare to sin? They cannot claim ignorance; it’s one of the first truths taught from childhood. Their problem is they think so little of God or His presence that they forget it entirely. It is as St. John the Baptist said to the Jews about their Messiah: “There stands one among you whom you do not know” (John 1:26). How little, indeed, do so many Christians truly know the great God! (more…)
