Explore every episode of the podcast Contemplative at Home

A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 12:27-28, 34-36, and 42-43, using Lectio Divina. Glory. Light. An access to eternity that doesn’t look like the power and longevity we might have imagined. I think that Jesus is inviting us to listen very deeply here. I remember my high school French teacher setting out to teach us […]

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A 19-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 8:12-20, using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these […]

The post We Want to See Jesus: Lectio Divina: John 12:20-26 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 24-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 12:1-11, using imaginative contemplation. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these […]

The post Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet: Imaginative Contemplation: John 12:1-11 appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 16-minute guided audio meditation on 2 Corinthians 4:5-11, using Lectio Divina. This meditation emerged as a reflection on the human capacity for bringing both beauty and pain into the world. While this is true collectively, it is also true on an individual level. We are all capable of bringing forth beauty and harm, and […]

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A 20-minute meditation with the writings of Julian of Norwich, using Lectio Divina. You are probably familiar with Mother Julian’s saying “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” On her deathbed, Julian was given a vivid and powerful vision of Christ on the cross. She […]

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A 19-minute guided audio meditation with Job 11:8-9 and Ephesians 3:17-19, using Lectio Divina. I came to this text hoping to bring you a meditation on the depths of the love of God (Eph 3:18-19), but as I sat with a handful of translations, Greek words and Hebrew references, I was taken more mystically into […]

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A 19-minute guided meditation blending gentle physical movement (yoga), breath and the Ignatian Examen. Ignatius of Loyola taught his followers that the one prayer they could never eliminate from their daily practice, is the prayer of review, or the Examen. As Teresa of Avila (who for some time had a Jesuit confessor) said “I’ve gone […]

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A 15-minute audio guided meditation with Song of Songs 2:8. Song of Songs 2:8 The voice my beloved! Look, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. In this guided meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to imagine that you are in the mountains, and that the beloved comes towards you with playfulness […]

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A 16-minute guided meditation, linked to Isaiah 42:1-3 This is what the Lord says…. “I have called you by name…” This meditation is designed to help you pause, connect deeply with the Beloved, to imagine yourself beholding the LORD beholding you, and to hear the LORD calling you by name. It asks you to listen […]

The post Intimate Encounter: Finding Your Name in God’s Love appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

This guided meditation offers you a quiet pause to reconnect with your breath, the Presence of Love, and the question “What is Your will for me for the next few hours?” This might be a little prayer you make at midday, or a few times throughout the day, though there is no incorrect time to […]

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A 22-minute guided meditation with Psalm 96, using Lectio Divina. Psalm 96 is a Psalm of rejoicing, celebrating in the greatness of the Lord. It is a Psalm for Christmas. This guided audio meditation invites you to be aware of your body and your breath as you meditate, allowing the words of the Psalm to […]

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A 15-minute guided meditation for Advent. The Antiphons are short chants which appear throughout Christian liturgy, and feature in Ambrosian chant and Gregorian chant. The O Antiphons are sung in the final seven days before Christmas. Each short verse – one per day – calls on the Lord by a specific name (O Wisdom, O […]

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A 19-minute audio meditation for Advent. The opening image of Caryll Houselander’s book The Reed of God, describes Mary’s “virginal quality” as emptiness. Not a formless or useless emptiness, but a shaped emptiness, prepared to hold something specific. She relates this emptiness to the hollow of the reed, which is prepared to “receive the pipers […]

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A 15-minute audio guided meditation for Advent. During Advent, we remember that Christ has come, Christ is coming (now, among us) and Christ will come again. For those who seek to follow Christ, this meditation offers space to reflect on the Kingdom of God: what it is, what it does and how you are uniquely invited […]

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A 13-minute guided meditation to help you settle on how you will observe Advent this year.  If you’re not quite sure what your advent observance will look like this year, or how to balance the sacred time of waiting with the jolly buzz of December, let me accompany you as you pray through these questions. […]

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A 11-minute audio guided meditation with mindful breath awareness. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning Great is Thy Faithfulness. All blessings as you pause with these profound verses. May they be new to you as you pray. Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided […]

The post Steadfast Love : Lamentations 3 : Guided Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 25-minute audio guided meditation in Luke’s Gospel, Luke 10:38-42, using Imaginative Contemplation. “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that […]

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A 19-minute audio guided meditation with text from Mirabai Starr’s translation of The Interior Castle.   In this meditation I invite you to pray with the wisdom of St Teresa of Avila. Listening prayerfully to the text, you are invited to ask: How is the Lord speaking to me in these words? Teresa was given a […]

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A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 17:1-4, 10-11, 13, 23, 26, using Lectio Divina. In Jesus’ final prayer/teaching before he arrested, in John’s Gospel, there is both a summary and climax of the primary messages of John. These messages include: the intimacy or one-ness that exists between Jesus and the Father, the invitation to all […]

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An 18-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 16:16-27, with questions for reflection. This meditation takes on a slightly different pattern as we allow the text to open up questions for our spiritual journey. Firstly we see how Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure, for a radical shift in their relationship to him. All […]

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A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 16:7-13, using Lectio Divina. John 16:7-13 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will […]

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A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 15:12-17, using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these […]

The post Love One Another: John 15:12-17: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 15:1-11, using Imaginative Contemplation. We continue our series in John 15 with an imaginative contemplation on the vine and branches, exploring the notion of abiding in God. Imaginative Contemplation invites us to see the scripture in new ways, to attend to it with different parts of our mind and […]

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A 20-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 8:12-20, using Lectio Divina. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” “Abide in me.” “Abide in my love.” “I have said these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.” This meditation is in the second half […]

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A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 15:1-5, using Lectio Divina. There are so many layers for reflection in this well-known passage and I invite you to come to it fresh today, open to what nuggets of wisdom might be waiting for you in these images today. Abide in me, as I abide in you. Perhaps […]

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A 23-minute audio guided meditation on the Gifts of Summer. The summer is a time of ripening and fullness, a time to allow the long, warm days to ripen the fruit of the labour of spring. To contemplate, according to Walter Burghardt SJ, is to “take a long, loving look at the real.” Summer, with its […]

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A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 11:45-54, using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, we consider the variety of responses people made to the radical and astonishing life that Jesus brought. I invite you to consider the ways you resonate with those who respond with suspicion and concern, as well as those who […]

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A 25-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 11:32-44, Lazarus is raised from the dead, using Imaginative Contemplation. There are so many feelings in this story: Mary and Martha’s great grief mixed with feelings of profound disappointment with Jesus. Their angry confusion that he hadn’t come to heal Lazarus. Their apprehension when Jesus asks them to open […]

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A 21-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 10:31-42, using Lectio Divina. The text in this meditation comes from the NRSV and NIV, and includes most but not all of the verses in John 10:31-42. See below for verses in today’s meditation. 22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple […]

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A 20-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 10:11-15, using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Distraction is a […]

The post I am the Good Shepherd: John 10:11-15: Lectio Divina appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 23-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 10:1-10, using Imaginative Contemplation. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to imagine that you’re on a Galilean hillside, listening to Jesus speak. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave your dogma, your creed, your thoughts, and your rational mind aside, and become present […]

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A 10-minute meditation on the love of God with breath awareness and verses from the Psalms and prophets. This is an updated version of a meditation released in 2022, with more space to let the verses settle in to your psyche. Listeners to the previous meditation responded in the following ways: “Deep deep thanks. I […]

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A 16-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 20:1-10, using Imaginative Contemplation. Christ is risen. Alleluia! In this meditation we are reminded that the resurrection of Jesus broke over his friends and disciples slowly, amidst confusion and stress. As I reviewed this meditation for editing, I was surprised at how vivid the experience at the empty tomb […]

The post Imaginative Contemplation – Early on the First Day of the Week – Easter Meditation appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 19-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 19:13-42, using Lectio Divina. I am struck by two key invitations as we meditate on the suffering of Jesus in Holy Week. The first invitation is to see how fully and completely Jesus offered himself in love. And the second invitation is to attend to pain, […]

The post A Good Friday Meditation – The Passion of Christ – John’s Gospel appeared first on Contemplative at Home.

A 17-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 19:1-9, using Lectio Divina. In this Holy Week meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at Jesus as he endures these grim moments of his arrest, ‘trial’, and conviction to crucifixion. Notice the way he remains present […]

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A 22-minute audio guided meditation on John’s Gospel, John 18:33-40 using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. […]

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A 22-minute audio guided meditation on John’s Gospel, John 18:33-40 using Lectio Divina. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. […]

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A 22-minute meditation with John 18:12-27, using breath work and Lectio Divina. A meditation for Lent as Jesus is arrested and interviewed by Annas. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian […]

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A 16-minute guided audio meditation with John 8:31-36, using breath work and Lectio Divina. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying ‘You will be made free’?” John 8:33 Jesus invites his followers into an interior freedom. We could devote our entire lives to the exploration of this invitation. You […]

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A 22-minute audio guided meditation in John’s Gospel, John 8:12-20, using Lectio Divina. My invitation to you, always, is to engage with scripture through your creative, non-rational self. Rational engagement with scripture is equally important – we usually call it bible study – and I hope there is a dose of it in your rhythms. […]

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