Welcome to the 10th episode of Christian Meditation with the Neeta Mathias.
Let's begin to detach from the world,
To retreat into the inner sanctuary of the self and to begin to breathe,
Resting in the presence of the God who gives us breath.
In this world of so many worlds,
It's a blessing to retreat and to have a brief experience of God.
Whatever has happened so far in your day,
Place it in God's hands.
Lord God,
Bring good out of even the blackest seeds of our lives.
Make them flower.
We leave them in your hands.
Whatever is to come today,
Place it in God's hands.
Protect us,
Lord.
Deliver us from evil.
For now,
All we have is the present,
This moment.
You here,
You beloved child of God,
Hanging out with God.
Close your eyes,
Sit straight or cross-legged if that's comfortable for you and breathe.
A deep breath in to the count of five and out to the count of five.
Breathe in deeply,
Breathe out fully.
Once more.
As you relax,
Visualize the love of God who is your maker,
Who loves you,
Slowly flowing through your body with your breath,
Flowing to all the tense,
Tired,
Sad places,
To places of discomfort.
Stretch your arms upwards,
Then cactus them.
I lift them at right angles to your shoulders and stretch them slightly backwards.
Raise your shoulders to your ears,
Slowly roll them clockwise,
Anti-clockwise.
Repeat.
Ball your fists,
Tense your fingers,
Wriggle them outwards like a starburst.
Send your breath towards your belly.
Place your hand there as you breathe deeply.
Feel your stomach rise and fall.
Continue breathing deeply,
Through to your hips and down to your toes.
Clench them,
Wriggle them,
Breathe.
Try another whole body inhale from your nose to your toes.
Again.
Do not judge or you too will be judged,
Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount.
For in the same way you judge others,
You will be judged.
And with the measure you use,
It will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
Let me take that speck out of your eye?
When all the time there's a plank in your own eye,
You hypocrite,
First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
And so Jesus reiterates a law of life,
Sowing and reaping.
Those who draw the sword will perish by the sword,
He says.
The swift to condemn will be judged more harshly for the seeds we plant in the garden of our lives,
Our secret thoughts,
Our words,
The kindness or meanness of our actions determine our flourishing.
We reap what we have sown in unexpected ways and at unexpected times.
Since God,
The righteous judge,
Observes both our generosity and our unkindness,
The world stows we judge powerless to help or harm us.
And God holds our lives in his hands.
Jesus does not condemn accurately reading character.
That is a basic life skill,
To realize that not everyone is trustworthy,
Honest,
Truthful or even decent.
Indeed,
Jesus warns us about deceptive,
Smooth-talking people,
Wolves in sheep's clothing,
Out to devour you.
Assess people by the fruit of their lives,
Jesus says.
Thorn bushes don't bear figs.
However,
Dwelling on another's faults while ignoring our own invites judgment,
Jesus says.
He recommends using our irritation with annoying or evil people as a reminder and trigger for self-examination.
When we are bothered by a speck in another's eyes,
Jesus recommends checking if we have a whole log of the same fault or a greater one in our own eyes.
Interestingly,
Freud says we are most infuriated when we observe our own faults in other people.
Obsessive judging is wasted time and energy.
We must train ourselves to refocus that energy into transforming those blind spots,
Limbs and cracks in our characters,
Which so often destroy the house of people's lives.
Besides,
Fretting over others' faults leads only to evil.
As the psalmist says,
We unconsciously imitate speech and character traits we dwell on.
Read a good stylist and you write better.
Focus on another's stinginess,
Manipulativeness or dishonest self-promotion and you risk mirroring it.
But what of us who've been judgy and critical?
When we repent,
We live under the mercy in Charles William's phrase.
Jesus forgave Peter who betrayed him and he will forgive us.
God devises a unique calling for both the naturally sweet and the naturally outspoken and no nonsense.
Whatever seeds you've sown into your life so far,
Thistles or grapes,
Place those seeds in the hands of the God of redemption.
Ask him to make the garden of your life bloom and to help you do the work he has given you to do.
Let's conclude with the prayer of Saint Brendan.
Christ of the mysteries,
I trust you to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times,
Even now,
Are in your hands.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven.
Amen.
