Hello,
My friends.
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks,
Welcoming you to this Lectio Divina contemplation and meditation audio in which we'll be reflecting on the words of Anthony of Soros,
Also known as Metropolitan Anthony Bloom.
To start with,
Though,
I just want to talk about two words,
And these two words are remember and recognise.
Remember literally means to pull together.
It's the opposite of dismember,
Which is to pull apart.
Remembering is when things are put back into their place.
And then recognise.
Recognise means to re,
Again,
And congosia,
From the Latin,
Which is to know.
So literally,
To recognise is to know again,
Which suggests that we once knew about it before but we've forgotten.
This is essentially the good news,
That you can really recognise who you are and have always been in God,
And that in doing so,
You'll remember your life,
And that is to draw it back into wholeness together again.
So how are we to live?
Well as people who are remembered and have recognised that God is within us and desires to live in and through us.
As people who have had our own beauty seen and affirmed,
And we now are to do the same and call out the beauty that we see around us.
Why,
Though?
Because in doing so,
We point out the presence of God in the world.
For as I've said many times in many places before,
Wherever goodness is shared and wherever beauty and truth is recognised,
That is where God,
Who is love,
Is.
And so I invite you to stop for a moment,
To sit,
To be still,
To breathe in and out.
To open your ears that you might hear the words that the Spirit is drawing you to reflect on today.
That you would open your mind to think and reflect upon those words and to draw the truth out that the Spirit brings you to today.
That you would open your heart to be good receptive soil for the seed which is those words so it can be planted deep in your life and bring forth beautiful fruit both for you and for those around you.
May the words that you hear and are drawn to today bring life and bear much fruit for the glory of God and for the blessing of people around you.
Amen.
And so we begin.
Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person,
We can contribute nothing to them.
One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong or what is ugly or what is distorted.
Christ looked at everyone he met,
At the prostitute,
At the thief and saw the hidden beauty that was there.
Perhaps it was distorted,
Perhaps damaged,
But it was beauty nonetheless.
And what he did was to call out this beauty.
Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person,
We can contribute nothing to them.
One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong or what is ugly or what is distorted.
Christ looked at everyone he met,
At the prostitute,
At the thief and saw the hidden beauty that was there.
Perhaps it was distorted,
Perhaps damaged,
But it was beauty nonetheless.
And what he did was to call out this beauty.
Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person,
We can contribute nothing to them.
One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong or what is ugly or what is distorted.
Christ looked at everyone he met,
At the prostitute,
At the thief and saw the hidden beauty that was there.
Perhaps it was distorted,
Perhaps damaged,
But it was beauty nonetheless.
And what he did was to call out this beauty.
And so as we rise from this time of meditation and contemplation in Lectio on these words,
May we recognise that we are all created in the image of God.
May we see that we all bear the imprint,
The watermark,
The signature of the divine image.
May we see in the words of Jesus,
Christ himself calling out this beautiful image in which people were created so that they and others around them could remember,
Recognise and see it.
And so may we have eyes to see the world and other people with the very eyes of God,
Eyes that see the beauty around and within all things.
May we have a voice to call this beauty out so that all people may see and experience that beauty in,
Around and among us.
May we and all those we meet recognise,
Remember and know who and whose we are.
And may grace,
Peace and love go with us every step of the way,
This day and every day.
Amen.
And may you go in peace,
My friend,
To love and serve the God whose name is love.
Peace be with you.
Until next time,
Bye for now.
