Lectio Divina: Jeremiah Denounces His Persecuters

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

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Here, as stated before, it is my intention to draw from the forthcoming Sunday liturgy and to offer a guided prayer on one of the pieces of scripture in the same way that we have been doing in Exploring Personal Prayer. I do not intend to offer any reflections on the scripture. My suggestion is that you follow the Ignatian structure: preparation for prayer by reading the scripture, going to your prayer place and doing the prayer itself, and then moving away to another place and doing a review of the prayer. Keeping some sort of prayer journal is good practice. Note any moments of consolation in the prayer, where you felt drawn more deeply into God, and moments of desolation, where prayer was disturbed, where you were distracted and pulled further away from God: feelings of attraction and repulsion should be noted. These points may provide areas for repetition of the prayer. Also, if you have a spiritual director or prayer partner, someone who can listen with an ear to where God is in this, it may be worth sharing your prayer with them. I am following the processes outline in the prayer cards above. You may print these onto A6 or A4 card to have in your prayer space to help you become accustomed to this way of praying, remembering it is more of a flow than a rigid structure.  

Jeremiah Denounces His Persecutors

(Jeremiah 20:7-9)

⁷ O Lord, you have enticed me,
    and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
    and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughing-stock all day long;
    everyone mocks me.
⁸ For whenever I speak, I must cry out,
    I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’
For the word of the Lord has become for me
    a reproach and derision all day long.
⁹ If I say, ‘I will not mention him,
    or speak any more in his name’,
then within me there is something like a burning fire
    shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
    and I cannot.

Background music is the album: Keith Halligan – Lifestyle Meditation, Global Journey