The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King (Thirty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Cycle A
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.
The Call of the King
On this Feast of Christ the King, I am offering an imaginative contemplation from the Spiritual Exercises, which occurs between the first and second week of the Exercises. It invites us to consider an earthly leader – in Ignatius’ day, he suggests an Earthly King, but here it is adapted for our modern times. We choose someone that we admire greatly, and might even consider following. And then we consider, if we would think about following an earthly leader, how much more might we consider following Christ the King. The grace we are invited to ask for in this contemplation is not to be deaf to His call, but to be prompt and diligent to accomplish His most holy will.
There is an alternative Imaginative Contemplation for this feast day which I presented last year, should you prefer.
Background music is the album: Keith Halligan – Lifestyle Meditation, Global Journey
