Love
In the Spiritual Exercises St Ignatius says ‘Love ought to show itself more in deeds than in words’ [230]. Jesus demonstrates this in today’s scripture, expressing love by serving, doing the task normally left to the lowliest slave.
Who is Jesus wanting you to show love to and to serve?
What grace(s) do you need in order to serve them in love?
Today’s Prayer
Preparation: Begin by stilling; then dedicating the time of prayer to God and asking God that all you think, feel and imagine are for the glory of God.
Gift: Ask for what you desire. Suggestion: To know Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly.
Setting: A Scripture reading to imagine. Imagine you are with Jesus in the Upper Room, what do you feel about this role reversal? – Imaginative Contemplation
Scripture
John 13: 1, 3-5, 12- 15, 17 NIVUK
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end….
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him. …
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. … Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Conversation: Talk to Jesus in your own words as a friend
Final Prayer: End with a formal prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer/Our Father.
Today’s Music
Servant King – Graham Kendrick
Love Someone – Max Ehrmann
Love some one – in God’s name
love some one – for this is
the bread of the inner life, without
which a part of you will
starve and die; and though you
feel you must be stern,
even hard, in your life of affairs,
make for yourself at least
a little corner, somewhere in the
great world, where you may
unbosom and be kind.