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The beauty of being forgiven by Fr. Justin Gillespie

Today we try to pray our way into the apostle Thomas' shoes as he experiences the dismay and the pain of coming back to faith after Jesus' death. How he loves deeply and passionately, but needs to reconcile that love with a deeper trust and faith in the person of Jesus.

Today we consider in our prayer how we Jesus' life and passion is present to us and how we can better open ourselves to this presence during Holy Week.

As we approach Holy Week, we turn to Jesus' encounter with a desperate father in order to understand the apparent frustration that Jesus expresses. In prayer we try to discover how, while we might be disappointed and frustrated with ourselves, Jesus only reacts to his desire for union with each one of us being impeded. This is what he wants, and in the depths of our hearts, we do as well.

Praying on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, we try to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in a re-discovery of how Jesus' physical presence is God's presence. We want our prayer to become contact with that presence, and following two scenes from the Gospel of Mark, we seek it out.

Joseph had the courage to accept that in spite of his inadequacy, God wanted to live with him, to be that close to him. Under St. Joseph's protection, we too pray for the ability to be that close, that at ease with Jesus and with Mary.

At the beginning of Lent, we take up once again Pope Francis' exhortation to let God gaze upon us, and try to pray and explore how this can open us to the real graces that God wants to give us in these days.

As perfect God and perfect man, Jesus relates to us empathetically. In other words, he responds to and feels our interior world. Apart from helping us understand just how true and real our friendship with him can be, we can also understand our relationship to him on the Cross. In short, we want to better understand what we mean when we say that he "sees us". For more fascinating ideas on this topic, they can be found in this recent book: https://www.amazon.com/Atonement-Oxford-Studies-Analytic-Theology/dp/0198813864/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=37V9W9WKODA84&keywords=stump+atonement&qid=1550588791&s=gateway&sprefix=stump+at%2Caps%2C207&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

When Jesus invites us to take up our cross each day and follow him, he is inviting us to live, not to annihilate ourselves. This is the central paradox of our faith, and we need to pray and allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit so that we might understand it well. For it is in the joy of Cross that we can experience and radiate the attractiveness of Jesus to others. www.spiritualbatteries.com

Contemplating the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, we try to open ourselves in prayer so as to experience the singular love that she did and to try and be just as grateful. The considerations in this meditation are inspired in large part by Eleonore Stump and her recent book, "Wandering in Darkness".

Coming to believe in God's existence and in his power, while challenging, does not ultimately require faith. Knowing that Jesus is God and that He desires union with me - this does require faith. Today we contemplate Jesus' encounter with a leper in St Mark's Gospel in order to pray for an increase in this faith, faith in His attitude towards each one of us.

A shameless friendship with Jesus by Fr. Justin Gillespie

Mary, our Mother: sharing her closeness with Jesus by Fr. Justin Gillespie

The Psalmist tells us to "delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart". With these words as our guide, we try and contemplate the mystery of and infant-God so as to overcome the shame and inadequacy that we feel before such a mighty love. www.spiritualbatteries.com

In Advent, the Church invites us to rejoice as the coming of Christ approaches. In our prayer today we try to contemplate what it means that Jesus comes close to us, how he rejoices over us, and how in him we can experience God's own peace. www.spiritualbatteries.com

This is a meditation given on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Guided by the example of simple people who have marvelled at Mary’s beauty, we too try to join them in our prayer and make that same discovery for ourselves.

We all have the experience of wanting different things, of having all sorts of desires. But God wants to integrate us, to fill us with a unifying desire to be united with Him, and therefore to experience in an authentic way all of the other joys of life. Today we pray about our need to desire more, not less, and for that desire to be something that unifies us and liberates us. www.spiritualbatteries.com

Jesus encourages us to be grateful because he wants us to discover the joy and the communion that he himself has with the Father. Today we contemplate how one leper learned to be grateful, and pray that we might receive a similar grace in our own lives. www.spiritualbatteries.com

In his first letter, St. John meditates upon his experience that God has loved us first and that, as a result, we are able to love him. In today's prayer we try to follow his words so that the Holy Spirit can help us grow in the love that casts out fear and makes our souls beautiful in their pursuit of Him. www.spiritualbatteries.com

In order to believe in God's love for us, we need "proof" of a sort. What can I look to in order to know that He loves me? Many saints have found that answer looking at the Cross. This is where Jesus shows me not only that he loves me, but what that love means. However, in order for that not to remain a dry consideration, we need the fire of the Holy Spirit to ignite us with the faith that Jesus' action on the Cross was actually about me. This is what we pray about today. www.spiritualbatteries.com