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A place of reflection from the contemplative Christian tradition featuring guided meditations in the in the spirit of lectio divina and centering prayer. Best experienced with headphones.
Breath of Love -- Proper 25, Year C (Track 2)
Readings: Sirach 35:12-17; Psalm 84:1-6; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18:9-14
>>>Welcome
Welcome to Breath of Love.
This is a place for sacred listening --
a rhythm of Scripture, silence, and embodied prayer.
Each week we enter the same simple pattern:
breathing, receiving,
returning to the heart of love that holds all things.
Wherever you are -- in stillness or in motion --
alone or among others --
you are part of this circle of sound.
There is nothing you need to perform here.
Only to breathe.
Only to receive.
So we begin, as always,
by finding the breath again --
a breath that meets us where we are
and carries us deeper
into the mystery of Christ alive in all things.
>>>Centering & Breath Prayer
Find yourself in a comfortable position --
perhaps still, or gently moving,
settling into the rhythm of your own breath.
Let your awareness widen…
to include the air around you,
the ground beneath you,
and the quiet pulse of life within.
There’s no one way to be here.
You might notice sounds nearby,
or thoughts still in motion.
All of it belongs.
All of it can be part of this prayer.
With the next few breaths,
let a simple rhythm carry you:
Breathe in: Humbled and heard…
Breathe out: Lifted in love…
Again --
in: Humbled and heard…
out: Lifted in love…
Let this become a quiet path
threading through the silence within you.
>>>Meditation 1 (Sirach 35:12-17)
Here is wisdom from the book of Sirach:
“The Lord is not partial to the poor,
but he listens to the prayer of one who is wronged.
The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds;
it will not rest until it reaches its goal.”
Let yourself imagine that --
your own prayer rising like a breath of mist,
weaving through the unseen currents of the world,
piercing the clouds.
You do not have to force the prayer upward.
You only have to breathe honestly,
and trust that heaven already leans toward you.
Breathe in: Humbled and heard…
Breathe out: Lifted in love…
>>>Meditation 2 (Psalm 84 :1-6)
Hear the Psalmist sing:
“How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts!
My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.”
Imagine that dwelling not as a building
but as the living world itself --
the air, the water, the steady breath within your chest.
Even the sparrow finds a home here, says the psalm.
Even you, exactly as you are.
Breathe in: Humbled and heard…
Breathe out: Lifted in love…
>>>Meditation 3 (2 Timothy 4 : 6-8, 16-18)
Listen to Paul reflect on life:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.
The Lord stood by me and gave me strength.”
Feel those words not as achievement
but as accompaniment.
Strength that arrives quietly
when everything else is spent.
You don’t have to win the race.
You only have to stay present
to the One who runs beside you.
Breathe in: Humbled and heard…
Breathe out: Lifted in love…
>>>Meditation 4 -- Luke 18 : 9-14
These are the words of Jesus:
“All who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Two people praying in the temple --
one certain of his virtue,
the other aware of his need.
Let your breath be that second prayer:
simple, real, unpolished.
A prayer that says only,
“God, be merciful to me.”
In every exhale, a letting-go.
In every inhale, a quiet lifting.
Breathe in: Humbled and heard…
Breathe out: Lifted in love…
Body Blessing
Now bring gentle awareness
to the body that prays without words.
Breathing in: notice the crown of your head,
and the way light touches it.
Breathing out: soften your eyes and jaw.
Breathing in: feel the weight of your shoulders;
breathing out: let them settle and rest.
Breathing in: sense your heart’s steady rhythm;
breathing out: allow gratitude to spread from there.
Breathing in: down through your abdomen,
feeling how the breath gathers strength;
breathing out: release whatever need to strive remains.
Breathing in: through hips, legs, and feet;
breathing out: let connection root you in the earth.
This whole body --
listening, humble, beloved --
is part of the temple the Psalmist longed for.
Rest here a moment longer,
in the quiet exchange of giving and receiving,
of being humbled and being lifted in love.
Amen.
>>>Farewell
As our time together comes to a close,
There is no hurry.
The breath that holds you goes with you into what is next.
When you speak, may your words carry kindness.
When you move, may your steps remember stillness.
And when you rest, may you feel the quiet joy
of belonging to all that is.
This is Breath of Love.
Until next time --
go gently,
and breathe peace.