Consider having a houseplant nearby, or a view of trees or greenery, to look at with a soft focus for the opening portion of the body awareness practice.
Opening Body Awareness Practice
With eyes open and a soft focus, take in and release three deep breaths before letting your breath return to normal. Then gently close your eyes. Feel the weight of your body on the chair, bed, or floor. Finally, take a minute to do a body scan: noticing how the body feels as you scan steadily down from the top of the head to the feet, not trying to change anything, just noticing. Close the practice with another deep breath, in and out.
The Sarum Prayer
God be in my head—and in my understanding
God be in my eyes—and in my looking
God be in my mouth—and in my speaking
God be in my heart—and in my thinking
God be at my end—and at my departing
Psalm Portion
Psalm 119: 176
I have wandered like a lost sheep, seek your servant, for your commands I did not forget
Reflection on the Psalm
This verse, the last line in the longest psalm, is filled with longing for personal encounter. The psalmist feels they have wandered—as sheep are prone to do, owing to their sheepishness and not any malice. It’s a compassionate view of the self before God. Even having wandered, though, the psalmist remembers the commands (words) of God. But this memory is insufficient in relation to the desire to be sought after by God, who is known as a shepherd. Over the next minute, imagine yourself as the psalmist, speaking thus to God with the same compassion toward yourself and longing to be sought out by God. Over the course of the next minute repeat the verse as though it were your own prayer.
Words of the Gospel
Matthew 9: 36
And seeing the crowds he was moved inwardly with compassion for them, because they were in distress and cast down, like sheep having no shepherd.
Word Meditation
Take a moment to picture in your mind a person moved with compassion at the plight of another person or creature. For example, I came into the kitchen to find Julia teary eyed; she had been reading the story of an immigrant family affected by the pandemic. You will have your own image of someone moved with compassion. Focus your attention on that and let yourself mirror the feelings of the person moved with compassion. Consider what it would feel like to know that God felt the same way toward us when we are confused, feeling harassed, out of control, helpless.
Prayer for Loved Ones
Take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth as you devote the next minute to naming your loved ones, presenting them in love before the one who is Love.
Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
Gratitude Practice
Place a hand over your heart, and allow yourself to feel gratitude, appreciation, or delight in 3 good things that are part of your existence. Rest your awareness on gratitude for them or any others that come to mind over the next minute.
The Sarum Prayer
God be in my head—and in my understanding
God be in my eyes—and in my looking
God be in my mouth—and in my speaking
God be in my heart—and in my thinking
God be at my end—and at my departing
Benediction
Psalm 121: 5–8
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
So go in peace, wash your hands, love your neighbor—you are not alone.