Brother Richard

It allows us to begin to stabilize ourselves so that our emotions are not always simply reactions to external stimuli, but instead we begin to see that things like compassion, love, forgiveness can be accomplished by deliberate acts of will exercised in a contemplative way

rather than just simply something we hope will appear at some time.

So let's begin.

Entering this time of meditation, choosing this time,

Let's be aware that we are beginning with a loving act, an act towards ourselves of generous love as we give ourselves this time of meditation.

From the beginning, we recognize love as a choice, a choice that nurtures,

a choice that brings with it a blessing.

Settling ourselves into meditation, feeling the ground beneath our feet, our back supported by the chair or cushion, our breath open, present, stable, still.

being with the ebb and flow of the breath, being with the in-breath and the out-breath, trusting in the flow of breath that is always present as the background music of our life.

Gently now,

We follow that breath to the very center of our being, to a place of perfect peace, light, warmth, calm, healing.

Resting in the awareness of ourself,

as a human being, as a center of consciousness and will, as an embodied reality, held in being by divine love, drawn forth into existence from love, by love, through love,

we begin to recognize that our fundamental identity is that of beloved.

Our existence itself, proof of love.

created in a deliberate act of divine choosing.

A choice manifested in love.

And so we rest in the idea of love as the fundamental quality of our nature.

And we know that this belovedness depends on nothing that we can do or say or be.

There is nothing to be proven.