Brother Richard

This is only the beginning of this practice.

There is a lifetime of work present within it, but it is always good to begin.

And so we can take with us the intention

to be more aware of the operating desires of the animal soul, to breathe, to pause before leaping to their fulfillment, to ask ourselves, would their fulfillment lead to the higher desires?

or to an experience of lower desire fulfillment that just leaves me in a circle of echoic action.

And so our meditation on these desires can become the beginning of true and full ethical discernment.

an essential part of the meditator's path.

For now, though, we simply rest in the awareness of their existence.

We remember that all of the desires in their fundamental origin are good.

And we make the intention to grow in awareness.

Returning then to the breath as we breathe in and out.

Returning to the gentleness of the present moment with us.

Gently then beginning to move fingers and toes.

Taking a little stretch if necessary.

And then allowing the sound of the bell to draw us back to the work of the day.

Welcome back.

In today's meditation, we're going to continue with the practice of guided Lectio Divina.

This divine reading is an essential part of the Christian monastic meditative tradition.

Usually it would include taking a passage of scripture or some form of spiritual teaching and working with it.

But for the purpose of this meditation, which is aural in form, I will introduce a phrase from scripture that we can work with ourselves.