Meeting 1 — I Am¶
Introduction for the facilitator¶
The Friday meeting aims primarily at getting to know the members and forming a community of a small sharing group. It is therefore worth devoting an appropriate amount of time to integration and outlining the character of these meetings so that they constitute a safe space. An important goal is also preparation for evening prayer, therefore substantively the most important issue to address is our ideas about God and sharing a fragment from the Book of Exodus.
Let’s get to know each other!¶
We start with prayer, then move on to getting to know the group members.
Proposal for a form of getting to know each other: participants pair up, talk to each other for a moment (approx. 3 min.) telling about themselves. Then on the group forum we present each other - we describe the person we were paired with, saying everything we managed to remember. It is in a sense a test of mindfulness and a starting point for reflections on the topic of the meeting.
What was difficult for me in this exercise?
What was my way of remembering information about the other person?
What was more important for me: remembering as many details as possible, or paying attention to what I think is most important? Why?
Similarly, it will be with what we managed to take from the introductory conference, each of us probably remembered something different from it. Some certainly paid attention to what the speaker was wearing, what was their way of speaking, others focused mainly on the content. Regardless of what we “took” from this time for ourselves, we had to show mindfulness to some extent for it to happen.
Mindfulness in practice¶
Each of us is different and pays attention to something else, remembers something else. Something else moves him, he is sensitive to something else. This does not mean that one of us was certainly less, and another more mindful.
What is mindfulness for us? How does it manifest itself in relation with God, with others and with oneself? How can we be mindful of each other during these meetings?
Let us read:
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
—Jn 12:1-8
The motif of mindfulness is present in the fragment speaking about the anointing in Bethany. Mary notices what is happening with Jesus and anoints Him for His burial: Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. Judas is indignant, seeing waste in this and potential possibility of profit: Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?. Mary shows mindfulness to Jesus and what is happening with Him. However, her good gesture meets with criticism from those who are with Jesus every day. Sometimes we are least mindful of those with whom we are closest: wife, husband, parents, siblings. It happens that we assume in advance what they will tell us, how they will react to a given event etc. Jesus defends Mary against criticism from Judas.
What can make us less mindful of the needs of others and what they communicate? How can I remove these obstacles?
How can I develop mindfulness in everyday life towards people with whom I often stay - at home, at work, at university etc.?
Our ideas about God¶
Judas probably overlooked what was happening with Jesus not only because there was no mindfulness in him to His current state, but also because he did not perceive who His Master really is. He expected a powerful Messiah who would liberate Israel, and not a humble servant who would give his life for friends. We ourselves can also have different ideas about what God is like.
How can God be perceived?
What image of God is closest to me currently? How has it changed over time?
What influences my way of perceiving God?
The disciples after the resurrection did not immediately recognize Jesus. In the Gospel we have described several meetings in which only after some time they realized that it was Him. Mary Magdalene at the tomb, disciples going to Emmaus, apostles fishing on Lake Tiberias. Most often they realized that it was Jesus after some specific gesture or sign - after the way he says the name, after how he breaks bread, after the traces of the Passion. The more mindful we are, the faster we are able to recognize Him. At the same time we must have readiness in us to accept God as He currently wants to reveal Himself to us.
Let us read:
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, else the journey will be too great for you.” And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. And there he came to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
—1 Kgs 19:1-13
This fragment describes one of the more difficult moments in Elijah’s life, who doubted the meaning of his vocation, and even generally the meaning of life. Lord God, however, does not give up on his prophet, cares for him and calls him to Mount Horeb to meet with him there.
What is the significance of God asking Elijah “What are you doing here?”?
What did God want to say about himself, revealing himself to the prophet in such a way?
What is my “still small voice” in which I recognize God?
Lord God previously showed his presence in various ways, also in an earthquake or fire (pillar of fire in the Book of Exodus). But at this particular moment of Elijah’s life, he revealed himself to him in a gentle breeze. The experience of God, although He himself is unchanging, is never given once and for all in identical form.
He who IS¶
Before God revealed himself to Elijah in a gentle breeze, on the same mountain he appeared to his other servant - Moses, for the first time directly revealing his own name to man.
Let us read:
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here am I.” Then he said, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt.”
—Ex 3:1-16
In the Holy Scripture we can find many different names of God, two basic ones: Elohim (meaning divinity, El - God) and Yahweh (Lord) indicating more a person. Elohim appears in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, in which God is shown primarily as a powerful Creator of the whole world. In the second chapter, in which the creation of man is described in more detail, next to Elohim appears also the word Yahweh, which shows that God is not only a powerful Creator, but also someone who establishes a personal and intimate relationship with his creation. In the fragment of the Book of Exodus, which we just read, God introduces himself exactly as Yahweh, let’s think together about the meaning of this name.
Note
These two terms appear in the OT because several sources of written OT texts are distinguished: Elohist (E), Yahwist (J), Deuteronomist (D) and Priestly (P). They arose in different periods, contexts and sometimes in opposition to each other. It is assumed that Elohim and Yahweh are the oldest, and so, one can distinguish in Elohim a God more transcendent, inaccessible, sometimes even un-merciful, in Yahweh more personal, in relationship, moreover relationship to the nation (ethnic group - Abraham) not to …state (this is more visible in the Deuteronomic source - e.g. in texts about kings).
What does God say about himself introducing himself as The One who is?
Why did he choose this moment of salvation history to reveal His name to man?
What is my experience of God Elohim, and what of God Yahweh?
God wanted to convey to us that the essence of His existence is simply being: presence filled with mindfulness and awareness in relation to another person (within the Holy Trinity or in relation to man). Since we are Created in His image and likeness, one can say that our basic, specific proto-vocation is also being.
Man who is. I who am - what does this mean to me?
In what way can we realize our vocation to be?
Conclusion and application¶
We will move to evening prayer in a moment. We will stand in the presence of God who Is and we ourselves will want to primarily be there for Him. Let’s try to experience this prayer as consciously and mindfully as possible, let it not be a time that just “somehow passes”, but a moment of authentic persistence with Him. Let’s remember from this prayer at least one detail, one thought or feeling, which we will write down in the notebook and which we will share at the next group meeting.