The way of praying I am offering here may be very familiar to you, or it may be something new and very different. Perhaps that's why I have offered references here to reassure you that it is part of 'mainstream' practice but is a best kept secret in our churches.

Not so in the early Church. When people met they had a real sense of Jesus present with them. When they spoke of him, recalled his life and teaching, remembered his last meal with the disciples, and when they shared these stories in writing with others, Jesus was there, just as he was when he walked the earth with them. Listening to his words was a new opportunity to answer, to respond, to be healed, spurred into action, drawn to silence. These words live. 

We're going to read the first words we hear Jesus speak in John's gospel as living words. He is speaking them to you now. To help you hear them and respond to them as living words, now, we'll use a way of praying with the imagination which has been in Christian tradition for centuries, made popular by Ignatius of Loyola in 16th Century. 

Perhaps you are used to reading scripture and find it hard to follow it by listening. I ask you to try it anyway. Listening brings you into a different kind of conversation with the person reading it for you, the words can be more alive for you.   

You'll the prayer by clicking on this link.  The image on the screen is to give you something to look at, but you can look wherever you want, eyes open, eyes closed. You decide. Raising the volume will help you hear the words clearly above background music, included to help you relax into your conversation.