The Welcoming Prayer is a well-known part of the contemplative Christian movement and is focused on our becoming aware of and engaged with God’s presence in all our circumstances.
Focus briefly on your body, and take time to notice how you feel physically…
Focus briefly on your mind, and become aware of the pace and content of your thoughts…
Focus briefly on your emotions, and allow yourself to non-judgmentally name them…
Welcome…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
And welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations and conditions.
I let go of the desire for security, affection and control.
I let go of my desire for esteem and appreciation.
I let go of the ideals of mastery, perfection, and completion.
I let go of my compulsion to change any situation, condition, person, or myself.
I, as I am—an imperfect creature in a broken world—am welcomed into the body of Christ. And I welcome the power and presence of God into my imperfect situation.
I trust Your sufficiency, Father God, even in light of my current reality.
Amen.
Don't analyze your body’s sensations, your thoughts or your feelings. Simply experience them and remember God's presence and action and grace are with you in your experience. This practice is about responding to and participating in our present reality rather than reacting to or solving it. In this prayer we submit, in faith, to God’s presence in every aspect of our lives. We remember that God is with us in every moment. We allow for our own confusion, pain, and dissonance to co-exist with God, and with His love and grace toward us. And we listen to Him call our name in the midst of our disorientation.
_
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
