November 2022

The following is a possible framework for the Witnessing of the Word. It can be personalised or altered: its purpose is to serve as an example of how this Saying might be used primarily in the context of a Prayer Group, but it may be used by individuals too. It is not intended to be definitive.  In the context of a group: the periods of silence should be appropriate for your group - probably not less than 5 minutes, or more than 15 minutes.

Saying for the month: 

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5.4) (RSV).  

In your time of contemplation, you may like to shorten this to: ‘Blessed are those who mourn’.

To begin the exercise, first spend a short while in relaxation and preparing to be still; you may want to relax your way through your muscles or you may find it helpful to become aware of the sounds around you and then put them aside as you offer this time of prayer to God.

Say this introductory invitation to prayer, then keep a further minute or two of silence:  ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11.28)

Introduction to the first silence - a preparation for listening with the mind: 

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ 

We can mourn not only the loss of loved ones and other people but also the loss of things, situations, relationships, roles. So we need to understand that these losses can be blessings in disguise, creating in our lives new spaces full of creative possibilities, if we face up to them, move through them, experiencing them fully, and finally accept them. We now take this saying into our minds, allowing the saying to speak to us.

We take this Saying into our minds, allowing the saying to speak to us: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5.4)   

A time is now kept for silence of the mind – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.  The silence concludes with a short thanksgiving, and/or feel free to repeat the Saying.

The first silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.

Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with the heart:

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ 

We are comforted when we mourn by several things. One is that the Holy Spirit knows when we are mourning even if we ourselves are not really aware of it yet and the Spirit is able to bring to our minds words of God from scripture that help and inspire us. This happened to me, and I would hear the words in the night when nursing a terminally ill husband. Another way we are comforted is that when our mourning is given to God and includes mourning the pain and agony of Jesus in the first Holy Week, our Easter joy becomes all the greater for the depths we have plumbed. We now take this saying in to our hearts as we allow Jesus’ words to speak in us and let them touch us and work deeply in our lives. “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted”.

Now we take this word into our hearts, as we allow Jesus’ words to speak in us, to let it touch us and let it work more deeply upon our lives.

A time is now kept for silence of the heart – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.

The second silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you that your Word is alive and within us.

Introduction to the time of intercession – taking God’s word outwards into the world.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ 

We who mourn are blessed in another way too. The experience is growing compassion in us for other people who are suffering, and making us into people who are more feeling and sympathetic than we formerly were. This is especially true if we can dedicate or gift the suffering we are undergoing to God so that He can use it to help the world – He who the Bible teaches, is ‘able to work all things together for good’ (Romans 8.28) for those who love Him.  We now take God’s word into our wills, directing it outwards into the world to those mourning and suffering ones who the Spirit will lay on our hearts: ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted’.

Say the name of a person or a group of people, and after a short pause, repeat the saying. For example:

‘Alison and your family  ...  ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ 

As we allow the word to speak through us we might direct Jesus’ word towards those people and situations where there is suffering, hurt and an absence of joy and where abiding in Christ would bring comfort.

Conclude this time of intercession with words of thanksgiving: Father, we thank you that your Word has gone out through us to those for whom we pray.

The Conclusion

Feel free to use the Fellowship Prayer (below) or another closing prayer to conclude your time of contemplative prayer:

Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for all your unsearchable riches which pour forth from you as light from the sun, in boundless profusion and generosity, whether received, ignored or rejected. And now we offer to you, in so far as we are able, as an emptiness to be filled with your divine fullness, ourselves, our souls and bodies; all that we are, all that we have and all that we do.  Amen

You may wish to say the Grace together before departing.