Spiritual Practices: Visio Divina
Visio Divina, or sacred seeing, is a type of prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into an image or a scene in silence to see what God might have to say to us. You can find out more about Visio Divina here. Spend some time prayerfully reflecting on the images below and listen to what God might say to you through them.
Visio Divina, or sacred seeing, is a type of prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into an image or a scene in silence to see what God might have to say to us. You can find out more about Visio Divina here. Spend some time prayerfully reflecting on the images below and listen to what God might say to you through them.
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Solar Eclipse from Mount Santa Lucia
Watkins, Carleton E., 1829-1916. Solar Eclipse from Mount Santa Lucia, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56320 [retrieved December 2, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carleton_Watkins_(American_-_Solar_Eclipse_from_Mount_Santa_Lucia_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.
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Exploring the Text: The final word
In this passage, Jesus is wrapping up his discussion about the end times and his second coming. As he is coming to his conclusion, he gives a list of things that will happen. The sun will go dark, the moon will not shine, the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. These are cataclysmic, earth shaking events. But Jesus goes on to say that immediately after these events, he will come back and gather his people back together. While there may be cataclysmic events on the horizon, they do not have the final word, Jesus does.
This is something we can take great hope in, not only foe the end times, but also in our daily lives. While we may go through difficult times and earth shaking events, these do not have the final word, Jesus does, We never need to lose hope despite what our circumstances may say. We know that Jesus has the final word and his final word is always good. When you feel discouraged or hopeless, remember that after even the darkest times, Jesus is always coming.
David Dalton
In this passage, Jesus is wrapping up his discussion about the end times and his second coming. As he is coming to his conclusion, he gives a list of things that will happen. The sun will go dark, the moon will not shine, the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. These are cataclysmic, earth shaking events. But Jesus goes on to say that immediately after these events, he will come back and gather his people back together. While there may be cataclysmic events on the horizon, they do not have the final word, Jesus does.
This is something we can take great hope in, not only foe the end times, but also in our daily lives. While we may go through difficult times and earth shaking events, these do not have the final word, Jesus does, We never need to lose hope despite what our circumstances may say. We know that Jesus has the final word and his final word is always good. When you feel discouraged or hopeless, remember that after even the darkest times, Jesus is always coming.
David Dalton