Praying with the Last Supper in Some French Churches and Images of the Messiah in the Old Testament: Contemplative Reading of Scripture 187

PRAYING WITH THE LAST SUPPER IN SOME FRENCH CHURCHES AND REFERENCES TO THE MESSIAH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT CONTEMPLATIVE READING OF SCRIPTURE 187Shirley Muriel SullivanThis book begins with a discussion of the nature of prayer in the Carmelite tradition. It then presents Old Testament Images of the Messiah, tracing references to the Messiah from Genesis to Zechariah. These passages help us to understand Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who chooses to feed his sheep with his very self at the Last Supper. The book presents images of the Last Supper to be found in some churches in France. This book is the one-hundred and eighty-seventh in the series, Contemplative Reading of Scripture.All the images have been taken from the presentation of French churches on the amazing website of Painton Cowen, The Rose Window. https://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/index.htmCurrently this site offers free access to many images of medieval stained glass. As we present different images of the Last Supper, we give the location of each image in the church in which it is found. My suggestion is that we engage in the Prayer of the Heart to the Trinity and then pray with the images along with passages about the Messiah in the Old Testament. Responding to the beauty of each image, we enter into the amazing wonder of the Last Supper.For each Scripture passage, I suggest a pattern of prayer, using the contemplative way of reading Scripture called CLASP. This pattern is a form of lectio divina, the prayerful way of reading Scripture. In the word CLASP, the letters stand for:Cor: We begin in our “heart” (cor) with the Prayer of the Heart to the Trinity. We spend 20 minutes in this prayer.Lectio: We “read” (lectio) through our Scripture passage.Auditus: We “listen” (auditus) to what this passage says to our hearts.Suspiria: We express in “sighs” (suspiria) to the Holy Spirit our longing to understand the Scripture more deeply.Pax: We end our prayer time in “peace” (pax).My hope is that each image will draw us into a deep, personal encounter with God at the centre of their beings. In this book all English quotations of Scripture are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. Read more