The Daily Meditation with Brother Richard

In this meditation, I bring our series on the Prayer of Saint Francis before the Crucifix to a close, reflecting on the final petition of the prayer: the desire for sense and knowledge.
Knowledge can give us information, but discernment helps us understand what matters and how we should respond. Francis asks for both — for a deeper awareness that allows us to choose wisely and to act with greater attention, compassion and openness to divine grace.
We begin by settling into the body and breath, letting go of what came before and what might follow. From that stillness, we allow Francis’s prayer to sound within us once again: asking for light in darkness, right faith, certain hope, perfect love, sense and knowledge.
As the meditation deepens, we consider how contemplative practice can accompany the decisions we make in everyday life. Rather than reacting automatically, we can create space to reflect, discern and listen.
This meditation offers a contemplative practice for discernment, decision-making and prayer, inviting us to bring greater awareness and wisdom into the choices of daily life.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Sense and knowledge
00:40 – Opening bell
00:43 – Entering the present moment
01:50 – Letting go of past and future
02:25 – Resting in the breath
03:07 – The prayer for sense and knowledge
03:19 – Knowledge and discernment
04:25 – Choosing wisely through awareness
04:39 – Bringing decisions into meditation
05:26 – The full Prayer of Saint Francis
06:10 – Light, faith, hope and love
07:11 – Living with discernment
07:51 – Making decisions contemplatively
09:07 – Returning to the body
09:30 – Closing bell

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In this meditation, I explore how meditation can help us move beneath the surface of our emotional life and begin to understand the many influences that shape a feeling or reaction.
We begin by settling into the body, releasing tension and becoming grounded in the breath and the present moment. From this place of stability, we bring to mind a recent experience of happiness or joy and observe it carefully.
Rather than simply enjoying the memory, we begin to ask where that emotion came from. What circumstances allowed joy to arise? Why did we respond to those particular circumstances in that particular way? What experiences in our lives made us ready to receive that happiness?
Meditation teachers sometimes describe the connection between stimulus and response as a rope. When examined closely, the rope turns out to contain many individual fibres: emotions, thoughts, sensations, memories and experiences woven together.
In meditation, we can allow that rope to loosen and examine its individual strands with curiosity and compassion. We can understand what is useful and what we may wish to release.
Although we begin here with happiness and joy, the same method can be brought to any emotional experience, helping us become more aware of the deeper causes behind our reactions and behaviours.

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Getting to the roots of emotion
00:55 – Opening bell
01:06 – Entering the present moment
01:30 – Relaxing the body
02:20 – Settling into stability and calm
02:59 – Remembering a moment of happiness or joy
03:53 – Observing the experience of joy
04:22 – Exploring what caused the feeling
04:41 – The seven circumstances of experience
05:20 – Looking beyond the immediate cause
06:22 – What made me ready to receive joy?
07:22 – Discovering deeper emotional patterns
07:37 – The image of the rope and its fibres
08:13 – Unravelling thoughts, feelings and memories
08:39 – Examining the emotional fibres
09:30 – What would I weave in or leave out?
09:56 – Applying the practice to every emotion
10:24 – Receiving what arises with compassion
10:51 – Returning to the body
11:20 – Resolving to notice the causes of our reactions
11:35 – Closing bell

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In this meditation, I explore how something as ordinary as drinking a cup of coffee can become a contemplative practice. As a Capuchin Franciscan, I can even claim a particular connection with coffee through Blessed Mark of Aviano, whose story became associated with the cappuccino.
You can practise this meditation with coffee, tea or another warm drink, either holding a real cup or simply visualising the experience.
We begin by feeling the warmth and weight of the cup in our hands. We notice its texture, the steam, the fragrance and the anticipation of taking a drink. As we take each sip, we pay attention to sensations that usually pass unnoticed: the cup against the lips, the warmth of the liquid, its movement through the mouth and throat, and the memories or stories awakened by taste and smell.
By attending closely to an ordinary action, we begin to see how rich even the simplest moment can be.
Towards the end of the meditation, we reflect with gratitude on everything that has allowed this drink to reach us: the coffee bean, its journey, its preparation and the many people and places involved along the way.
This mindfulness meditation is an invitation to rediscover the ordinary miracles of daily life and to bring greater awareness to experiences we might otherwise overlook.

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Coffee as meditation
01:19 – Opening bell
01:29 – Meditation as a moment of rest
01:47 – Preparing a cup of tea or coffee
02:09 – Feeling the warmth of the cup
02:55 – Fragrance, steam and anticipation
03:37 – Exploring the cup through the senses
04:10 – Taking the first mindful sip
04:55 – Taste, memory and story
05:31 – Observing the narratives that arise
06:30 – Taking another sip
06:53 – The full sensory experience
07:38 – Becoming aware of ordinary sensations
08:31 – Taking a third sip
08:47 – The drink becoming part of us
09:13 – An ordinary moment of grace
09:50 – Receiving the drink with gratitude
10:08 – Remembering the journey of the coffee bean
10:59 – Giving thanks
11:15 – Noticing the ordinary miracles of the day
11:46 – Closing bell

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In this meditation, I return to the story of Elijah in the First Book of Kings and to the archetypal map of meditation practice we find in his experience of the cave.
In previous meditations, we considered the storm as an image of the thoughts, sensations and emotions that can distract us when we seek stillness, and the fire as an image of our desire for reality to be different from what it is. Today we encounter Elijah’s third trial: the earthquake.
The earthquake represents those periods of life when what once seemed secure begins to shake. A relationship may end, a job may be lost, an identity may change, or an understanding we have carried about ourselves may begin to break down.
Elijah teaches us to abide. We return to the cave of stillness, to the breath, to the present moment and to divine grace. Every trial has a beginning and an end. The storm comes and goes. The fire comes and goes. The earthquake comes and goes.
Our practice cannot prevent difficult circumstances from arising, but it can help us discover a deeper stability from which to meet them. In the midst of change, uncertainty and suffering, we learn to abide in stillness, equanimity and peace.

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Elijah and the earthquake
01:09 – Opening bell
01:25 – Entering the cave of stillness
02:07 – Grounding in the body and earth
02:53 – Anchoring ourselves in the breath
03:29 – The storm of thoughts and emotions
04:12 – Allowing the storm to come and go
04:36 – The fire of desire
05:05 – Working with reality as it is
05:27 – Abiding in sacred stillness
05:52 – The trial of the earthquake
06:28 – When what seemed secure begins to shake
06:57 – The breakdown of identity and ego
07:13 – Abiding through difficult times
08:07 – Returning to breath, stability and grace
08:33 – Growing in equanimity and peace
08:47 – Storm, fire and earthquake
09:37 – Nothing can remove our inner stability
10:21 – Remembering the teaching in difficult moments
10:55 – Closing bell

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In this meditation, I return to the practice of gratitude and focus particularly on giving thanks for the people who have brought goodness, love and connection into our lives.
Gratitude is one of the values at the heart of meditation. Learning to count our blessings and recognise what is good, even when circumstances are difficult, can help us develop greater equanimity and stability.
After settling into the body and breath, we begin to bring to mind the people closest to us. They might be family members, friends, colleagues, teachers or simply people who have offered us kindness or inspiration along the way. We picture their faces, perhaps remember their voices, and notice the warmth that arises as we hold them in awareness.
We consider the ways these people have blessed our lives and what we may have learned from them. At the same time, we acknowledge the nuanced reality of human relationships. Gratitude does not require us to pretend that relationships have been perfect. Sorrow and difficulty can coexist with genuine love and goodness.
As we remember the support we have received, we make a resolution to become more loving, present and compassionate ourselves, allowing gratitude for others to shape the way we move through the world.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Gratitude for others
01:05 – Opening bell
01:16 – Settling into meditation
02:05 – Gratitude for the opportunity to meditate
02:53 – Finding the breath
03:27 – Breathing out stress and breathing in peace
03:55 – Bringing loved ones to mind
04:27 – Feeling the warmth of connection
05:11 – Recognising the gifts others bring
05:43 – Giving thanks for each person
06:13 – Holding someone in awareness
06:45 – What can we learn from others?
07:14 – Acknowledging the complexity of relationships
08:11 – Becoming more loving and compassionate
08:35 – Resting in a circle of connection
09:17 – Offering deliberate thanks
09:38 – What can these people teach us?
10:05 – Allowing the images to fade
10:41 – Returning to the body
11:15 – Resolving to walk in compassion and love
11:25 – Closing bell

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