Sacred history always begins with God's people as particular individuals.  Therefore, the "Word of God" (a symbolic concept) engages a person and thereby begins the sacred history of that person's life.  For those whom God calls in a special way to a specific task, this word is issued directly and in ways one cannot fail to hear.  Usually, however, this word is veiled, mediated through human words and human actions or in a special event.

This word always places a decision before us.  We can open or close ourselves to it.  Those who assent to it will experience how the "word" accompanies them throughout their life. This is experienced most powerfully when we expose ourselves to it regularly through daily listening, reading or meditating on the biblical message - then the word has ample opportunity to work in us.  God has spoken again and again to people in this way for thousands of years.

When the prophet Nathan told King David the parable of the rich man with his flock of 100 and the poor man with his one sheep, he addressed a pointed word to the King: "You are the Man"  (II Sam. 12:7).  David was able to apply this story to his own life.  He knew what it meant.  This ability to make application occurs when the Bible once again becomes God's Word for our life.

Almost every section of the Bible deals with "typical" experiences people have with the Living God.  We have to search out these symbolic experiences so we can apply them to our life.  In this way God addresses us today through the words of Scripture.  The Bible, for example, puts before our eyes a series of symbolic images.  Each of these images symbolizes a particular life situation so clearly that it becomes a symbolic figure of speech beyond its biblical context.  Think about idiomatic expressions such as, "the trials of Job" or "Judas' thirty pieces of silver".  Something resonates in our imagination when we meditate on such symbolic images.  When we look at them and identify with them we discover the hidden part of our own soul which they uncover that speaks to us and creates a resonance.  Who among us does not have a bit of a hidden "Pharisee" in us?  Who does not recognize in themselves the figure of Martha?  So we can find ourselves in almost every character of which the Bible speaks.  In any case we must transfer whatever figure we encounter to our own life.  Can we recognize ourselves in the leper?  Certainly we can when we look at him and feel personally addressed as "unclean", when we are aware that something in ourselves is not good, when we realize that we also "infect" others, or when we experience what it means to be thrown out of the community.  The longer we meditate on the figure of the leper the more we discover that the leper's problems correspond to those in our own life.  This person then becomes a symbolic figure for us.

The same story, however, offers us another possibility.  We can also experience ourselves as being personally addressed in what Jesus did in his encounter with the leper.  To follow Jesus means to look at what he does, how he speaks, and how he lives thereby letting God speak to us personally.  "This is what I originally intended for people when I created them in 'my image' and I also intend that for you."   And then we can ask, "Where do we encounter lepers today and how shall we think about them and deal with them?"

The detailed instructions for the first exercise of this week may not be new for some.  However, in my experience we cannot do without them because it is precisely in these exercises that basic and decisive biblical meditations are found.  The foundation for our future venture will be missing if it is not possible to experience the biblical word as the Word of God addressed to us and by which we enter into a conversation with God in personal prayer.
Therefore, each one should try in this first exercise to let God speak personally to them through the Bible story of the healing of the blind person: "You are the one".  This story is intended for us.  God means "you and me" in this story.  We must transfer the blindness of Barthimaeus symbolically to our "blindness", to our yearning for "the light".

- Mark 10:46-51 (The healing of the blind man)

Read the story slowly, word for word, and seek to be present with your entire being seeing and hearing the voice and feeling yourselves in the person (see inner senses)...

As whom does God address us in this story?

- In what sense are we often "blind"? . . .
- How have we dealt with our blindness up until now? . . .
- When have we experienced that our "eyes were opened" suddenly or that "scales fell" from our  eyes? . . .

Comment:  When  suggestions are given for meditating in these exercises they are meant to be helpful.  But it is even better if one doesn't need these helps and finds one's own way.