Preferring Nothing to Christ

Deuteronomy 7:6-11
1 John 4:7-16
Matthew 11:25-30

If the Lord set his HEART on you and chose you, it was not because you outnumbered other peoples: you were the least of all peoples. It was for LOVE of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

The Book of Deuteronomy is a favourite of mine. Commentators have drawn my attention to the fact that ‘heart’ is mentioned forty-one times. For the biblical writers the heart signifies the interior mystery of each person. It is here that love, trust and faithfulness have their roots. The heart of God is the place of deep mystery and of love. When God sets his heart on the people of Israel it was from a place of pure love. There is risk involved in this covenantal love.

In the First letter of John we hear echoes of the covenantal love outlined in the text from Deuteronomy. God’s choice of Israel calls a new community into being. For the writer of the First Letter of John the imperative to love has its roots in God’s initiative:

My dear people,
let us love one another
since love comes from God
and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

In the Gospel text from Matthew we hear some of the most consoling words in Scripture:

‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

The imagery of the yoke prompts several different avenues of interpretation. Yokes were traditionally fitted to enable two oxen to work together. Some suggest that a younger ox was paired with an older ox so that the younger could learn from the older. This image has much potential. When we yoke ourselves to Christ we will learn the gentleness and humbleness of Christ. Whatever our burden, Christ doesn’t say that he will take it away, but rather he will show us how to carry it. The yoke relied on two oxen being able to work together. In time the younger ox would be paired with another ox and so pass on the learning.

As I have worked with each of these texts I have heard resonances with the Rule of St Benedict. In his touchstone chapter on Good Zeal (Ch 72) St Benedict speaks in three different ways about love. To each other the monks are to show ‘the pure love of brothers’, to God ‘loving fear’ and to their abbot ‘unfeigned and humble love’. We can find each of these modes of love in the readings today.

Wherever we find ourselves today, whatever our circumstances, the invitation is the same: love one another.

How can you be a channel of God’s love today?

Exodus 34:4-6,8-9
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
John 3:16-18

The mystics believed that we are all born with a capacity for God (Capax Dei).
St Augustine believed that this capacity makes it possible for the human person to be re-formed through God’s gracious gift.

It has become common place for society to be described as ‘post Christian’ or as ‘secular’. While it may appear that Christian values are all but forgotten in the way in which our ordinary lives are ordered, I think we may have lost sight of the fundamental truth that we all carry within us the capacity for God. This capacity won’t always be expressed in the traditional ways, but I do believe that in the heart of every human being is the desire to know that they are part of something much bigger than themselves. Every human being wants to be connected to someone or something that gives meaning to their life. We are made for connection.

St Augustine sees our re-forming in terms of the image of the Trinity. Just as there is unity among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so too, there is unity in a person’s memory, understanding and will. At the core of each human being is a mystery which reflects the great mystery of the Godhead. In the ordinary run of life it’s easy to lose sight of this mystery that we carry within us. We are often more of aware of our failures than our triumphs. Maria Boulding,  expresses this so well in her book, The Coming of God, which has become for me a personal spiritual classic:

All your hopes and disappointments, your joy and suffering, your achievement and failure, your ups and downs: none of it is wasted. Provided only that you consent without qualification, the work of grace is going on in you through the whole business of living, to hollow you out, to make you Capax Dei, as the old mystics used to say, able to receive God. You yourself are the place of desire and need. All your love, your stretching out, your hope, your thirst, God is creating in you so that he may fill you.

When we celebrate the feast of the The Trinity we celebrate connection. Each of the readings for today highlights the quality of that connection:

‘Lord, Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness.’ (Ex 34)

Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Cor 13)

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. (John 3)

How can you live out this Trinitarian love this coming week?

It is I who have set up my king on ZION, my holy mountain.

Eastertide invites us to live in the full glory of resurrection. We are to stand in the light of Christ’s victory over death, even as the world still trembles with uncertainty. Christ’s death and resurrection are cosmic. Christ’s kingship is cosmic. What was hidden in humility is revealed in glory. The cross, which seemed like defeat, becomes the very place where his authority is secured.

Zion, the “holy mountain,” represents more than a physical place. It is the meeting point between heaven and earth, where God’s purposes are made known. In Eastertide, we come to see that this “mountain” is no longer confined to geography. It lives wherever Christ is acknowledged as King. It is found in hearts awakened by grace, in communities shaped by love, in lives that bear witness to resurrection hope.

With this final letter of the alphabet we are almost at the end of Eastertide.
What signs have you seen in your own life of the hope of the resurrection during this Eastertide?

(Ps 2, Responsorial Psalm, Friday in the Fourth Week of Eastertide)

John 21:1-19

Simon son of John, do YOU love me more than these others do?

In John 21 we have one of the most intimate dialogues in the Gospels. The focus is entirely on Peter and his relationship with Jesus. In English we have one word ‘love’ and it can mean a whole variety of things. If we want to be specific we have to qualify it.  Greek has at least 7 words for love. Our passage from John’s Gospel uses two of these: agape and philia. Agape is unconditional, sacrificial love. Philia is the affectionate love of friends.

When Jesus asks Peter the first time if he loves him he says ‘agapas me?’.

Peter replies, you know that I love you (philo se).

Jesus asks Peter a second time ‘agapas me?’ and he replies ‘philo se’.

By the third time a shift has occurred. Jesus says ‘phileis me?’

And Peter replies ‘philo se’.

It’s that simple. Jesus has come to Peter’s level. Jesus meets Peter where he is and doesn’t demand a type of love that he isn’t able to give.

This Gospel challenges me to make space for others. It challenges me to remember that you can’t demand love from another. People need space.

Can you be like Jesus, can you meet people where they are?

(John 21:1-19, Third Sunday of Eastertide, C)

Χριστός

CHRIST JESUS

They preached everyday both in the Temple and in private houses, and their proclamation of the Good News of CHRIST JESUS was never interrupted.

When you make Solemn Profession as a Benedictine as part of the ceremony you sing a verse from Ps 118(9), ‘Receive me Lord, according to your promise, and I shall live: do not disappoint me in my hope.’ In these words you put your whole trust in the promise of Christ to uphold you. You make concrete your desire that everything you undertake within the monastery will have only one goal: ‘to prefer nothing to Christ’ (Rule of St Benedict).

When the apostles set about proclaiming the Good News of Christ Jesus they put their full trust in the cosmic power of Christ’s death and resurrection. They are upheld by His promise to be with them always, even to the ends of time. The relationships they each had with Christ now become public. In their preaching and their daily living they show that they prefer nothing to Christ.

How can you proclaim Christ in your daily living?

(Acts 5:24-42, Friday, Second Week of Eastertide)

WONDERFUL LIGHT
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a consecrated nation,
a people set apart to sing the praises of God
who called you out of darkness into his
WONDERFUL LIGHT.

During Covid I remember walking in the fields behind our monastery and watching as dawn broke. As I stood in the brightness of that light I prayed that God’s power to heal would be manifest. I have always been drawn to morning light and during Covid the pull was stronger. Researchers tell us that morning light is beneficial in several ways for the human body.

I love the idea of being called into God’s wonderful light. This is a light which invites me to step forward where I am and to see the world as God sees it. This light invites and doesn’t force. In this light I am beckoned forward. I don’t need to retreat. In this light hidden things can be revealed, a path can be illumined and what has grown cold can be warmed.

How is God inviting you to step into his ‘wonderful light’?

(1Peter 2: 4-9, Fifth Sunday of Easter, A)

VINE

John 15:1-8

I am the VINE, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him,
bears fruit in plenty;
for cut off from me you can do nothing.

I chose today’s Gospel passage for my Solemn Profession in 2000. It weaves together several themes that can all be found in implicit and explicit form in the Rule of St Benedict. At its simplest the Vine is an image of community: a disparate group of people, in various stages of growth, all bound together and nourished by Christ. The pruning that the text speaks of happens in so many ways in ordinary monastic living. You don’t know it at the time, but every branch of self-will that is being cut away, is making room for something new to grow.

When you embark upon monastic life you have offered your life to the vinedresser. At his disposal he has the tools of Scripture, the Rule of St Benedict and every member in your community. With these tools he sets about cultivating the vine of your life. There will be days when the baking sun of monastic life just feels too much and you are convinced that you will wither. Then will come the gentle rain of the wisdom and kindness of others and some growth looks possible. Tiny fruit grows. All of this is possible when you have the courage to root yourself in Christ.

How can you root yourself in Christ this week?

(John 15:1-8. Wednesday, Fifth Week of Eastertide)

‘The whole group of believers was UNITED, heart and soul. No one claimed for their own use anything that they had, as everything they owned was held in common.’

Luke’s vision of the Early Church is one which has inspired Christian communities of all types throughout the centuries. Holding things in common (Gk koinonia) is a traditional element of community living. At its best it ensures that everyone has what they need for their work and prayer. There is a sense in which the spiritual and the temporal are entwined.

St Benedict puts great store by his monks living in unity of heart and soul. Throughout his Rule there are small practices which are designed to ensure that the day to day life of the monastery is peaceful and steady. He understands the frailty of his community and suggests small rituals that heal and bind up the community:

‘Assuredly, the celebration of Lauds and Vespers must never pass without the superior reciting the entire Lord’s Prayer at the end for all to hear, because the thorns of contention are likely to spring up. Thus warned by the pledge they make to one another in the very words of this prayer: Forgive us as we forgive (Matt 6:12), they may cleanse themselves of this vice.
Ch 13 The Celebration of Lauds on Ordinary Days

What experience do you have of being united in heart and soul with others?
Thank God for this.

(Acts 4:32-37, Tuesday, Second Week of Eastertide)

TIBERIAS

John 21:1-14

Just after my A levels I was able to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Our visit to the Sea of Tiberias stands out for me as a time of grace. In what was a fairly packed itinerary, there was suddenly time to sit and watch the water. It was a relief after the noise and heat of Jerusalem.

When the disciples decide to go fishing they are going back to the thing that they know best. They’ll either catch something or they won’t. I imagine that there was a certain relief in knowing this. But this turns out to be no ordinary fishing trip. First of all, the disciples take fishing advice from a stranger and then he cooks for them.

With his invitation of breakfast Jesus has made another space for intimacy with his closest followers. I like to imagine that they linger over this breakfast and perhaps watch as the morning light catches the water. There is such healing in doing something normal with friends.

Commentators draw our attention to the detail of the charcoal fire. It was round a charcoal fire, in the high priest’s palace, that Peter stood after the arrest of Jesus. It’s here that he denies Jesus three times. And now on the beach at Tiberias it’s by a charcoal fire that Peter is given the chance to reverse that denial. Jesus will ask him three times if he loves him. Those moments by the fire are some of the most poignant in John’s Gospel for me.

Picture yourself at Tiberias.

What do you notice? How do you feel?

SHEEP
For the hearers of John’s Gospel the image of a shepherd will have invoked a whole world of meaning. Being in charge of a flock of animals and making sure they survived was not just a job but a way of life. The well- being of your flock and your own well-being were intimately connected.

Today’s Gospel speaks to me of the closeness of relationship that Jesus wants with each one of us. Like a shepherd, he is prepared to go to any lengths to ensure that we are safe and well fed. At its very best this is also a metaphor which the Church uses for leadership. It’s easy to hear this Gospel and see the ways in which the Church has failed in her leadership. 

Perhaps today we could apply the metaphor to ourselves.

How have we shepherded the people in our care? How have we ensured that people had the ‘food’ and ‘water’ that they needed? How have we brought them to safe pasture?

(John 10:27-30, Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, C)