Author: Sr Judith

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Scripture

Our gracious God.

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Life can be difficult and challenging, we all carry burdens that sometimes feel too heavy to bear. We can easily feel overwhelmed by sadness, grief, anxiety or a myriad of other painful emotions that can leave us feeling isolated and hopeless. It can feel worse as we move through Advent towards Christmas with all it’s expectations, memories, hopes and disappointments.

It can be especially hard to acknowledge these feelings when society expects us to be upbeat, positive and in control of every aspect of life. Today’s first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, offers a hopeful alternative to what can feel like a double bind. He writes:

“God will be gracious to you when God hears your cry; when God hears God will answer.”

We often think we have to be on our best behaviour in God’s presence. We bring God what we think are the “nice” parts of ourselves, and push the other parts aside. Isaiah suggests a different approach. He promises that if bring our pain and our challenges to Gods’ presence we will receive consolation and healing.

Isaiah reassures us that God will be there, waiting to listen to whatever we need to share. He tells us that God will not only hear our cry, but will respond with love. Isaiah tells us God will stay with us, healing our hurt, wiping away our tears and offering us the promise of new life.

Where is God inviting you to bring your burdens into Gods’ presence this Advent?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

People of Joy

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Advent calls us to be people of joy. We’re called to rejoice in the knowledge that is always with us. We can rejoice because we know that that we are surrounded by the love of God, a love that seeks to fulfil our hopes and our desires.

This beautiful and consoling thought is taken up again today by the prophet Isaiah as he describes how God will transform the lives of his people, welcoming them home to a new place of safety. He writes:

“The lowly will rejoice in the Lord even more and the poorest exult in the Holy One; for tyrants shall be no more, and scoffers vanish…and all be destroyed who are disposed to do evil…”

It’s a promise to put those most in need in the forefront, to protect them and bring them to a place where their dignity will be respected and they will be truly valued. As I look around our world it’s tempting to see this as at best a beautiful fantasy, a dream that has no place in the harsh reality of a modern life that leaves no place for dreamers.

Yet Advent is the season for dreamers. It calls us to risk dreaming. This is not an escapist fantasy. In the darkest time of the year Advent invites us to look into the darkness and dream of the light that it cannot overcome.

It encourages us to imagine the very best we can be in these dark times, so that we have a vision to work towards, something to aim for. We won’t achieve the perfection we dream of, but we can move towards it, inching towards a world that is kinder, more loving, more compassionate.

Where is Christ inviting you rejoice and dream this Advent?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Trusting the Lord

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At the darkest and coldest time of year Advent offers us hope. It carries a clear message that however unlikely it might feel we will pass through this dark time into the light of new life that the Incarnation promises us.

In today’s first reading Isaiah calls the people to keep trusting, regardless of appearances, in spite of all they have lost and suffered:

“Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord is the everlasting Rock…”

He knows that it is not easy for people who have suffered and lost everything to trust, yet he carries on with his message of hope. He carries on believing that the promises God has made to the people will be fulfilled. Even in the darkest of times Isaiah’s message to the people is to wait in hope for the light to return.

As we sit in our own dark times it’s a valuable message for us too. In the gospel Jesus shows us how we can keep on trusting in such times. He tells the story of the wise person who built their house on rock to remind us that it is the rock of his word and his teaching that will sustain us whatever storms we face.

Where are you being called to trust that Christ will bring his light into the heart of your dark times?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Advent blessings

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However small and faltering our faith might seem Advent reminds us that we can discover God’s blessing in our lives. Today’s readings paint a beautiful picture of the blessings God showers on us. Isaiah shows the people of God being welcomed home to a place of safety, plenty and consolation:

“On this mountain God will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, God will destroy Death for ever. The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek…”

In the gospel, Matthew’s version of the feeding of the 5000, Jesus makes that vision a reality for the crowds who follow him. Both readings offer us a glimpse of the Kingdom in our midst, of the blessings a loving God showers on us.

It’s easy to believe in such blessings when our lives are relatively easy, when our societies feel stable and secure. But we live in times of great uncertainty, suffering and fear. That makes it harder to discover and acknowledge the blessings that God is still showering on us.

Advent calls us to be open to the possibility of blessing even in times when all our instinct tells us to be wary. This is not a new situation, all through their challenging and difficult history the people of Israel believed in and sought God’s blessing even when it seemed very far from them.

Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah and Joseph stayed open to the possibility of blessing even in hard and dangerous circumstances. They were able to journey on trusting that if they lived with integrity they would receive the blessings God promised.

Where are you discovering God’s blessing in these challenging times?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

A Kingdom of peace and harmony

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Today’s first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, paints a beautiful picture of peace and harmony. It describes a leader filled with the spirit of the Lord, who acts with integrity, wisdom and insight:

“A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of the Lord rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

His coming heralds a time of peace and prosperity, where differences are put aside, and unlikely partners live and flourish in alongside each other:

“They do no hurt, no harm, on all my holy mountain, for the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters swell the sea.”

This beautiful vision touches us deeply because in the depths of our hearts long for wise leadership, and the true peace that allows all people to flourish. Yet, as we look around our world today we see few signs of such leaders or of the peace Isaiah describes.

Isaiah’s vision is based on the hopes of generations of people of faith, and of their understanding of what makes for human flourishing. More than that it’s based on the efforts of people of faith and goodwill, who acted with courage and integrity even when that seemed to go against their own best interests.

Advent is a wake-up call It compels us to notice the disparity between Isaiah’s vision and the word we live in. It invites us to ask ourselves what choices we can make in our lives to help make that vision a reality.

To even attempt that is admit the need to make hard choices, putting aside our own interests for others. Advent calls us to help make this vision a reality for today in whatever small ways we can.

Where are you being called to help make the kingdom a reality for those around you this Advent?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Recognition

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We often go through life so caught up with our own affairs that we miss the important signs of Christ’s kingdom that are all around us. Advent invites us to move away from that way of being. It’s a time to start paying attention again, to notice what is going on around us. It especially calls us to pay attention to where we discover the presence of Christ and the signs of his kingdom in our everyday lives.

Today’s gospel, the story of the centurion’s sick servant, is a reminder of that. It’s not the disciples, the faithful followers of Jesus, or the people who’ve waited generations for the Messiah who recognise Jesus. It’s a complete outsider, a solider of the occupying nation who is alert enough to recognise the authority Jesus carries.

Jesus looks beyond the Centurion’s otherness, and, seeing into his heart, recognises his faith saying:

“I tell you solemnly, nowhere…have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.”

As we start Advent this encounter calls us back to attentiveness. Jesus’ response calls us also to look beyond the surface of our prejudice, and to recognise the Christ who comes to us in surprising and unsettling guises. It reminds us that the kingdom will become apparent in unexpected ways and places. It calls us to notice Christ being revealed not only in the familiar, but in the outsider, the marginalised, the people we are inclined to reject or even despise.

Where is Christ calling you to recognise his presence in challenging encounters this Advent?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Being Ready

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Today I’m reflecting on the responsorial psalm, (psalm 121, 122). It’s a part of the liturgy that I can be inclined to overlook. It’s the song of praise of a pilgrim who has reached their destination and found their home in the house of the Lord.

The struggles and hardships of the journey are behind them and they can rest in the Lord’s presence, full of thankfulness, joy and hope In dark and challenging times it’s good to remember that Advent calls us to prepare in hope for a joyous homecoming:

“I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.”

It may seem strange to start Advent with a Psalm that focuses on the journey’s end rather than its beginning. Yet, in practice we rarely set out on any sort of journey without some idea of our destination in mind. In today’s gospel Jesus calls us to:

“Stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

As we stand ready to seek his presence in Advent, psalm 122 (121) reminds us that goal of this journey is bring us home to God’s presence in our lives and in our hearts. Whatever challenges and uncertainties we face along the way we carry a promise that offers joy and hope that can never be taken away.

As we start out on our Advent journey how are you preparing your heart to receive the promise of joy and hope Christ offers?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

In the hands of God.

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Today’s gospel is very direct about where following Christ might lead us, and it’s not a comforting picture. Jesus tells his disciples that they will be persecuted, exiled and imprisoned. This is something that none of us want to face any more than the disciples did.

Common sense tells us that if we do have to face it, we want to have our arguments and strategies honed and ready. We want to be able to answer for ourselves, convince others and so when the day. I am a planner, I like to feel prepared for every situation. So I am immediately challenged when Jesus says to his disciples:

“You are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.”

His words go against all my natural inclinations to the extent that they almost seem like madness. Yet, they also call to a new way of being. They are call to let go of my need to be in control. The required that I admit that maybe I don’t have all the answers and I can’t fix everything.

They are a call to trust that Jesus will always be at my side, leading me and protecting me, whatever I face. They are a call to allow myself to be vulnerable in the presence of Christ, fully aware of my limitations and failings. His words compel me to accept that I can’t bring about my salvation by myself, it is purely the result of his grace and gift.

Where are you being called to trust in God’s grace in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Christ The King Cross Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

Jesus remember me…

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The feast of Christ the King is one of the most challenging feasts in the year. In times that are, often justifiably, suspicious of authority figures we have to really think about what Christ the King can mean to us today.

We can no longer align that title to any earthly understanding of leadership. Maybe that was always a mistake because throughout the gospel the leadership Jesus shows us is different to any other leadership we have known.

This is highlighted in today’s gospel. It doesn’t show us a king enjoying power and ruling in majesty. Instead, it shows us a man, undeservedly dying a painful and humiliating death mocked by his enemies and abandoned by his friends.

Throughout the gospel Jesus has been telling his disciples that his kingdom is like no earthly kingdom. He makes it clear to them that kingship in the kingdom is to be based on loving service of others, especially of the poor, the needy and the outcast.

Even as he is dying on the cross the question that has followed him throughout his ministry is still ringing in the air with its notes of uncertainty, disbelief, surprise and now mockery: “Are you the Christ?”

Yet even here Jesus lives up to his own model of leadership. When the thief, dying alongside him glimpses something of who he really is, saying:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom…”

Jesus welcomes him with his whole heart, promising that:

“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

As we move towards the end of this liturgical year where do you need to know that Christ the King remembers you in his heart?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Small acts of faithfulness.

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Seen through the lens of modern sensibilities today’s gospel is at best uncomfortable. In a world all too aware of the damage caused by unethical business practices it raises challenging questions.

That can make it tempting to turn away from it or dismiss it as irrelevant. We are called to dig deeper than that. We are called to go beyond our initial discomfort, or even to use that discomfort, to help us find something of value in the text.

Today I am focusing on these words:

“You have proved yourself faithful in a very small thing…”

It seems a very small glimmer of light in a very challenging gospel. Yet, it reminds me of the importance of small things that we might undervalue or overlook. As we look around the world today there are so many big problems, big issues, big situations that need resolving, renewing or remaking.

We hear a narrative that tells us everything is broken, and that it’s all too big for us to fix. we stop to even look for things that we might do to help the situation. We get it into our heads that big problems need big solutions, and that small actions that we might take will have no effect.

It seems to me that’s today’s gospel suggests a different way. It suggests small acts of faithfulness can make more of a difference than we might think. Far from being pointless or useless our small acts of faithfulness can bring hope and help make these hard times more bearable for us all.

What small act of faithfulness are you being called to today?