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Benedictine Spirituality Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Monastic Life Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Called to be peacemakers

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As we come to the end of International women’s Day we’ve begun our celebration of one of our congregation’s saints, St Frances of Rome. She is one of a very small number of married women who are saints. She brought up a large family and did a great deal to help the poor and the sick of Rome.

This week I’m reflecting on the blessing of attentiveness. It seems to me that St Frances’ life shows us how the practice of attentiveness to God changes everything. It’s through her attentiveness to God that she’s able to see God’s presence in the people she helps.

That’s especially true in the great care she took of the poor, wrapping their clothes in lavender after she’d washed and mended them. In her role as peacemaker and reconciler shows another aspect of attentiveness. It’s written of her that:

“God gave her such an abundance of loving-kindness that those who had dealings with her immediately felt themselves captivated by love and admiration for her and were ready to do whatever she wished.”

Frances dealt with many difficult and, sometimes, violent situations. Even in those situations she was able to persuade people to change their behaviour by recognising Christ dwelling in them regardless of appearances.

As we watch our world torn apart by war Frances is an important role model. She reminds me that we are all called to pay attention to the call to be peace makers. Her example shows us that even in the most challenging situations, love and kindness have the power to change hearts, minds and lives.

Where is God calling you to be attentive to the call to be a peacemaker this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Scripture

An attentive heart

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This week I’m reflecting on the blessing of attentiveness. We all recognise it as essential for a life centred on seeking God. Learning to live attentively can be difficult. We have to step back from the multitude of demands and distractions that we live among on a daily basis.

While, in the midst of a busy life, that can seem an attractive idea, the reality is much harder. When we step back from those external distractions we are swamped by a multitude of inner distractions that often prove much more challenging than the external ones could ever be.

Reflecting on all of this I especially struck by the response to today’s psalm:

“O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts.”

It’s the first psalm verse that we sing on Ash Wednesday and sets the tone for all of Lent. It gives us the opportunity to acknowledge that time and experience have hardened our hearts. It invites us to begin to let that hardness crack and fall away by paying attention to where the voice of God might be speaking to us in our lives.

Of course, we can expect to discover that voice in our prayer. If we actively seek this blessing of attentiveness, giving all our attention to the tasks we are engaged in and to the people we meet we will also find that God speaks to us in every situation, in the midst of every task and in every encounter.

Where are you being invited to be attentive this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Prophetic voices Scripture

The gift of mercy

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The gift of mercy is part of the blessing of gospel living that is especially important today. In our public spaces we see situations where no apology is acceptable. There is no way back from a mistake, no make a fresh start or second chance.

Alongside that there are people who seem immune to any sort of sanctions, however they act they never have to face the consequences. Both signal a devaluing of this essential quality of gospel living.

In that situation we’re called to pay even more attention to them. They offer us both challenge and hope Its challenge is in its call to admit our faults & failing, to confess that we all need mercy in our lives. We both stand in need of God’s mercy and are called to be merciful towards others.

Another challenge of mercy is that it can only come as a gift, we can’t demand it, earn it or get it for ourselves. The most we can do is ask for it when we recognise our need strive to be open to receive it. Mercy also offers us hope. In today’s first reading the prophet Micah writes:

“What god can compare with you: taking fault away, pardoning crime, not cherishing anger for ever but delighting in showing mercy?”

His words remind us, not only that God knows our faults and is willing to be merciful, but that the mercy is offered freely and generously, with delight. The source of God’s mercy towards us is love, the love that holds us in being, the love at the heart of the gospel.

Where are you being offered God’s mercy this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Scripture Uncategorized

Margins and keystones

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We live in an age of spin, and quick fixes. Across the globe political leaders tell us they can solve everything. All our problems, personal, national and international can be resolved easily, with no compromise, no pain, no sacrifice.

In our hearts we know this can’t be true, yet we desperately want to believe it, so we allow ourselves to be beguiled by those promises. In that climate the honesty and directness of Jesus in the gospel offers a refreshing and challenging alternative. That is one of the blessings of gospel living.

He tells the story of the vineyard owner whose tenants beat his servants and kill his son. His words are a reminder that to follow Christ is to choose a hard path. It’s not a choice that will make us popular or lead us to the centres of power. Instead, he offers the exact opposite:

“It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone.”

The call of the gospel is a call to the margins. We can accept that in principle. It becomes harder when we have to look at what this means in practice. We are called to stand on the edge, to be with the marginalised and rejected.

It means we encounter Christ in those people who disagree with us. We discover Christ’s presence in those whose behaviour and lifestyles make us uncomfortable. It is by standing with those marginalised people that we discover the blessing gospel living can offer us.

Where is Christ calling you to stand with those on the margins this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Scripture Uncategorized

Generosity of heart

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We live with the expectation and hope that the blessings we receive are always positive. We expect them to bring us all we need to live well. Today’s gospel challenges that idea.

We hear the story of a rich man who can indulge every whim and every desire without a thought for the cost. It might seem that he is the very epitome of the blessing. Lazarus on the other hand appears to us to be cursed rather than blessed. He is so poor that he is reduced to begging, and is ignored and reviled by all.

As the story unfolds this is questioned. The rich man’s wealth doesn’t open his heart, it hardens it. He’s perfectly comfortable ignoring Lazarus begging at his gate. When they die the tables are turned, Lazarus is held and cherished “in the bosom of Abraham” while the rich man is tormented in Hades

His agony awakens him to the truth and he begs that Lazarus return to earth to warn his family to change their ways. Abraham tells him that even if someone were to return from the dead, they would not believe him:

“If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”

The blessing of gospel living is that we already know the call of the risen Christ. His call is to let go of all that would harden our hearts. He calls us to allow our hearts to become as generous and open as his.

What are you being called to let go of to grow in generosity of heart this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

A gospel blessing.

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Love is at the very heart of the blessing of gospel living. It can be easy to see this love as an ideal, a valuable principle that we acknowledge then leave on a shelf as we go about the important daily business of living. If that is how we understand love it is unlikely to be a blessing to us or to others.

For love to be a blessing it has to be both the valuable and beautiful principle, and a practical reality in our daily lives. Jesus makes that clear to his disciples in today’s gospel. Turning all our expectations on their heads he says:

“Anyone who wants to be great amongst you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

His words make it clear that love of gospel living has to affect how we treat others. In chapter 4 of the Rule on the tools of good works St Benedict makes the same point. He reminds us “never do to another what you do not want done to yourself.”

Together the gospel and the Rule bring the blessing of gospel living back to a very basic practice that we can live each day, to treat others as we would like to be treated.

I wonder how life might change if that became the guiding principle of all our interactions. While that might prove costly the blessing of gospel living offers the hope that it will also be a life enhancing experience.

Where are you being called to treat others as you would like to be treated this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Scripture

Beyond appearances

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Today’s gospel speaks to the heart of what appears to be a very modern dilemma. Jesus is warning his disciples not to fall into the trap of being beguiled by appearances. He warns them against behaving in ways which attract attention and focus on the externals, saying:

“Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.”

In an age that seems to be obsessed by appearances his words have a particular resonance. While he wasn’t talking about social media, we all recognise the similarities. Valuable as social media is it constantly presents us with images of “the perfect life” that we are all meant to be living.

This is attractive and beguiling, but not necessarily life-giving. As anyone who spends time on social media is aware this can lead us to be harshly judgemental of others and of ourselves.

This means that what could be a valuable tool becomes a burden to ourselves and to others. This is not the way of the gospel and it carries no blessing with it.

Jesus is quick to show his disciples another way of being. Having told them how not to behave he carries on:

“The greatest among you must be your servant. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

His words call us to reflect on how we engage with social media. The call of gospel living is not to make ourselves the centre of attention, but to focus on serving others. It’s blessing for our image obsessed age is that it sets us free from worrying about appearances and from the anxiety and judgement that can come with that.

How is your use of social media reflecting the blessing of gospel living this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Living fearlessly

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I’ve been slow to write a reflection today. That’s partly a reaction to the world situation. We woke up this morning to a world even more immersed chaos that was yesterday. It made my plan to spend the second week of Lent focusing on the blessing of gospel living seem at best irrelevant. As I watch conflict and chaos spread across the world it’s almost impossible to discover any blessing in life.

This is the natural response in such frightening and unsettled times. We tend to turn in on ourselves, seeking protection and turning away from hope. In such situations it quickly becomes hard to notice the blessing that God continues to lavish on us even in the hardest of times.

In that state of mind this line in our Lauds Canticle from the prophet Isaiah leapt out at me:

“Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name you are mine. Should you pass through the sea I will be with you; or through rivers, they will not swallow you up.”

This wasn’t written to people living safe and stable lives. It was written to a people in exile who had lost their families, their livelihoods, their culture, even their faith.

This caused me to think again about gospel living. If Isaiah’s words could be a blessing for people in exile they can be a blessing for us in our challenging circumstances today. The blessing of living for today is that however dark and frightening our times, however overwhelming our circumstances we are held in the heart of the loving God who will never leave us.

As we begin the second week of Lent do you need to feel that you are held in God’s heart?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Prayer Scripture Uncategorized

Learning to ask

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As I’ve reflected this week on the blessing of BEGINNING. I’ve been struck by the sheer variety of reasons there are for making beginnings. Some are forced on us by circumstances beyond our control.

Others are made freely and willingly because we feel the need for change. Whether our beginnings are caused by necessity or inspired by dreams and desires they often seem to grow from an awareness of neediness. With this in mind I turned to today’s gospel and was struck by this:

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Ask, and it will be given to you, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.’”

It’s one of the most hopeful, and challenging verses of Scripture. The hope lies in the promise of needs met and an openhearted welcome. The challenge is to admit our neediness, to confess that we have needs and desires that we are incapable of fulfilling by ourselves. That can be a hard thing to do in our society that expects us to be high achievers in every area of life.

The gospel offers an alternative view. Instead of seeing neediness as a failure today’s gospel offers us the opportunity to see it as a new beginning, an invitation to openness and honesty.

Today’s gospel offers us is the opportunity to come into the presence of Christ with all our failings, uncertainties and incompleteness. It promises us that in accepting the blessing this new beginning offers we will find ourselves welcomed into the loving heart of Christ.

What do you most need to receive from the loving heart of Christ this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Lectio Divina Lent Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

A habit of listening

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Nothing speaks to the hard work of BEGINNING as much as developing a new habit. In today’s first reading Jonah, a reluctant prophet is challenged to develop a new habit of obedience. God calls to him:

“Up!…Go to Ninevah, the great city and preach to them as I told you to”

Perhaps having learned from his earlier disagreement with God Jonah obeys swiftly and without argument or prevarication:

“Jonah set out and went to Ninevah in obedience to the word of the Lord.”

His response can make obedience seem easy, straightforward and simple, but it’s more complex than that. It takes me back to the Rule of St Benedict which calls us to “unhesitating obedience”. This is not a call to simply do what we are told, though it sometimes requires that.

Rather the call to obedience is a call to listen and respond to the call of God. It requires discernment, both to hear the call and discover the response we need to make. In the first instance the call to obedience is a call to listen. Then it is a call to respond to what we hear.

We’re called to develop a habit of listening, to attune ourselves to God’s presence in every situation so that we learn to recognise God’s voice in our lives. From this listening we will be able to discern the response we’re called to make. It’s a process that requires practice. We will make mistakes, getting it wrong, trusting in God’s mercy, and being willing to try again and change direction if necessary.


Where are you being called to begin to develop a habit of listening this Lent?