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Light in darkness

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Today were celebrating the feast of the Presentation. It strikes me as a feast that looks both backwards and forwards. Its liturgy resonates very much with the Christmas liturgy, as we revisit Christmas hymns and antiphons. Yet, it also compels us to look forward to the new beginning heralded by the coming of the Messiah.

Like Simeon and Anna, we are called to draw hope from our heritage and move forward into the unknown bearing the light of Christ for our world and our times. The second reading at the vigil is from St Sophronius. I’m reflecting on these words:

“Let us all go together bright with the light to welcome with old Simeon that everlasting shining light. Rejoicing with him in our souls, let us sing a hymn to the Begetter and Father of the light, who has sent the true light and driven away the darkness and made us all shine with that light.”

It’s not the first time I’ve reflected on them, and each time I revisit them they remind me that, in these last dark, cold days of winter we are called to be bearers of the light of Christ to each other and to the world. This year I’m very aware of the many darknesses that the world faces. It can feel overwhelming and we can easily feel hopeless.

Yet the opposite is true. In these dark times it’s even more important that we become bearers of that light for our suffering world. As well as looking back to the coming of the Light at Christmas I find myself looking forward through the pain and suffering of these times to the new light and life that Easter promises, trusting that, however small the light may sometimes feel, it will not be overcome.

As we celebrate the feast of the Presentation where is Christ calling you to be his light bearer today?

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Seeking Hope

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I normally think of the Beatitudes as full of promise and invitation so I was a bit surprised the two words that jumped out at me from today’s gospel were “calumny” and “persecuted”. On reflection I realised that given the times we are living in I maybe shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was. This has left me pondering a dilemma, how do we allow ourselves to trust the promises and invitation Christ gives us when life is hard, challenging and uncertain?

The Beatitudes invite us to:

“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

It seems to me that this is a real possibility when life is relatively easy, or at least seems manageable. It’s a lot harder to hold onto that promise, and respond to the Christ’s invitation in hard times. We can of course spiritualise the Beatitudes, telling ourselves that the promise is for eternal life, and not for this earthly life.

If I’m honest that doesn’t seem to be quite enough to sustain us through challenging times. Christ’s invitation, his call to rejoice, and his promise of is new life as much to sustain us in this earthly life as they are for the next.

Even when it feels like we are surrounded on all sides by calumny and persecution he calls us to discover glimmers of blessings, love and hope in the most unlikely of circumstances. This is the challenge that comes with the promise and invitation of the Beatitudes.

Where is Christ challenging you to look for glimmers of hope today?

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Called to be one.

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A post from the archives for the week of prayer for Christian Unity. In his letter to the Colossians St Paul writes:

“Clothe yourselves in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and in humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must do the same. Over all these, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body.”

His words are an inspiration and a challenge. They show us the best that the Christian community can be, and they remind us of how often we fall short of that ideal within and between our denominations.

This has particular resonance as I reflect on our ecumenical journey. We all stand in need of forgiveness, having misjudged and misinterpreted the insights, gifts and intentions of other denominations. At other times we have all been able to take the risk of reaching out towards other Christians in ways that have brought healing and moved us closer to unity than we could ever have dreamt of.

Many of our denominations and churches are dealing with internal situations that take most of their energy and resources. That is understandable and necessary, but it can make ecumenism feel like its on the backburner.

My hope is that we have learned to love and respect each other enough be able to bear with one another in compassion, generosity and gentleness in a way that allows us the freedom to take the space to deal with internal issues without losing sight of the ground we have gained. Then, when the time is right we will be ready and able to take the next steps in our ecumenical journey together.

In this week of prayer for Christian Unity where are you inspired to be generous and compassionate?

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Baptism Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel John the Baptist Lectio Divina Prayer Prophetic voices Saints Scripture

Light of the Nations

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Today’s readings are about call and response. Isaiah and St Paul reflect on their call to take the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth. In the gospel John recognises Jesus in the crowd and proclaims him as the Messiah. Reflecting on their accounts inevitably draws us back to reflect on our own call:

“I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah, St Paul and St John all heard and responded to some version of this call. Their responses may have looked different on the surface, and led them in apparently different directions. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because they lived in different times, faced different situations and had different personalities and skills. This meant that they each had to spend time reflecting on what it meant for them to become “the light to the nations” in their particular situations.

Through baptism we are also called by God to be “a light to the nations”. While the heart of that call is the same as the one heard by Isaiah, St Paul and St John the practicalities of what it will look like in the particular challenges we face today are different. So today’s readings are a call to discern how to I can best bring the light of Christ love to people today in ways that will lighten their burdens and offer consolation.

How are you being called to bring the light of Christ’s love to the people around you today?

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Shaped by the Spirit

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Today Christmastide comes to an end with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. It’s a feast full of the promise of new life. It takes us back to our beginning, recalling creation when God’s spirit, hovering over the waters, called new life out of the the swirling chaos:

“As soon as Jesus was baptised, he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’.’”

It doesn’t take more than a quick glance at the news to recognise that we are living in chaotic times. That is stressful and unsettling, so this reminder that it was out of the chaos that God called us into being is consoling and encouraging.

It also calls to mind another, more personal beginning. Through our baptism in Christ each of us has been called to become a new creation, to blossom into new life in Christ. Through the gift of this baptism we have become favoured and beloved daughters and sons of God. This certainty can give us the courage and hope living away that allow our baptismal promises to shape our lives and our interactions with one another.

As we start a new year it’s worthwhile to take some time to reflect on these beginnings founded on love and hope. Time reflecting on our baptismal promises and how they might shape our life seems to me to be time well spent as we make our way through these challenging times.

As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord how might your baptismal promises shape your daily life?

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A Long Journey.

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A post from the archives for Epiphany. Today we’re celebrating the feast of Epiphany. Together with the Baptism and the wedding at Cana it’s part of a trio of epiphanies that recognise Jesus as the promised Messiah, the Son of God. It’s full of awe, wonder and joy. Yet there’s another side to it. There’s challenge, threat and uncertainty there too. The magi find the Christ after a hard, and sometimes dangerous journey that’s summed up by these words from T. S. Eliot’s poem, “The journey of the Magi”:

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”

Their journey brings them joy and delight as the gospel makes clear:

“The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child and his mother Mary, and falling to their knees did him homage.”

Yet it’s a joy that doesn’t cancel out difficulty, challenge, suffering and hardship, but manifests in the midst of all those hard realities of life. Instead it appears in their midst, never dismissing them or cancelling them out. Generally, I think we’d prefer that joy and delight would cancel the hardship, but it is just possible that, by not doing so, the gospel offers us a greater hope and a greater joy.

This way it takes account of the hardships and suffering we all live with, and tells us that it’s in the midst of those that we’ll discover the joy the Magi followed the star to discover. In our challenging and uncertain times that seems to me to increase the hope by acknowledging the hardship and telling us that however hard our journey we can discover and delight in the presence of Christ who chooses to dwell in our midst.

Where is Christ inviting you to delight in his presence in your life this Epiphany?

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Seekers of wisdom

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A post from the archives for the 10th day of Christmas. I’m always grateful for these days between Christmas and Epiphany. After the busyiness of our celebrations they give us an opportunity to reflect more quietly on this great gift of the Incarnation. They give us the opportunity connect the Christ child in the manger to the adult Jesus who calls and challenges us.

They give us the opportunity to follow the example of the Magi, still on their journey. These wise men spent their lives seeking truth and wisdom. It led them on a long and unlikely journey.

In today’s gospel we encounter another seeker of truth, John the Baptist. He’s also a man dedicated to seeking truth and pointing out the presence of Christ when he discovered it. When he sees Jesus coming towards him he tells the crowd:

“Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

His pointing out Christ’s presence offers us hope. He makes us aware that Christ is there waiting for us with an invitation, a challenge and a promise. We’re all too aware of the sin that touches our lives and our world. We know the issues it raises can seem insurmountable and leave us feeling desperate and hopeless.

John’s words remind us that, however desperate we might feel there is hope. Jesus invites us to to seek truth and wisdom and to follow him on a journey that will challenge us and lead us into new life in his presence.

How are you being called to seek truth and wisdom in these days before Epiphany?

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Discovering Christ.

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As we head back to work after the Christmas holidays it can be easy to forget that Christmastide is not over. We are still in the midst of the Christmas season, still celebrating the miracle of the Incarnation, of God is taking human form. As so often happens with liturgy the tone changes in these days before Epiphany.

Until now we have focused on the miracle of God’s presence made manifest in our midst. Today’s gospel brings us back to John the Baptist, with his call to alertness, to actively looking for Christ’s presence. He is quick to point away from himself towards Christ:

“I am not the Christ…I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

His words remind us that we are called to be constantly seeking God. We are to seek God not just in the obvious places, as we stand on or before the crib, as we pray, as we come together to worship and celebrate the new born King.

We are also called to seek Christ’s presence in every aspect of our lives. However unlikely it might seem to us every encounter, every activity, every engagement is an opportunity to discover the presence of Christ.

This process doesn’t happen automatically. If we are to discover Christ’s presence in every situation we have to be prepared to take a risk. We have to risk softening our hearts and opening them to the possibility of Christ being present even in situations that challenge us and make us uncomfortable.

Where is Christ challenging you to be open to his presence in unexpected situations this Christmastide?

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Hidden treasures

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Since I was a child I’ve been fascinated by Mary’s pondering. I always wanted to know what she was pondering, and what treasures she was holding in her heart. If I’m honest, I would still like to know. So today, as we begin a new year with all the hopes and uncertainties that entails I’m reflecting on these words from today’s gospel:

“As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

I imagine that all that Mary faced since the annunciation would have left her with much to ponder. Some of that pondering would have been life-giving, encouraging and hopeful, treasures to help her face whatever the future held.

As a young woman, pregnant in unusual circumstances, some of her pondering must touched on the painful, hurtful and judgemental, not treasures to carry into the future, but burdens be laid down.

Mary’s wisdom is that, in the midst of the challenging and uncertainty she faced, she was able to take the time to reflect on what she needed to let go in order to make space for the treasures that would sustain her. This makes her an excellent model for us as we start the New Year.

A year of hardships and challenges that has left us with much to ponder. We have to ask ourselves where we discover the hidden treasures in those challenges, and what we have to put down in order to make space for them.

As we move into 2026 what treasures are you carrying in your heart?

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Seeking the presence of Christ

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The last day of the year is an opportunity to look back over the past year before we move forward into the unknown territory of the new year. It’s a time for discerning what we need to take forward with us and what we need to leave behind.

Looking back 2025 it seems as if the world stage has been overwhelmed by challenge, uncertainty and anxiety. We’ve lurched from crisis to crisis and we know we are facing an uncertain and vulnerable future as we move into the new year.

In such circumstances it’s very tempting to be gloomy, it can feel hard, and even dangerous, to hope in such situations. As I reflected on this I’ve been struck by today’s gospel. Writing from his own challenging and uncertain times John reminds us of the source of our hope:

“The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

His words take me back to the the heart of Christmas, Christ’s coming with light and truth into the messiness of our world. Even in these dark and uncertain times the light of Christ shines in the darkness, offering us hope and inviting us to trust.

If I look back honestly at this challenging year I find that there are glimmers of light in the midst of the challenges. This presents a new challenge, to actively seek the glimmers of grace and truth that Christ brings however unlikely the circumstances may seem.

As we prepare to enter a new year what gives you the courage to seek the glimmers of Christ’s presence in your life?