Category: Benedictine Spirituality

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Learning compassion.

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This Sunday’s gospel is about judgement and motivation. It opens with the Pharisees questioning why the disciples are eating with unclean hands. Their comments are both judgemental and critical. Jesus uses the prophet Isaiah to challenge both these attitudes. He reminds them them that faith is about more than adhering to human tradition however valuable and revered that might be:

“This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations. You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.“

He goes on to call the people to him, telling them:

“Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a person from outside can make them unclean: it is the things that come out of a person that makes them unclean.”

Jesus’ words are every bit as relevant to us as they were to the Pharisees. The challenge to attitudes and behaviours, the judgements and presuppositions applies as much to us in the church today as it did to the Pharisees.

Within the church today, we know all too well the temptation to judge and criticise others for their beliefs or spiritual practices. Especially when social media can spread our ideas so far we know how damaging and undermining such attitudes can be. Jesus calls us to listen with the “ear of our hearts”, to look inwards at our own motivations, and focus on our own response to his teaching.

If we give our whole attention to this, we will have little energy or interest in judging others. As our inward journey shows us both our own strengths and weaknesses we will discover that we grow in compassion and so we will be less tempted be judgemental or critical to others.

Where is Christ challenging you to look inwards today?

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The hope of peace.

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I’m reflecting on these words from today’s first reading. In his second letter to the Thessalonians St Paul writes:

“May the Lord of peace himself give you peace all the time and in every way. The Lord be with you all.”

They have particular resonance in the light of today’s news, which gives the impression that there is almost nowhere in the world where peace prevails. In such a challenging scenario it’s tempting to dismiss his words as too idealistic for such troubled times.

But the gospel calls us to hope, not hopelessness. In his own challenging and violent times St Paul was able to write these words of hope and believe in them because of the good news of the gospel.

Today were celebrating the feast of St Augustine of Hippo. His writing was hugely influential in shaping Western Christian thought and theology. He also lived in violent and challenging times as the Roman Empire disintegrated around him.

Like St Paul, St Augustine was able to face his times with courage and hope because of his faith in the gospel and it’s promise. In many ways we face the same dilemma that they did. It’s not easy to be hopeful in our own challenging and violent times.

It’s hard to see people suffer and not be able to fix things. Yet it is in precisely these times that we are called to follow their example, to seek and share the peace of Christ wherever and however we can.

Where are you aware of needing the Lord of peace to bring peace to your life today?

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Walking with Christ.

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We can easily forget or brush aside the real challenge at the heart of the gospel. Centuries of familiarity and tradition have removed most of the shock that Jesus’ first followers would have felt when they heard his words. Today’s gospel brings us back to just how shocking his teaching was, and still is if we allow ourselves to really hear it. In today’s gospel Jesus has challenged his listeners so much that they say to themselves:

“This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?”

At that point many of them left and stopped following him. Faced with their departure Jesus does nothing to tone his message down. In his conversation with his disciples he even seems to increase the challenge asking them:

“What about you, do you want to go away too?”

He gives the Twelve complete freedom to walk away like the others. Having learned something of his teaching, each of them has to face and answer his question for themselves. It’s the same question that each of us has to face and answer.

Simon Peter’s answer sums up the situation for all of us. Turning the question round he says:

“Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe, we know you are the Holy One of God.”

His response brings us to the heart of our faith. Once we’ve recognised Jesus as the “holy one of God” however challenging it is to walk with him it becomes inconceivable to walk away from him.

What helps you to stay with Christ even in the challenging times of life?

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Surprised by Christ

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From the archives for the feast of St Bartholomew. I’m reflecting on Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael. It’s clear that the encounter was as life changing as it was unexpected for Nathanial. He is somewhat underwhelmed with Phillips’ news that the expected Messiah is from Nazareth, questioning whether anything good can come from that place.

However, despite this uncertainty, he is unable to resist Phillips’ invitation to “come and see” for himself. It’s this openness and willingness to take a risk that enables him to be embrace the life changing encounter that follows. When he does come to Jesus it is with a question:

“How do you know me?“

Jesus’ answer seems commonplace enough:

‘I saw you under the fig tree.’

Yet it is this apparently ordinary answer that enabled him to put aside his doubts and recognise the long-awaited Messiah: “

“Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.’

The passage makes me aware of how we long to be known and accepted as we really are. We long to recognise Christ in our lives, and for him to recognise us. It is both comforting and challenging to discover that Christ knows us better than we know ourselves.

It’s comforting because it means that with Jesus I can be completely myself, without pretence, knowing that I will be accepted completely as I am. It’s challenging because of the things that I would rather keep hidden, those times when I don’t live up to my best self, that Jesus invites me to bring out into the open, into the light of his love.

Where is Christ surprising you with his presence today?

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Called to be generous

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Some thoughts on fairness and generosity from our archives: Today’s gospel is all about fairness and generosity. At the beginning of the day a landowner goes out to hire workers for his vineyard, offering them a fair price for the day’s work. He goes out again several times later in the day, right up to the 11th hour, and still finding idle workers sends them to his vineyard offering them “a fair wage”.

At the end of the day he tells his bailiff to pay all the workers the same amount, starting with the ones who came last. This causes some consternation to those who have been working all day, and they grumble that it’s not fair as they have worked longer and should receive more. They evoke our sympathy because we all know what it feels like to be treated unfairly. Yet, the vineyard owner takes a different view, saying to them:

“My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius?… Why be envious because I am generous?

His words turn the situation on its head, challenging his workers, and us, to look at it from a different perspective. He calls us to look at our motivations and to acknowledge that there can be a thin line between our desire for fairness and envy. His generous action points out that generosity is a hallmark of the Kingdom. It compels us to reflect on where we can be generous towards those around us with both our material goods and our time.

Where is Christ calling you to act generously today?

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Love in action.

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Today we’re celebrating feast of St Bernard Tolomei, the founder of the Olivetan congregation. He was a 13th century lawyer who, with a few friends, left the city to live as hermits in the hills outside of Siena.

However, things did not turn out quite as they planned. Having being led out into one of those “desert places” where God speaks to the heart, they were called back into the city to nurse the victims of the plague in 1349. It was there that St Bernard fell ill and died.

Reflecting on Bernard’s life in the light of that gospel I was touched by this:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”

It sums up both the essence of St Bernard’s life and of the call to contemplation that we all experience. The result Bernard’s contemplation was not to cut him off from the world and its sufferings, but to make him more aware of them. This led him back to the city to give his life in serving others.

It’s tempting to make a division between a life of contemplation and one of service. Bernard’s life suggests that there is no such division, they are two parts of a whole. It is our time spent with God that enables and sustains our service to others. It is the love we discover in the heart of God that enables us to love our sisters and brothers.

How is Christ calling you to serve today?

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Invitation & challenge.

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Today’s readings speak of invitation, call and challenge. In the first reading Wisdom sends her maidservants out into the city to invite everyone to:

“Come eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared! Leave your folly and you will live, walk in the ways of perception.”

In the gospel Jesus also has an invitation, as he offers us his very self:

“I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread which I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.”

He invites us to choose the life-giving over the often beguiling death dealing:

“I tell you most solemnly… Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them… Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.”

The challenge in both these invitations is to change. Wisdom’s call to walk in the “ways of perception” requires that we examine how we live in the light of God’s teaching and to make changes where necessary.

The gospel carries a similar message. However devoted to and sustained we are by the Eucharist, by itself it is not enough. The invitation to partake in the Eucharist is a call to imitate Jesus’ life of loving service in all areas of our lives.

In the letter to the Ephesians St Paul grounds this theme even more explicitly in the reality of our daily interactions. He writes:

“Be careful about the sort of life you lead… Do not be thoughtless but recognise what is the will of the Lord… Be filled with the Spirit.”

While each of the readings draws us into a meaningful and sustaining spiritual practice, they also point as beyond it. They invite us to is to allow the spiritual practices affect our behaviour in every part of life. The challenge is to let the love of God we have received shine through in every encounter, every interaction and every relationship of our lives.

Where is Christ calling you to model your life on his today?

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The greatness of God.

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Today as we’re celebrating the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary I’m revisiting Luke’s account of the Visitation. It’s a beautiful encounter of two women connected by family ties and by the unusual, miraculous circumstances they find themselves overtaken by. It shows us Mary at the beginning of a life’s journey that culminates in the Assumption. The young Mary can have had no idea of where this journey would lead her. Yet, despite her trepidation she is already full of the Spirit. She has the courage to use the words that have been passed down through her faith sing of the greatness of the God who has transformed her life:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit exults in God my saviour…”

It is easy to imagine that Mary knew how her life would unfold. We easily forget that she didn’t have our gift of hindsight. She had no idea of how her “yes” would shape her life and all our lives. She was a young girl stepping out into the unknown, hanging on to a promise from God that she didn’t fully understand.

It must have taken huge amount of courage and trust to take that step, singing God’s praises and trusting that the promise would be fulfilled.

In our own uncertain and challenging lives and times we are called to follow her example, trusting in dark times that God’s promise will also be fulfilled in our lives in ways beyond our dreams.

Where is Christ inviting you to step out in trust today?

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Building Community.

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Today I’m focusing on the second reading from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. At the end of a week that has been distressing in many ways it offers the hope that together we can move forward, rebuilding relationships and communities. He writes:

“Never have grudges against others, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness.”

I can’t help wondering how different social media would be if we took those words to heart. Over the past week we have seen very clearly the damage we can do to one another when we let grudges, anger and spitefulness shape our civic dialogue. We’ve seen the power that words have to lead to physical violence and damage. St Paul doesn’t stop there; he goes on to tell us what we have to do to avoid this:

“Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.”

We’ve also seen the power of kindness and forgiveness. kind words and actions can build bridges, heal wounds and draw us together in all our diversity. If we take the time to reach out across our divisions, we can find the courage to forgive and learn from each other. As the week progressed new friendships formed as people found the courage to listen, share food, learn about others and discover shared concerns.

St Paul reminds us that we are called to imitate God, and to imitate Christ in loving as he loves us. In our challenging times it seems to me that this call compels us to come together, to learn from one another, to share and to build the friendships that will help restore peace and trust in our communities.

Where is Christ calling you to help build up trust and friendship in your community?

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Sowing and reaping.

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Today as we celebrate the feast of St Laurence I’m reflecting on this from today’s gospel:

“Unless a wheat grain falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. Those who love their life lose it; those who hate their life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.”

Like so much of the gospel they are a mixture of promise and hope, challenge and uncertainty. I’m consoled by the comment Jesus makes as he explains something of the “hour” that he’ll face to his followers, “my soul is troubled” he tells them. We’ve seen so much pain and suffering in the past week that we can easily echo Jesus’ words in our lives.

Our hearts are troubled by all that we’ve seen unfold in this hardest of weeks. In the face of all that Jesus invites us to let go, to acknowledge the suffering and fragility we all experience. Doing that opens us up to our common humanity, and that brought to mind another text. In his letter to the Galatians St Paul tells us:

“Make no mistake… Whatever a person sows, that is what will be reaped.”

He reminds us that we are not without agency. Even if we seem powerless in the face of overwhelming circumstances. we can choose which type of seed we want to sow. In response to these disturbing circumstances we can choose speak and act in ways that acknowledge our common humanity in all its diversity.

We can choose to risk reaching out to others. We can be prepared to listen to perspectives that are different to ours. We can change our society by sowing seeds of friendship and trust, not those of hatred and division.

Where is Christ inviting you to sow seeds that will yield a rich harvest in friendship and trust?