Category: Christ

Categories
Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

Changing hearts & Minds.

Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash

Today’s gospel is an uncomfortable read. Jesus encounter with the Canaanite woman highlights racial tensions between two groups of people who have been at enmity for some time. When the Canaanite woman, stepping out of her comfort zone, asks for help Jesus initially ignores her. Then, when his disciples compel him to respond he brushes her aside saying:

‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’

This is not the sort of response we might expect the Jesus we know as open, loving and accepting of all people. As he is pressed by the women who continues to plead for her daughter his response becomes more negative:

‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’

It almost seems that he is confirming the prejudices of his own people rather than challenging them. The Canaanite woman is courageous or desperate enough to challenge his response saying:

“Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.”

Her persistence & courage touch Jesus’ heart changing his mind and his view of his mission. He moves from seeing this woman as a stranger, and outsider to valuing her as he does his own people:

“Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.”

In these times of racial tension this gospel challenges us and offers us hope. It challenges us to look again at those we perceive as “other”, actively seek ways of reaching out to welcome them and learn about them. The change we observe in Jesus offers us the hope that encounters across cultures and races can change our minds and expand our hearts with love.

Where is Christ challenging you to reach out to others today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Transfiguration Uncategorized

The call to transformation.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

The Transfiguration is a beautiful feast. It gives us an insight into the mystery of God. It shows us how God’s glory can break through into our ordinary lives, transforming them and enabling us to see them in a new light. Yet it’s also full of challenge.

Like Peter, when we glimpse that glory we want to stay with it. We long to be held in the shelter of God’s presence, protected from the storms and hardships of our lives. Tempting as that is, it misses the point of the Transfiguration. Those moments of intense encounter with God are not places to hide away but ones to draw courage from so that we can face the turmoil of the challenging lives and times we live in.

It seems to me that the key to the Transfiguration is in these words spoken from the cloud:

“This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.”

It’s a call to listen to Jesus that requires we are open to those intense moments of transformation, but are also willing to move on from them. It’s a call not only to listen, but to respond to his words, allowing them to shape our actions and encounters.

It’s a call to leave the places where we feel safe and comfortable and follow him whatever challenges life presents, and to learn to respond to those challenges with love, kindness and compassion.

Where are you being called to listen to Christ in your life today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Communion Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

The Bread of Life.

Image by Gini George from pixabay.com

This week’s readings both focus on the reality of our physical needs and point us beyond them. It seems to me that this speaks to the heart of our reality. As humans we have real, physical needs that can’t be pushed aside if we are to flourish. This is played out in the first reading when the Israelites complain to Moses and Aaron that they have no food. When the Moses takes their complaint to the Lord it’s met, with no quibbling or blaming:

“I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content .”

But God also knows that meeting physical needs alone is not enough for true human flourishing, for that both our spiritual and physical needs need to be addressed. So, having provided manna to satisfy their hunger God seeks to draw the people into a deeper relationship saying:

“Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”

The gospel, following on from the feeding of the five thousand, has a similar pattern. Having met the physical needs of the hungry and tired crowd Jesus invited them to embrace a bigger picture:

‘I am the bread of life. Those who comes to me will never be hungry; those who believes in me will never thirst.’

In offering them himself, the Bread of Life, offers them the opportunity to accept a reality that acknowledges both their physical and spiritual needs.

Where is Christ offering you nourishment today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Saints Uncategorized

Discovering treasure.

Image by Günter from pixabay.com

Today we’re celebrating the feast of St Ignatius Loyola whose spiritual exercises have done much to shape Christian spirituality through the centuries. Today’s gospel, the pearl of great price, struck me as having an enlightening resonance with the life of St Ignatius. In describing the kingdom Jesus tells his disciples the story of a someone finding treasure hidden in a field, and happily selling all their possessions to buy the field:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found… He goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.”

His desire for the pearl and his decision to act on it is completely life changing for him. St Ignatius went through a similar life changing experience. Having been seriously wounded in battle he found himself bedbound, bored and frustrated in a strange house. He had limited resources to entertain himself. He was left with nothing to read except a life of Christ and the life of the saints, which would not have been his choice.

However, as he read them and daydreamed about their stories he began to find unexpected riches buried there. The discovery led him to question how he was living and what made him truly happy. To his surprise he discovered that it wasn’t imagining himself as a great knight, performing deeds of strength and courage.

Instead he found that he was happiest when he imagined himself imitating the actions of Jesus or of the saints. This was the treasure he discovered and, he willingly gave everything he had to be able to carry on seeking that treasure.

Where are you being called to seek the hidden treasure of Christ’s presence in your life?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prayer Resurrection Saints Scripture Truth Uncategorized

Welcoming Christ

Image by Pexels from pixabay.com

A post from the archives for the feast of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, friends of the Lord, an important feast for Benedictines because of of its link to hospitality. Luke tells us that Martha:

“Welcomed Jesus into her home.”

She offered him hospitality, a safe place to relax and have a meal with his friends in dangerous and uncertain times. However, John takes the hospitality she offers to a different level. He shows us a woman of faith, used to the theological reflection and conversation, and already a follower of Jesus.

Even as she grieves for her brother she is capable of questioning Jesus and of allowing his response to transform her whole life It is through their hard, challenging conversation that Jesus is both revealed and recognised as Christ:

“I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though they die they will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

Central as this revelation is it is not enough by itself, and he requires a response from Martha, asking her:

“Do you believe this?”

The recognition of her response completes the revelation as she proclaims:

“Yes Lord… I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one who was to come into this world.”


I don’t think it would have been possible for Martha reach this recognition if she had only welcomed Jesus into her home. To recognise him as the Christ she must also have opened her heart to him.

By welcoming him into the very centre of her being she was able to allow him to transform her whole life. We too are called to offer the risen Christ hospitality in the depths of our heart, allowing him to enter and transform our lives with light, love and hope

What would help you to invite Christ into your heart today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

Called to be generous

Photo by sisi zzling on Unsplash

Today’s gospel, John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand, is both beautiful & challenging. I’m touched by Jesus’ concern for the most basic needs of the crowds who have followed him. As he sits down with his disciples he doesn’t turn the crowds away hungry. Instead he challenges his disciples to find a way of feeding them, saying to them:

“Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?”

John moves us past this question quite swiftly, assuring us that Jesus already knows exactly what he’s planning to do. Generally, I’ve followed John’s lead skipping over the question and focusing my reflection on the miracle and its spiritual significance.

But I find the harsh reality of life today has made me rethink that and I’m taking Jesus’ question at face value. I’m struck by his concern and by the way he involved the disciples in his miracle. He didn’t just work the miracle by himself as he could so easily have done. Instead he took what little food they had to offer and used that as the basis for meeting the needs of the huge crowd.

When so many people are struggling to meet their basic needs, to feed and clothe their children Jesus is posing the same question to us as he did to the disciples. However impossible it might feel he is inviting and challenging us to find ways of sharing what we have in ways that are equitable and respectful.

What is the risen Christ challenging you share what you have today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

With undivided hearts

Photo by Satit Wongsampan on Unsplash

A post from the archives on the parable of the sower. It seems to me that the heart of this parable is its call to attentiveness:

“Listen, anyone who has ears!”

Jesus tells his followers at the end of the parable of the sower. There are so many things that distract us. The pressures and anxieties of life make it hard to pay attention, we often end up with half an eye and half our hearts on something else. It might be the next thing we have to do, or something in the past that we wished we’d done differently or a myriad of other concerns.

Whatever the distraction it makes us less attentive to God. Our distractions harden our hearts so that the Word doesn’t penetrate and take root and our initial enthusiasm withers in the face of hardship. It can be strangled by the thorns of anxiety and uncertainty that make up so much of all or lives today, and get no chance to grow. Or we can be so preoccupied that the Word washes over us without us even noticing.

Jesus offers another way. It is possible to prepare our hearts to receive the Word so that it grows and is able to sustain us whatever we face. The key to this preparation is to give our whole attention to the present moment, to open ourselves to the possibility that every task, every interaction is an opportunity to come into God’s presence.

What helps you to be attentive to the presence of God in the ordinary tasks of your day?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

Finding Balance

Photo by Jordan Opel on Unsplash

Today’s gospel highlights a dilemma that is at the heart of Christian life and ministry. When his disciples come back from their mission Jesus’ first thought is to give them space for rest and reflection. He says to them:

“You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while.”

He is responding both to their need to recover from their travels and to the situation to which they returned which was so busy that they didn’t even have time to eat. In our busy, stressful and needy world we all know this situation from our own experience. When we are presented with situations that need us it is very easy to forget the importance of our own well-being. Like the disciples we need space to rest and recover and it is a relief that Jesus acknowledges that.

Later he is presented with another challenge:

“As he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.”

His actions may seem confusing and contradictory. They leave us wondering what we should do if we are to model our lives on his. They are a reminder that, as St Benedict tells us, the Christian life is one of balance.

We are not called to choose one or the other of these ways of being, but to hold them in tension and balance. This requires discernment and self-knowledge, we have to take each situation and discern what we are being called to in it. Our discernment needs to take account of our own needs and the needs of those who come to us.

Where is Christ challenging you to find balance in the midst of your life and commitments?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Wholly Attentive

Photo by umberto rega on Unsplash

In today’s gospel Jesus once again turns our ideas on their heads. He calls his listeners to step back from their challenging, complex and uncertain lives and discover a new way of being. His alternative is a surprise, even a shock for his listeners. He doesn’t tell them to pay attention to the learned and the clever, the experts and politicians. Instead he tells them that the mysteries of the kingdom are revealed to children:

“I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learners and the clever and revealing them to mere children.”

As so often happens with the gospel we have become so familiar with this text that we no longer hear the initial surprise that must have caused. Very few people, then or now, really look at children as bearers of wisdom. The gospel calls us to examine that view. It invites us ask what Jesus saw in the children that he didn’t find in those learned and clever adults, and to look at what we can learn from them.

Children have the capacity for openness and attentiveness that we seem to lose as we grow. When they are involved in some activity they give it their whole attention, it absorbs them completely. To watch that is a delight and a challenge. We can only ever do one thing at a time, yet we prize multitasking, convincing ourselves that this is a good way to deal with the many things that we have to cope with in any day. The challenge of today’s gospel is to allow seeking the kingdom to absorb us completely, to give it our whole and complete attention.

Where is Christ calling you to give him your whole attention today?

Categories
Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Called to radical trust

Photo by Galen Crout on Unsplash

It can be hard to feel hopeful when life is tough. In challenging and uncertain times we tend to tense up and close in on ourselves. We find it hard to be hopeful, trustful or aware of our blessings. We look for ways of maintaining the status quo, and keeping ourselves safe Understandable as that is Scripture calls us to a different way of being.

In his own challenging and uncertain times Jesus sends the Twelve out to preach the Good News with nothing except his authority. Instead of allowing them to look for ways to protect themselves he challenges them to risk embracing the uncertainty:

“He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to take sandals, but he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’”

We are so familiar with this passage that it’s easy to sanitise it. We can assume it’s for the disciples, but not for us today. We can allow the challenges of our lives today to overshadow that call, using those legitimate demands to avoid it. We are also called to the radical trust and hope of discipleship. That can be easier when life is good, when our nations and societies seem stable and secure.

It becomes much more difficult when we live with fear and uncertainty across the globe. Yet, while the details might look different to the instructions to the Twelve, the underlying call is the same. We too are called to live with radical trust and hope in the midst of much that would undermine that.

Where are you being called to radical trust in Christ in your life today?