Category: Cross

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

A hard beginning.

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Inspired by Sister Laurentia John’s book: “The Way of Benedict: Eight Blessings for Lent.” I’ll be reflecting on a different blessing each week in Lent through the lens of the Scripture readings and of the Rule of St Benedict.

The first blessing is BEGINNING. Chaim Potok’s book “In the beginning”, opens with this phrase, “all beginnings are hard…” This is something I often choose to forget. I prefer to focus on the promise, hope and possibility that a new beginning offers us.

However much our beginnings overflow with possibility, and they are also hard. Beginnings don’t come with guarantees. Each beginning requires us to step out in trust into the unknown, that is challenging and unsettling.

This is highlighted by today’s gospel. We see Jesus stepping out into a new beginning. Immediately after his baptism when he is acknowledged by God as “beloved son” we’re told:

“Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

It’s hard to imagine a harder beginning than that. Part of me wants to shy away from it, to look for a gentler start to this journey that we are called to imitate.

Yet Jesus doesn’t shy away from this hard beginning. He faces the challenge of each temptation head-on. His courage and perseverance lead him through the temptations until we hear:

“Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.”

His example offers us hope. Whatever hard beginnings our own Lent brings, we can trust that we too will find blessings to sustain us on that journey.

What blessing do you most need to begin your journey this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Lent Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

Sacred space

The encounter between God and Moses at the burning bush is one of my favourites, it sets the tone for the whole of Lent. There are certain places that we think of as “holy”. There are places we go to deliberately to seek God.

It might be a church or a prayer room, or a corner of our house that we use as a prayer space. There can also be places outside where we feel it is easier to connect with God. We sometimes call these “thin places”, they are often places of great natural beauty.

Moses is in the midst of a very ordinary activity on an ordinary day. He’s not in any place that’s officially marked as holy or religious or anywhere particularly beautiful.

It’s in the ordinary that God reaches out to Moses, using his curiosity about the “strange sight” of the burning bush to draw him into a conversation. As soon as Moses draws close God call out to him:

“Take off your shoes…for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”

Lent gives us the opportunity to reflect on what that means in today’s fragmented world. God offers Moses a promise and a challenge. The promise is that God will be with him whatever he faces.

God also challenge him to go out of his comfort zone in ways he could never have imagined. We also receive that promise and are challenged to move beyond the boundaries where we feel safe and comfortable.

Where are you being invited to discover the promise & challenge of holy ground in your life this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prophetic voices Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

Practicing Love

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We always start Lent full of hopes and plans. We plan our Lent practices with care, giving serious thought to what we will do or give up. We do this with the best intentions, looking for what will draw us closer to God in this special time.

We have high hopes for what these practices will accomplish in our spiritual lives. These practices give us a sense of purpose and focus that we desperately need in the midst of life’s that can be very distracting and dissipating.

Yet for all their value it can sometimes feel that these practices can become distractions themselves. We can become more focused on completing the practices than on their ultimate purpose. Today’s 1st reading is a call to look beyond the outward signs of our Lent practices to their ultimate purpose.

The prophet Isaiah writes:

“Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me – it is the Lord who speaks – to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke, to clothe the those you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin? Then will your light shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed over.”

His words remind us that our Lent practices are not only for our own personal benefit. This is especially true in these challenging and hard times. They are to change our hearts so much that they also alter our behaviour. Whatever they are they should lead us to reach out to those in need.

They should soften our hearts so that we feel our neighbours’ pain. They should lead us to be kinder, more compassionate, encouraging and supportive. They should lead us to lighten the burdens of those we encounter in whatever way we can.

How are your Lent practices enabling you to help those around you?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture Uncategorized

Making a choice

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Lent is a call to refocus our attention on the really important things in life. It acknowledges that the stresses and strains we face every day can draws away from our true purpose. We can get so caught up in these that we forget the truly important things, and turned towards things that are not good for us. In today’s first reading God calls Moses to give the people a choice that will call them back to their true purpose:

“I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists…”

His words are just as relevant for us, especially in Lent. All our Lent practices aim to bring us back to what is truly life giving. They remind us that the only truly life-giving choice is to turn to God, the source of all life so that we can live in God’s presence and shape our life by God’s love. The gift of life however does not come automatically.

As Moses points out we have to actively choose what is life-giving. On the surface that seems easy, but it is not always that straightforward. Often, at the outset at least the life denying choice appears easier or more comfortable, while the life-giving choice can feel harder and more challenging.

Our Lent practices help us discern what is truly life giving. They can help us decide what we have to let go of so that the things that are truly life giving can find the space to flourish and grow.

How are your Lent practices helping you to choose life?

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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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All Souls Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

Consoled and Comforted.

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A reflection from our archives for All Souls Day. Despite the change in tone from one feast to another, All Souls Day is intimately connected to All Saints Day. At heart both feasts speak to the basic equality of Christian faith. We are all one in Christ, and through our baptism, we are all equal before him.

Today’s feast is a time for acknowledging our mortality. It gives us the opportunity to acknowledge that death is a completely natural part of life. It is something we all share in and will all experience. This is one of the areas where we are called to stand out against the world’s way.

Today’s world denies death, pushing it aside or trying to micromanage it because of the pain, suffering and uncertainty it brings. Our faith calls us to look at death differently. It doesn’t call us to deny the pain, suffering and loss that death brings, but to accept it and embrace it. We are also called to look beyond it, to the hope that Christ offers us, even as we grieve.

The invitation & challenge are summed up for me in the prophet Isaiah’s words:

“The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek… That day, it will be said: see, this is our God in whom we hoped for salvation… We exalt and we rejoice that he has saved us.”

All Souls allows us to remember & grieve our loved ones. Yet, even as we grieve, it reminds us that the God of love will comfort and console us, offering us promise of new life in God’s presence.

Where do you need God’s comfort and consolation in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

A risky discipleship.

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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?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Supported by Christ

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In today’s gospel Jesus is brutally honest with the crowds, warning them that following him is no easy option:

“If anyone comes to me without hating their father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and their own life too, they cannot be my disciple. Those who do not carry their cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Stark as his words are, they are not intended to discourage us from following. Rather, he offers a realistic view of what we face if we choose discipleship. Jesus is making it clear that following him will not help us to avoid the suffering of life. On the contrary us he calls us to accept that suffering willingly. He invites us to refuse to give into the temptations of avoidance and grumbling, which can be so soul destroying.

We can understand this call to let go, painful as it is, when it relates to things that might be bad for us. But Jesus makes it clear that the call of discipleship might also lead us away from situations that are good and living giving as well as ones that aren’t. Accepting that is a much greater challenge. Jesus wants followers who are fully aware of the challenging path they have chosen.

This challenge can seem intolerable. It is made possible only by the accompanying promise. He assures us that whatever sufferings we face in life he will be there with us, a compassionate, loving presence in even the darkest of times. While neither the hope nor the promise will remove the sufferings, they offer a framework to encourage us to face them.

How is Christ supporting you in your suffering today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Keeping sight of Christ

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Today’s gospel is full of challenge. At the best of times, we resist messages of doom. That’s especially true in today’s world, ravaged as it is by war and conflict. It’s hard to find anything hopeful in Jesus’ words. He is promising us, not the peace and reconciliation we need, but conflict and dissension:

“Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three…”

Throughout the gospel Jesus is direct about the struggles that come from following him. Painful as his words are we all recognise the truth of them. We all know that following the gospel will bring us into conflict with others, even with other Christians who interpret it differently. We can’t deny that they do mirror the reality of our conflict riven world.

This could make it all too easy to be drawn into hopelessness, losing sight of the kingdom we seek. But, much as Jesus challenges his followers, he never leaves us without hope.

In the second reading St Paul draws our attention to that hope. In his letter to the Hebrews he calls us not to lose our focus. He tells us that whatever we face in life we should keep our attention focused on Christ:

“Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection…”

He reminds us not to let ourselves be distracted or turned away from Christ by the challenges and conflicts we face. It is by returning our attention to Christ that we will find hope and joy in circumstances that might feel hopeless.

What helps you to keep focused on Christ presence in challenging times?