Category: Discernment

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Saints Scripture Uncategorized

St Peter and Paul

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As we celebrate the feast of Sts Peter and Paul I’m reflecting on courage. There’s no denying that we live in frightening and challenging times. Whatever direction we look in we risk being overwhelmed by the uncertainty and suffering people are forced to live with.

Peter and Paul do not seem to be very alike. They have different backgrounds, attitudes and experiences of Jesus. Yet, among their many differences one thing Peter and Paul have in common is courage. Among a variety of definitions of courage discussed the one that has stayed with me is the courage to change.

St Paul, the great persecutor of Christians, had the courage to allow his encounter on the Road to Damascus to change everything about how he lived. He must have risked losing friends, family, reputation and livelihood in the process.

Peter’s courage enables him to leave his nets and follow Jesus, even though he feels unequal to the task. His courage allows him to stay with Jesus as his ideas are challenged, disturbed and ultimately seems to be destroyed. Even in the face of his denial of Jesus he finds the courage to come back seeking forgiveness.

They bring to mind these words from today’s responsorial psalm:

“From all my terrors the Lord sets me free.”

In discovering the courage to to change Sts Peter and Paul were to accept the risks challenges and delights of allowing Christ to set them free.

Where do you find the courage to allow Christ to set you free from all that would terrorise you?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Truth Uncategorized

Recognising good fruit

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In today’s gospel Jesus warned his disciples to be on their guard against false prophets:

“Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves.”

He calls us to pay attention to the false prophets within ourselves who would draws down personal path that would lead us in ways that are life denying rather than life-giving, however delightful they might appear at the outset. There is also our communal element to this call for discernment that comes to the fore as we we prepare for a general election. There is a cacophony of voices out there telling us what is best for ourselves as individuals and our society as a whole. This can be disconcerting, confusing and overwhelming.

In both cases Jesus’ advice to his disciples can stand us in good stead. Having warned them of the dangers he goes on to offer a solution saying:

“You will be able to tell them by their fruits… A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit… I repeat you will be able to tell them by their fruits.”

It seems to me that his words are a call to discernment on both a communal and a personal level. He calls us to pay attention to where we find good or bad fruits in our personal life and in the lives of our communities. He invites us to think carefully about the choices we make and where they lead us. His words remind me of Deuteronomy’s call to choose life over death.

How are you being called to discern what is life-giving for you today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Overshadowed by love.

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Today celebrating the transferred feast of the Annunciation I’m struck by the mixture of calm, serenity, and chaos that it portrays. It’s generally depicted in art and literature as a beautiful moment of calm encounter between Gabriel and Mary, between heaven and earth, leading to Mary’s act of obedience.

That is certainly one aspect of the gospel, but as I reflected on it today I’m very aware that there is also another side to it. The news the angel brings to Mary must have been both surprising and overwhelming to a young, unmarried woman who was not expecting to become pregnant.

It must have seemed to her that she was facing at best a challenge and at worst a disaster. Yet in the midst of the upheaval she was able to find a way through the chaos to say yes. I’m especially struck by the angel’s response when she asks, “How can this be?” He replies:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…”

His words take me back to the Spirit hovering over the waters at Creation drawing life out of chaos. That’s a comforting image image in these times when so much of our world seems to teeter on the brink of chaos. As we face a myriad of challenges and uncertainties this image offers hope and encouragement. I find it helpful to remember that however chaotic our situation the Spirit hovers, overshadowing us and promising new life.

Where do you need the Spirit’s overshadowing in your life this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Resurrection Scripture Uncategorized

A costly risk.

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Today’s gospel is full of challenge. Jesus taking the Apostles to one side, telling them what to expect in Jerusalem. He is completely honest:

“The Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.”

In response to the sons of Zebedee jockeying for power Jesus goes on to explain what it means to follow him with another shocking statement:

“Anyone who wants to be great among 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.”

We are so familiar with these words that they have lost both their freshness and their ability to shock. Having heard them repeated again and again over the years we have become accustomed to them.

We also come to them with hindsight. Unlike those first Apostles we read them through the filter of Easter, of knowing that Christ is already risen. That can make it hard for us to understand just how baffling and shocking they must have been to the Apostles. They had left everything to follow Jesus believing he was the promised Messiah. They would not have expected that to lead to death and crucifixion… Or to resurrection. They are fearful and disturbed Jesus’ talk of suffering and death.

Familiarity makes it easier for us to put them aside. We can bind them up comfortingly in liturgy and tradition, treat them as inspiring thoughts that don’t really affect our day-to-day life. Yet, as followers of Christ, we are called, like the Apostles, to let these words challenge and disturb us, and to take the costly risk of allowing them to shape our daily lives.

What costly risk is Christ calling you to take this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Lectio Divina Lent Prophetic voices Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

A habit of listening.

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Today I’m reflecting on the first reading from the prophet Jonah. I’m struck by Jonah’s response to God’s call:

“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 develop a habit of listening this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Lectio Divina Saints Scripture Uncategorized

For the glory of God.

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I’ve been reflecting on the second reading from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. He writes:

“Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

This seems such an obvious statement that it hardly needs to be said. Of course, we would want to be doing everything for the glory of God. Yet, reflecting on putting it into practice we soon realise it’s not that straightforward. We have to discover for ourselves what that might mean in our circumstances. In this short passage St Paul gives some idea of what it means in his situation:

“I try to be helpful to everyone at all times, not anxious for my own advantage but for the advantage of everyone else, so that they may be saved.”

Once again this seems very obvious, and we can easily agree that this is what strive to do. Yet to achieve this is not always straightforward. We can’t always know what will be the most helpful in any given situation. We can’t assume we know what people will need. If we are to model ourselves on Christ we have to take the time for prayer and discernment. We have to listen to people to tell us what will help them.

We also have to listen to ourselves to discern if we are in a position to offer that help. If we are to do everything as St Paul suggests “for the glory of God” we need to be generous in listening and responding. We also need to be honest and humble in admitting that we might not be able to meet every need that is presented to us.

What might it look like to do everything for the glory of God in your situation today?

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Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Bridging the Gap

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I’ve been reflecting on Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician women. It turns all my expectations on their heads, and each time I revisit it it offers me a new challenge to reflect on. I expect Jesus to be kind loving and accepting of those who ask his help regardless of their backgrounds, to welcome the outsider and the stranger. In this passage Mark presents a different Jesus, at least at its beginning. When the woman, clearly a foreigner, first approaches him his reaction is to turn her away in a manner that must have caused offence, saying to her:

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

The woman could have gone away at that point, hurt and rejected, but she didn’t. Courage or desperation compelled her. She stayed and argued with Jesus until she changed his mind:

“‘Ah yes, Sir, she replied, ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps.'”

Her courage in standing her ground and arguing her case is transforming for her and for Jesus. She makes him see things from a new perspective and he changes his mind, saying to her:

‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone of of your daughter.’

It’s left me reflecting on how we respond to people who we perceive as “other”. Our temptation is generally to turn away, to block them or disregard their opinions and experience. This gospel suggests another way, that we take the time to bridge the gap between us, to listen to their perspective, and to risk allowing that to change us.

Where are you being challenged to listen to another’s perspective today?