Category: Discernment

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#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Jubilee Lectio Divina Scripture

A justice rooted in love.

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Today I’m reflecting on justice. As an ex-primary school teacher every time this word comes into my mind I hear a myriad of children’s voices calling “Miss, that’s not fair!” I remember making the same complaint myself.

Like most of us I also remember the pain of discovering the reality that life often isn’t fair. Rather than just being a childish dream, this early concern with fairness suggests that we carry in our hearts a deep sense of fairness from when we are very small.

It might get thwarted and bent out of shape, but I believe that somewhere deep within our hearts we recognise and value true justice. However self-centred or self-serving we become we carry the knowledge within us that humans flourish best when everyone is treated with justice.

Justice is not straightforward. We don’t have to look very far before we see our human justice being abused and misused, despite our best efforts. Reflecting on justice reminds us that God is not like us, as Isaiah tells us:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord. For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.”

Part of the call of a Jubilee is to bring our understanding of justice closer to God’s. God’s justice is always firstly based on love. It’s the love that invites us into a covenantal relationship, and then offers us countless opportunities to find our way back to that relationship when we have wandered away from it. Our jubilee calls us to reflect on our understanding of justice and to ensure that, like God’s it’s based firstly on love.

How does the faithful love of God affect your understanding of what justice is?

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#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Jubilee Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Rule of St Benedict Scripture

Accepting freedom

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Today I’m reflecting on freedom. The biblical concept of freedom goes beyond that our human understanding of freedom. It is rooted first of all in our position as children of God. It’s an invitation to become the person God’s calls us to be. It also carries a challenge.

In the course of life’s ups and downs we encounter much that draws us away from that freedom. Much as we desire it, we find ourselves making choices that limit and curtail it. The prophet Isaiah promises:

“He has sent me… to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison…”

Biblical freedom is communal as well as personal. One of the things I’ve learned in my time in the Monastery is that there is always a balancing act between individual freedoms and communal freedoms. No one is free to do exactly as they wish or need of the Rule at the expense of others. In chapter 72 Benedict says:

“No one is to pursue what the judge better for themselves, but instead what they judge better for someone else.”

Part of being free means that we have to choose to put aside some of our freedom for the good of others. In our individualistic times, with the concerns for personal freedoms and rights this can be a real challenge.

A jubilee calls us to revisit what it means to be free, to ask ourselves where we have set up barriers and limitations to this gift of freedom. It’s a time for asking what we have to let go of to allow ourselves to embrace in ways that are life-giving for us and for our communities.

What freedom is God inviting you to embrace today?

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Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Prayer Prophetic voices Saints Scripture St Therese of Lisieux

Love at the heart of the Church

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Today we are celebrating the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. She entered Carmel at 15 and died at 24. Once she entered Carmel she never left, she built no career, had no wealth and little influence. Even after her death, when her saintliness is recognised, she is often presented with an overlay of sentimentality and sweetness.

Her spirituality is often called “a little way” and that can make it tempting to dismiss her in these challenging times we might be tempted to look for a saint who is more obviously heroic than this young woman. To do that would be to greatly undervalue St Therese’s message.

Saint Therese was a woman of faith, courage, wisdom and discernment. Her little way takes us to the heart of the gospel. In a time when the church placed little value on love she was courageous in putting it at the heart of Christian life. Reflecting on St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians she writes:

“Love, in fact is the vocation which includes all others; it is a universe of its own, comprising all time and space – its eternal… My vocation is love… I had discovered where it is that I belong in the Church, the niche God has appointed for me. To be nothing else than love… That’s to be everything at once.”

She was able to see the one thing that she could do that had the power to change the world, one small act at a time. In these times when we are overwhelmed by the suffering we see in every area she offers us a way of making a difference. By choosing to show love in a world that often feels hateful our actions can affect real and lasting change.

Where are you being called to put love at the heart of your life today?


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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Truth

Waking to the truth.

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Today’s gospel is an uncomfortable read for those of us who live with more than we need. In his lifetime the rich man has more than he needs, he can indulge every whim and every desire without a thought for the cost. His wealth does nothing to increase his generosity or understanding of those who struggle to meet their basic needs. He seems perfectly comfortable ignoring the Lazarus begging for a few scraps at his gate.

When both men died the tables are turned, and Lazarus is held and cherished “in the bosom of Abraham” while the rich man is tormented in Hades. His agony awakens him to the truth and he begs that Lazarus returned to earth to warn his family to change their ways, but Abraham tells him that even if someone were to return from the dead, they would not believe him:

“If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”

We can sanitise this and dismiss it as a morality tale, but it is much more than that. It’s a call to all of us who live with plenty to examine our attitudes to what we have. Unlike the rich man, we have someone who rose from the dead to show us the way of life. The call of Christ, the call of the gospel is not to gather riches, not to look after ourselves, but to share whatever we have, however little, with others.

Where is Christ calling you to share your gifts generously 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 Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Truth

With undivided heart.

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Today’s gospel is an uncomfortable read. It describes a dishonest steward, willing to cheat his master to ensure a comfortable & financially secure life for himself. He knows himself well enough to know he’s incapable of either manual work or begging. So, he sets about cutting the bills of his master’s debtor.

This is not to relieve them of their debt, but to ensure that they owe him a favour that he can call in at another time. All his self-knowledge only leads him to greater selfishness. Instead of criticising him his master expresses grudging admiration for his understanding of the ways of the world.

We all recognize the truth of this. We too live in a world, where looking after our own interests takes precedence over anything else. We live with the consequences of a worldview that values success over either truth or compassion.

While Jesus recognises this reality, he is determined to ensure that his disciples understand that this is not the way of his Kingdom. His disciples have to be alert to the ways of the world, but not to live by them. He says to them:

“No servant can be the slave of two masters: they will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.”

He makes it clear that his Kingdom has no space for divided loyalties or double dealing. We have to follow him with whole and undivided hearts. Such a wholehearted commitment to the Kingdom rules out the duplicity the steward exhibits.

Where is Christ calling you to a wholehearted commitment to him today?

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

Challenged to hope.

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Today’s feast, St Hildegarde of Bingen, is giving me a helpful perspective on a challenging gospel. Jesus, perhaps fed up with a barrage of complaints, says to the people:

“‘What description can I find for this generation? What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market-place: ‘We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t cry.’”

His words challenge me to reflect on a very human tendency which we all recognize and fall into all to easily, grumbling. It can sometimes seem that whatever we have, even if we get exactly what we say we want, we are never content. We always hanker after something else.

His words take me back to the Rule of St Benedict. They almost perfectly illustrate one of the things he warns against at every opportunity. He repeatedly warns his community against “murmuring”, that low level discontent that can bubble destructively under the surface of our lives, sapping our appetite for real and constructive change.

St Hildegarde, a Benedictine nun, would have been familiar with the concept both from the Rule and from her own challenging experience of monastic life.

It’s easy to grumble in these challenging times when so much that we relied on seems to be broken or untrustworthy. This distracts us, helping us to avoid taking responsibility and appropriate action where we can. That’s never the call of the gospel.

Instead, Jesus’ words are a call to discernment. He calls us to look at where we fall into the temptation of grumbling instead of using our discontent to seek constructive solutions to our challenges.

Where is Christ challenging you to avoid grumbling today?

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Beatitudes Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

The challenge of the beatitudes.

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Luke’s Beatitudes are challenging read. Unlike Matthew, whose focus is on the spiritual attributes of the Beatitudes, Luke links them much more to the grim material reality of poverty, hunger, war and the other sufferings that we inflict on one another. For those of us who live materially comfortable lives it gives them a stark urgency, showing us precisely how different the values of the kingdom are from our human values.

Almost everything he lists as blessed, we would choose to call cursed, and vice versa. His words remind me that if we are to follow Christ we have to choose to live by values that are not the world’s. We have to be prepared both to rock the boat and to live with the consequences of that:

“Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven.”

They have particular resonance today when we see so many lives destroyed by war, violence and economic hardship. It seems to me that they call us question a status quo that accepts such suffering as long as it’s not on our own doorstep.

They call us to look hard at our own lives, the choices we make and how they impact on other people. Their concern with the material reality of life remained us that the call to build the kingdom is not just about our heavenly future. It is a call to do all we can to make it possible for everybody to live with dignity and to flourish.

How are you allowing the challenge of the Beatitudes to shape the choices you make in daily life?

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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 Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Rule of St Benedict Scripture

A whole hearted welcome

 
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It’s a very natural human tendency to judge both ourselves and others. In today’s gospel we see the guests making swift and sure judgements about who is most deserving of places of honour at the table. Jesus is quick to point out the dangers of this:

“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you may come and say ‘give up your place to this person.’”

Even with the best of intentions it’s very easy to cause more pain and discord by making wrong judgements. Reflecting on this has brought me back to two very basic Benedictine values, humility and hospitality. I think these can help us step back from the tendency to be judgemental.

Humility calls us to acknowledge that we are in no position to make judgements about how things should be arranged, or what others need or deserve. A humble attitude helps us to admit that we don’t know what is best for others and to be open to learning from them. However well intentioned our judgements can often cause hurt and distress.

Hospitality, the call to welcome everyone as we would Christ, offers us a way to avoid this. The first step in hospitality is to give another our whole attention, to allow them to tell us what they need, rather than assuming that we know. If we do that with open hearts, putting aside our own judgements, we will be able to discover what will make them feel truly welcome and accepted.

Where are you being called to put aside judgement today?