Category: Divine Office

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Easter Sunday Easter Vigil Eastertide Good Shepherd Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Called And Named

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission

BACKGROUND READING JOHN 20: 1-18
AND JOHN 10 1-6

Mary’s story is about being lost and found. She met Jesus when she was completely lost. “Possessed by evil spirits” she was wandering the countryside, too disturbed to be still.

When she heard Jesus teaching by the lake, a wave of peace washed over her. he became his follower. She sat at his feet with the other disciples, listening, learning and being changed by his words.

The crucifixion was another overwhelming loss. She tried to get the disciples to come and anoint Jesus’ body, but found them too devasted and scared to leave their rooms.

She gathered the other women to help her instead. When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and a young man waiting inside. They dropped everything and ran away.

Mary went back to the other disciples, telling them that, on top of everything else, Jesus’ body had been taken. Peter and John ran with her to the tomb to see for themselves. She arrived after they left, and stood weeping by the empty tomb, overwhelmed again by the loss.

Initially mistaking him for the gardener she recognised Jesus when he called her by name. It’s a moment that takes her back to the first story she heard him tell, the good shepherd:

“The good shepherd had called my name, and I knew his voice with every fibre of my being.”

In our lost times we too need to hear the risen Christ, calling us home to live in the light of his love.

Where do you hear the risen Christ calling you to live in his love this Easter morning?

You can hear Mary’s story here:

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Holy Saturday Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Prayer Prophetic voices Scripture

In The Emptiness

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After the high drama of Good Friday people often talk of Holy Saturday as a “tomb day”, a time to sit with the emptiness that follows death, to allow the events of Good Friday to sink in. I recognise the yearning for that and its wisdom. Yet, it’s not an experience I recognise from monastic life.

In practice, for many of us Holy Saturday is very much a hybrid day, we are aware of its emptiness, the mourning and the uncertainty. We also have to acknowledge that the Easter vigil is fast approaching and that Easter liturgies and treats do not plan themselves. So it is also a day of preparation and anticipation that can be very busy.

As we move through this hybrid day I’m reflecting on these words from the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah from this morning’s Office of Readings:

“The favours of the Lord are not all past, nor his kindnesses exhausted; every morning they are renewed: great is his faithfulness. My portion is with the Lord says my soul, and so I will hope in him.”

Even in the midst of his lamentation Jeremiah is able to acknowledge the kindness and faithfulness of God, and to put his hope in that. His words speak to me of the hybrid reality of the day. It seems to me that the emptiness of Holy Saturday calls us to imitate God’s kindness to others as we get on with the many preparations for Easter, and to ourselves as we seek small moments of quiet during the day.

In the emptiness of Holy Saturday where are you aware of the Lord renewing your capacity for kindness?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Good Friday Gospel Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Scripture Triduum

Being There.

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission

BACKGROUND READING MARK 15:1-41 AND
JOHN 19 17-37 OR JUST JOHN 19 17-37

Salome was one of women who followed Jesus through his passion and death to his resurrection.

Salome’s story is about remembering and forgetting. She remembers her friendship with Mary growing up in Nazareth. She remembers it falling apart after the angel’s visit, and being rediscovered after Mary, Joseph and Jesus returned from Egypt. She remembers how she initially followed Jesus for Mary’s sake, until his words touched her and she begins to follow for herself.

She remembers how, when they hear of Jesus’ arrest, they follow him to his trial and passion. She tells us that, with breaking hearts and dying hopes, they keep vigil at the cross while he dies.

Salome also knows what it feels like to be forgotten. She repeatedly reminds Peter and the other disciples that not all of Jesus’ followers ran away at his arrest. She admits that this might have been habit as much as virtue:

“It’s what I’ve always done. When disaster strikes and I don’t know what to do, I do what I normally do – day in, day out – until the moment comes when I do know what to do again. So, when we heard, when it felt as though the world was collapsing around us, we did what we’d been doing for the past few years. We followed him.”

When we come to the cross on Good Friday we are invited to remember the marginal. We are called to stand with those society rejects, ignores, and pushes aside. We are challenged to become one with them in Christ.

The cross also invites us to bring those parts of ourselves that we reject and ignore. We are called to bring them to the cross, to be welcomed into Jesus’ gaze of “pure love”.

As you stand before the cross this Good Friday where do you need to feel the pure love of Christ your life?
You can hear Salome’s story here:

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Communion Divine Office Eucharist Foot washing Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Maundy Thursday Scripture

Extragavant love… Extragavant heartbreak

BACKGROUND READING MARK 14: 12-25

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission

Joanna was one of the group of women who follows Jesus. The wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, she was part of the group who used their personal resources to provide for Jesus. Feeling stifled by life at court she went to Capernaum to hear Jesus speak and became a follower.

Joining Jesus in Jerusalem for Passover Joanna was anxious and unsettled. She senses a dark shadow hanging over them. Jesus has started to talk about suffering, death and rising again.

This added to her sense of foreboding. She found a practical outlet for her stress, worrying about where they will celebrate the Passover. Eventually she snaps at Jesus:

“So where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

To her relief, Jesus had it in hand. She went off with Susannah to make the arrangements and found everything as he said it would be.

They gathered to celebrate the Passover, drawing strength from the shared meal and remembering the story of their freedom. They received Jesus’ offering of his body and blood in the form of bread and wine, though they don’t understand its significance.

As Jesus left for Gethsemane with the disciples her discomfort turned to dread. Her friend sums up what they are facing:

“That’s the problem with extravagant love, it leads to extravagant heartbreak.”

Those words also touch the heart our Maundy Thursday liturgies that acknowledge both the best and the worst we can be. We all recognise the intimate link between the love and heartbreak.

How is the extravagant love of Christ helping you to face your heartbreak this Holy Week?
You can listen to Joanna’s story here:

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Palm Sunday Scripture Uncategorized

The call of steadfast love.

© Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission

BACKGROUND READING: PSALM 118 AND MARK 11:1-11

The first woman of Holy Week is Miriam. She is practical and down to earth. She doesn’t like living under Roman occupation but realises that her family’s well-being relies on her finding a way to live with it. She lives in Sephorris where she and her family make a good living as fish traders. They have travelled to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival.

She comes to this festival with mixed feelings. She loves the sense of togetherness and hope that the festival brings, but hates the jostling and disagreements that come with being part of a large and excited crowd.

A woman of deep faith she lives with the hope and expectation that the Messiah will come and set her people free. As she walks with the rest of the crowd she carries the image of the Messiah, weary, exhausted and quietly triumphant, riding towards Jerusalem. She puts her whole heart and soul into singing:

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good: his steadfast love endures for ever.”

Then she sees a surprising sight. Two people bring a donkey and a man got onto it, riding it she says “just like I always imagined the King would have done – except that it was a donkey and not that impressive”.

A little impatient with the gesture she initially him as another “wannabe Messiah”. Something in the man’s demeanour compels her to look again. It’s then that she sees past the externals and recognises the Messiah at the centre of this unlikely scene.

Where is Christ calling you to recognise his steadfast love in unexpected places this Holy Week?

You can listen to Paula Gooder read Miriam’s story here:

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Gospel Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Palm Sunday Prophetic voices Psalms Scripture Uncategorized

Women of Holy Week

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From Palm Sunday I’ll be using Paula Gooder’s book “Women of Holy Week” as the basis of my prayer. They tell the stories of ordinary women, some we know from the gospels, though their stories are not elaborated there. Others are not mentioned in the gospel, but it’s possible that someone like them was there in the crowd.

All of their lives were touched and changed, either by encountering Jesus on his journey through Holy Week and Easter or by hearing about him. from others. I will include a link to Paula’s audio reflection at the end of each day’s post.

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prayer Scripture

Overshadowing

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Today celebrating the 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.

In our dark and frightening times 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 Lent?

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

Celebrating St Benedict

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Today we’re celebrating the feast of the passing of St Benedict. This post from the archives takes me back to the heart of the Rule, the call to listen…

Lent is the time for turning back to God. It encourages us to reassess our practices and to recommit ourselves to those that will draw us closer to God. With this in mind I’m reflecting on this from the prophet Jeremiah:

“Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way I mark out for you, and you will prosper.”

His words take me back to the Rule of St Benedict. He begins his rule by saying:

“Listen carefully to the master’s instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”

We all know that listening is central to our faith. We also know how that in the hubbub of challenges and anxieties that make up daily life we can easily miss that gentle voice of God calling us. St Benedict and Jeremiah both call us to take the time to tune the ear of our hearts to resonate with that gentle call.

Lent is certainly a good time to practice this listening, but there’s more to it than that. The listening that they require is a life changing experience. It starts with the attentive listening with the ear of our heart and moves on to action that affects every part of our life.

St Benedict carries on saying that having listened to the master’s instructions we are to “faithfully put into practice” what we hear.

Jeremiah’s call to listen and follow makes the same point. The listening we are called to is to is to shape how we live. The way we treat one another, the way we work, the way we treat our tools and utensils are all to be formed by this attentive listening to God in every circumstance.

As we move through Lent what are you being called to faithfully put into practice?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prophetic voices Saints Scripture

St Joseph

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Today is the feast of St Joseph. On the surface he seems a shadowy figure. A background figure in the gospel who supports Mary and the child Jesus and brings stability and respectability to an otherwise difficult situation. Yet, if we look beyond that image we find a different story. I’m reflecting on these words from a hymn for his feast:

“His love was humble, flame of God’s own fire,
A light to guide the path he trod alone;
Like Abraham, like Moses he believed,
And went in faith to find a land unknown.”

They speak not of a shadowy figure, but of a man of great faith, courage, humility and trust. He follows in the line of Abraham and Moses who left everything to follow God into the unknown.

When we think of the blessing of welcoming, we think in positive terms. St Joseph shows us that we’re sometimes called to welcome circumstances that are difficult or challenging. Drawing on the faith of his ancestors when his life and expectations are completely turned upside down St Joseph is able to put himself in God’s hands, trusting that God will lead and guide him. It can’t have been an easy choice, it will have required both humility and courage.

It’s impossible to think of this without reflecting on the seemingly insurmountable challenges our world faces today, both at home and abroad. As we see lives disrupted and communities destroyed by war St Joseph becomes a valuable role model.

He reminds us that however dark and uncertain our lives, we are called to put ourselves into the hands of God who will lead us through the darkness into the light of his love.

What gives you the courage to trust yourself to God today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Prophetic voices Scripture

The gift of mercy

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The gift of mercy is part of the blessing of gospel living that is especially important today. In our public spaces we see situations where no apology is acceptable. There is no way back from a mistake, no make a fresh start or second chance.

Alongside that there are people who seem immune to any sort of sanctions, however they act they never have to face the consequences. Both signal a devaluing of this essential quality of gospel living.

In that situation we’re called to pay even more attention to them. They offer us both challenge and hope Its challenge is in its call to admit our faults & failing, to confess that we all need mercy in our lives. We both stand in need of God’s mercy and are called to be merciful towards others.

Another challenge of mercy is that it can only come as a gift, we can’t demand it, earn it or get it for ourselves. The most we can do is ask for it when we recognise our need strive to be open to receive it. Mercy also offers us hope. In today’s first reading the prophet Micah writes:

“What god can compare with you: taking fault away, pardoning crime, not cherishing anger for ever but delighting in showing mercy?”

His words remind us, not only that God knows our faults and is willing to be merciful, but that the mercy is offered freely and generously, with delight. The source of God’s mercy towards us is love, the love that holds us in being, the love at the heart of the gospel.

Where are you being offered God’s mercy this Lent?