Category: Divine Office

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Eastertide Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Living in love.

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I’m reflecting on the first letter of St John. We’ve been listening to it throughout Eastertide, now as we move towards Pentecost its message has a particular resonance. St John takes us to the very heart of the gospel, to the relationship of love that both calls and sustains us wherever life leads us. He writes:

“My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God; but as long as we love one another God will live in us and God will be complete in us.”

He makes a very clear connection between God’s love for us and our love for one another. The love he speaks of is life changing, life enhancing and challenging. It’s not a love of fine sentiments. It asks us to imitate the faithful love God lavishes on us. It requires commitment and sacrifice. It’s a love that doesn’t give up when it’s hard or painful.

As St Benedict reminds us this love calls us to consider first what is best for the other rather than for ourselves. We have to recommit ourselves daily to this love. Sometimes that proves easier in the big challenges we face than in the small interactions of daily life which can feel so mundane and irritating.

It can feel like such love is beyond our human capacity, and in many ways it is. It is only when we are able to know and accept ourselves as truly and unconditionally loved by God that we find the qualities we need to reach out and offer love to those around us.

As we move towards Pentecost it’s worth remembering that our capacity to love relies on us abiding in God’s love so that we can carry it with us to a world in need.

How are you being called to live in and share God’s love this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Pentecost Resurrection Scripture Trinity

The call to unity.

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As we celebrate the seventh Sunday of Eastertide Jesus calls his disciples to unity. It’s a call that’s always been necessary for the church and for the world. It has particular resonance in these times. It seems that in every area we are becoming more aware of our fragmentation and brokenness. Wherever we look we see the very real human cost of those divisions.

The reality is that we are called to live with others, and human life flourishes best when we can live together in some sort of community. When those communities break down, whatever the cause, life becomes harder, more impoverished and sometimes impossible for all of us.

So Jesus’ call to unity has an even greater urgency today that may have had at other times. As he prays for his disciples he says:

“May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me, and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.”

His words are a deeper call than human unity, important as that is. He invites us into union with himself and the Father. This deeper union in Christ is the foundation stone of the human unity that our fractured world needs so desperately. Healing fractured relationships and rebuilding communities is hard work.

It is only through our grounding in the love of Christ and the Father that we are able to commit ourselves to reaching out to those who are different from us, who disagree with us, who scare us or who have hurt us.

Where do you hear Christ’s call to unity in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture Visitation

In the joy of God’s presence

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Some thoughts from the archives for the feast of the Visitation. As we celebrate this lovely feast I’m being drawn to these words from the prophet Zephaniah:

“The Lord your God is in your midst… He will exalt with joy over you, he will renew you by his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.”

I was a little surprised that these were the words that drew me. The quickest of glances at the daily news brings a sharp reminder that whatever direction we look in there is little to inspire joy or hope. So I turned to the gospel. The beautiful encounter of Elizabeth and Mary as they delighted in the discovery of God’s presence deep within them echoed Zephaniah’s words.

Their joy and delight were real and transforming, yet that did not mean their circumstances were easy, comfortable or safe. They both knew suffering, individually and as part of a persecuted community. They both had lives that could be precarious, uncertain and even dangerous. Yet, they could still recognise and respond to the transforming, renewing love of God.

It seems to me that to respond to God’s love in uncertain times is both an act of courage and of faith. Even if we can’t feel it, or see it, God’s love is with us, renewing us whatever we face. Even when joy and hope seem impossible God rejoices in each one of us.

Where is God asking you to allow yourself to be renewed by God’s love today?

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Ascension Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Discovering joy

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The Eastertide gospels are very dynamic and active as the disciples struggle to come to terms with all that has happened. The gospels are full of movement, running, traveling, fishing, hiding. With Ascension the mood changes, it’s a quieter, more reflective time.

Jesus, who has been with the disciples in a new and very concrete way since the resurrection, has returned to the Father. This means the disciples have to adjust to another leaving, another loss and another new reality. They have to take time to reflect on all they have experienced, and they have to wait for whatever the Spirit will bring.

In this time we revisit the farewell discourses, reminding ourselves of the things Jesus has promised us. Today’s gospel acknowledges the suffering of life, the sorrow and the pain we all face. But it doesn’t stop there, having acknowledged the pain Jesus reveals another level of reality. He says to them:

“I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you.”

He reminds them that no amount of suffering can destroy the joy he offers or take it away. As I look around our world today, at the wars and conflicts, the poverty, inequality and exclusion that cause so much suffering it’s hard to find sources of joy.

Yet it’s in these challenging time that Jesus promises us his joy. This time allows us the opportunity to reflect, and to acknowledge our suffering, and to open our hearts to the joy he promises.

Where are you being called to take time discover joy this Eastertide?

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

Into the unknown.

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Today we’re celebrating the feast of St Augustine of Canterbury who, somewhat reluctantly, was sent by St Gregory the Great to bring the Gospel to the English. I’ve been reflecting on this from today’s gospel:

“I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals.”

It makes me realise just how vulnerable we become when we respond to Christ’s call to follow him. I imagine that St Augustine felt the full weight of that vulnerability when he accepted the task Gregory set him.

Travelling to a foreign land, which in itself was risky, dealing with unknown customs and practices and uncertain of his reception I wonder if he felt a bit like those lambs surrounded by wolves that Jesus talks about.

Following Christ means that we, like St Augustine, are called to step out into the unknown. We too live in increasingly challenging, dangerous and uncertain times. Hardships such as war, hunger, homelessness and climate change are now affecting daily life for many people.

So we have to face our vulnerability again in a new way, accepting that much of what happens in our lives is beyond our control. It can very easily leave us feeling like “lambs among wolves”.

We can find props to help us avoid that vulnerability, but that is not the call of Christ. Instead, Christ calls us to leave behind those props that would distract us and to follow him once more into unknown territory with “no purse, no haversack, no sandals.”


Where is Christ calling you out into the unknown today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

An open heart.

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Today’s first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, introduces Lydia, a devout business woman from Thyatira. She is in the purple dye trade, which was very much at the luxury end of the clothing market of the day. She’s a skilled, successful woman, capable of running her business and household.

This gives us an interesting and valuable insight into the lives of women at the time which deepens our understanding of the people who made up the early Church. But, fascinating as that is, it’s not the most interesting, important or exciting thing Luke tells us about Lydia. He writes:

“The Lord opened her heart…”

The interesting thing about Lydia is that the Lord spoke directly to her heart and changed her life forever. Building on the devout faith she already had Christ opens her heart to a new and deeper reality, a faith based on the good news of resurrection.

We don’t know all the details of how that change played out through the rest of her life. We only see it’s beginnings in the fact that she and her household were baptised and in her compelling Paul and Barnabas to come and stay with her.

Her story fills me with hope. She teaches me that, if we allow him the opportunity, the risen Christ can open our hearts to the new life his resurrection offers. If we allow him into our hearts he can change the daily reality of our lives just as much as he changed Lydia’s.

Where are you being open your heart to the risen Christ this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

For the healing of the nations

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Today I’ve turned my attention to the book of Revelation. It’s far from being my favourite Biblical text. I generally find it an uphill struggle. Yet even as I wrestle with it I have to admit that it contains some hidden gems that offer me hope and inspiration. I’m reflecting on this from yesterdays’ Office of Readings:

“On each side of the river there was a tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once every month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.”

These words carry a promise and a hope that is desperately needed today. Our world is deeply broken and fractured disputes and conflicts. The resulting violence has huge costs for ordinary people, destroying lives and communities, undermining human dignity and efforts to flourish and grow. It’s hard to imagine a time that needs the healing the text offers more than our own.

It can be tempting to assume that the writer of Revelation wrote these words of hope at time when life was, calm, peaceful and straightforward for his community. That’s not the case. He was writing to a community facing great suffering and persecution. In such times he could encourage his community to find hope in the promise of the risen Christ however desperate their circumstances were.

This adds a new layer of hope to his words. However broken and fractured our world is, and whatever we face as a result his words offer us hope. They promise that the risen Christ is there offering our fractured nations hope and healing.

Where do you see signs of the hope and healing the risen Christ is offering us this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection

What’s in a name?

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The Acts of the Apostles are very dynamic. The Apostles travel far and wide to share the Good News of the resurrection. They’re full of hope and delight even as they face challenges disagreements and persecutions. This is not the action of an established Church with centuries of tradition behind it. I

t’s the action of a disparate group trying to make sense of a deeply life changing experience. As they begin to preach to the Greeks in Antioch they don’t even have a name for their group. The writer of Acts tells us:

“It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians.’

We don’t know if they gave themselves the name or if it was given by others. We’re not sure if it was complementary or derogatory. We do know that it has come to define us ever since. So I’ve been reflecting on what this name means for us today.

The gospel gives us the answer. In today’s Jesus says:

“The Father and I are one.”

This gives us the foundation stone of our Christian identity. We are Christian because through our baptism we are united to Christ and the Father. That foundation has to be built up through practical action in daily life. The gospel makes tells us how to do that too. In Johns gospel Jeans says:

“I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognise you as my disciples.”

Jesus’ love is inclusive, practical and non judgemental. The call to be a Christian is a call to love. It is love that defines us and is as people of love that we seek to be recognised.

Where are you called to show love today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Good Shepherd Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

Shaped by and for Love.

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Today is both Good Shepherd Sunday and vocations Sunday. The Gospel with it’s call to listen makes the link between the two very clear:

“Jesus said “the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and the follow me…They will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.’”

It takes me back to the heart of Benedictine spirituality and so of my vocation, the call to

“Listen with the ear of your heart”.

There’s no shortage of voices trying to attract our attention in today’s world. We’re exposed to a constant cacophony of voices drawing us in opposing directions. It can be confusing, unnerving and debilitating.

In the midst of all those voices there’s another one, gentle and persistent that calls to us. It’s the voice of the Good Shepherd reminding us that we are made for love, and are held in being by love. It’s a voice that calls us back to our true selves.

It tells us that however uncertain or chaotic our times the love of Christ will never let us go. The Good Shepherd calls us to allow his voice to silence the confusion of the myriad voices around us and to focus on the one really matters, the one that can lead us to a life shaped by and for love.

Where is the Good Shepherd calling you to respond to his love today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Saints St Julian of Norwich Uncategorized

No bigger than a hazelnut

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I’m revisiting the work of Julian of Norwich on her feast day. She has a gentle and unshakeable certainty that is calming and soothing in challenging times. Today I’ve been reflecting on these words:

“And in this he showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand…In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God preserves it.”

They’re some of her most famous and well known words. They remind me of the of the fragility of our human life and of all of creation. The crises we’ve faced in the past few years have taught us taught us how little control we have over the events that affect us. We will never again be quite so enthralled by that beguiling myth that we control our own destiny.

Our challenging and uncertain times leave us all too all too aware that our lives are every bit as small and fragile as the hazelnut Julian describes. We will always now wonder, as she did, how anything so small and fragile could exist. That could be a despairing thought, especially in these times.

Yet, Julian’s revelation carries on and God shows her that it is held in being by the love of God. That love turns any despair we might feel in the face of our fragility into hope. As we tentatively navigate these challenging and uncertain times, that hope in the loving presence of God, holding us in being, gently cradling us in our fragility is essential.

Where are you aware of your need to be cradled in the love of God today?