Category: Gospel

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Prayer Scripture

Prayer

ben-white-yy3GonY48N0-unsplash.jpg

The seventh word in my Lent lexicon is:

PRAYER

Along with almsgiving and fasting prayer is one of the three pillars of Lent. Lent gives us an opportunity pay extra attention to our prayer life. It might be that we manage to take more time for prayer, or try a new practice. It might also be that rather than adding more we give ourselves more fully to the practices we already have.

In today’s gospel Jesus give the disciples some guidance about how to pray. He reminds them that they do not need many words to pray, that God already knows what they need:

“In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

He then goes on to teach them the Our Father, a prayer we are all so familiar with that we can use it without much attention or thought. Valuable as a framework of words are prayer is about more than that. Jesus reminds us that prayer is as much about an attitude of heart as about the words we use.

The call to prayer is first of all a call to come into the the presence of God. When we pray we don’t have to know what to say or how to solve the issues we carry in our hearts problems. We only have bring ourselves into God’s presence and to wait there doing our best to be attentive to God and allowing God to take the lead. It’s a call to openness, humility and trust.

What helps you to open your heart to God’s presence in prayer this Lent?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Saints

A generous heart.

Image by Van3ssa Desiré Dazzy from pixabay.com

The sixth word in my Lent lexicon is:

GENEROSITY.

One of the three pillars of Lent practice is almsgiving. It’s a call, not only to share what we have, but to do it to with an open and generous heart. Today we’re celebrating one of our congregational saints, St Frances of Rome.

She brought up a large family and did a great deal to help the poor and the sick of Rome, sharing her resources of time and money with generosity and sensitivity. She is one of a very small number of married women who are saints.

Her generosity is obvious in her almsgiving, in the hospital she built, in the priest she funded to visit plague victims and in her generous almsgiving. But I see it most clearly in the way she cared for the poor. After she washed and mended their clothes she wrapped them in lavender before returning them to their owners:

“These she washed and mended with care and thoroughness, as if they were to be used by the Lord himself, then she folded them carefully and put them away in lavender.”

This small detail acknowledges that generosity is not just about meeting material needs, but about recognising and honouring the humanity of those who have less than us. Frances recognises this. The gospel for the feast is the story of the prophetess, Anna. Luke tells us that:

“She never left the Temple, worshipping day and night with fasting and prayer.”

Frances also spent time in prayer. It is this that enables her to develop the open hearted generosity that touched so many lives.

Where are you learning to be generous this Lent?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Scripture

In the wilderness.

Photo by Kevin Charit on unsplash.com

The fifth word in my Lent lexicon is:

TEMPTATION.

We all know temptation. We experience it in ways that can be life changing. We also experience it in ways that seem so small as to be insignificant. The source of their power is that they begin by seeming attractive and appealing. This attraction can distract us from or true purpose and even our true desire.

In today’s gospel we see Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness:

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days.”

Jesus is tempted by the devil in ways that touch the most basic of human desires. As he struggles with hunger, the devil tempts him to turn stones into bread. As Jesus becomes aware of his weakness in the wilderness the devil offers him power.

At the end of a long period of solitude the devil tempts him to force God to rescue him. Jesus turns away from them all, seeing beyond the surface attraction of each. Eventually it’s the devil who gives up and leaves Jesus alone.

It can be hard to turn away from the attraction of our temptations, often we give into them before we even notice we’ve done it. It seems to me that what enables Jesus to dismiss his temptation is his focus.

He manages to keep sight of the bigger picture and so he can see that the temptations will distract him from that. He invites and challenges us to do the same when we face temptations.

What is helping you to turn away from your temptations this Lent?

Categories
Ash Wednesday Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

Ash Wednesday

Photo by Grant Whitty on unsplash.com

One of the most helpful books I’ve read is “Amazing Grace, a vocabulary of faith.” By Kathleen Norris. She describes it as “an exploration and record of some of the words in the Christian lexicon that most trouble and attract me.”

The book reminded me of an important Benedictine principle, that words matter. They shape us, form us, challenge us and help us grow.

So this Lent I’ve decided to make myself a Lent lexicon. I’m going to explore some of the words we commonly hear in Lent. I’ve chosen words that attract and sometimes scare me. They also both shape and challenge my experience of Lent.

Ashes

Ashes mark the beginning of our Lent journey. With a small, but significant physical sign we give a powerful message about the significance of this time. The Ashes seem to me to be a signal of intent for the season of Lent. There are many ways that intention could be stated, it will vary from person to person and from year to year. But whatever variations it has I generally find that this verse expresses them all:

“O that today you would listen to his voice, harden not your hearts.”

It’s the first thing we sing on Ash Wednesday, and whatever Lent practices I choose this verse sums up their purpose and intent. Lent practices help us to move away from the clutter that disguises our hardheartedness. They invite us to allow our hearts to become vulnerable and open to receive the Word of God.

Ashes remind us of that intention and of our limitations. As we receive the ashes we hear one of these verses:

“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.”

Or

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

Our Lent journey starts with high hopes. These verses bring us back down to earth. We are created from the stuff of the earth, that is both a humbling and liberating thought. In a world that sets impossibly high standards it allows us the freedom to accept our limitations.

As we journey through Lent our good intentions will get battered and even fall by the wayside. The ashes are a reminder that this is simply part of being human. We can fall, and get up and try again.

How are you being called to open your heart to God’s voice this Ash Wednesday?

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

Taking risks

Photo by Joshua Earle on unsplash.com

We live with an almost constant temptation to divide the world into “them” and “us”. Although the criteria for each group might change according to circumstances we seem to have a natural tendency to want to stick with the people we perceive as being “like us” and distancing ourselves from those we think of as “other”.

This is especially true in challenging and unsettling times. When life feels threatening we tend to stay with what feel safe and to become more judgemental about anyone or anything that doesn’t fit our image of how things should be.

Today’s gospel sees the disciples falling into exactly this trap. When they see someone from outside of their group casting out devils in Jesus’ name and try put a stop to it. The response they get from Jesus is a surprise for them and for us. Instead of commending their diligence he says to them:

“You must not stop them: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.”

His words are a challenge for the disciples and for us. He invites us to expand our horizons, and to reach out beyond our comfort zones. It’s a call that’s at the heart of the gospel. It brings to mind St Benedict’s instruction to welcome guests as we would welcome Christ.

It’s a challenge to be openhearted and to give others the benefit of the doubt. It’s an invitation to discover the best in others. In these difficult and frightening times to call we need to respond to more than ever.

Where is Christ inviting you to move out of your comfort zone today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

Love and Compassion.

Photo by Sebbi Strauch on unsplash.com

Today’s gospel goes to the very heart of what it is to be a Christian, the call to love and compassion. We all know the importance of love, how it can shape and form us. We all have some experience of how it’s lack can undermine and damage us.

We know that love is not always easy, it requires us to put ourselves aside, to think first of what would be best others. To do that with those most intimately connected to us, our families, our friends, those who think and live like us can be hard and challenging enough. Yet Jesus tells us that to love those who love us is not enough. He tells his disciples:

“Love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”

It’s a call to love as God loves, going beyond our limited human ways. This seems to put the call to love into the category of almost impossible. If we struggle to love those who love us how can we ever learn to love those who would harm or hurt us? Jesus goes on to answer this question:

“Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned.”

It’s still a hard call, especially in our harsh times. In so many areas hate and mistrust seem to be gaining the upper hand in our communities and societies. In such times this call is even more important. “Be compassionate” Jesus says, calling us to risk being open, vulnerable, and giving others the benefit of the doubt.

Where are you being called to love your enemy today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Putting on the mind of Christ.

Photo by a Denis Degioanni on unsplash.com

There’s an undeniable tension between human thinking and God’s thinking. It comes up again and again in Scripture. From Isaiah to St Paul we hear a version of God’s word to Isaiah:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways…”

In today’s gospel we see this principle played out in practice between Jesus and Peter. Peter is horrified by Jesus’ teaching that the Son of Man was destined to be rejected, suffer, die and rise again. He takes Jesus aside and remonstrates with him.

We don’t really know what Peter’s motivation was. He may have been shocked that the image of the Messiah Jesus presented wasn’t the one he’d been expecting. He might have been scared about where this path might lead himself and the other disciples. He may have been worried about the reaction of the disciples to such a stark message.

We do know that Jesus’ response is a rebuke and a challenge:

“He rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but the human way.’”

Jesus’ words challenge us as much as they do Peter. They remind us that, in following him we are to strive to align our hearts and minds with God’s way of thinking. It’s a call to be kind and compassionate, to give people the benefit of the doubt and not to judge. In these unsettling times that’s more important than ever.

What does it mean for you to “put on the mind of Christ” in your life today?

Categories
Beatitudes Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Living the Beatitudes.

Photo by Elsa Tonkinwise on unsplash.com

Beautiful and inspiring as they are the beatitudes are one of the most challenging texts in Scripture. They turn all our expectations of life on their heads. They detail the whole range of human experience. We all know the experience of mourning and weeping. We all experience poverty of some sort, whether physical, spiritual or emotional. We all know hunger in some way, whether that’s physical hunger or an inner spiritual hunger. We have all been mocked, excluded and derided.

When caught up in the experience of these things our first thought is not likely to be that we are blessed. The challenge of the beatitudes is that the things Jesus calls blessed we tend to see as, at best, misfortune:

“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.”

The blessing comes, not in the circumstances themselves, but in the fact that whatever we are going through, God is with us, transforming the experience by God’s ever present love. That is not an excuse for those of us who are are not experiencing, poverty, hunger, mourning or exclusion to walk away from those who are.

It can be tempting to think that we can leave their situation to God. That is never the way of the gospel. If we want to live a life based on the beatitudes we are called to reach out to those in need, to offer support, to share what we have, to alleviate suffering in whatever way we can.

Where are you being called to live the beatitudes in your life today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

Choice & discernment

Photo by Raul Petri on unsplash.com

Today’s gospel is a call to look within ourselves, to explore the things that motivate us, to pay attention to condition of our hearts. It’s a call to discernment. Jesus says to his disciples:

‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a person from outside can make them unclean; it is the things that come out of a person that makes them unclean. If anyone has ears to hear, let them listen to this.’

When life is uncomfortable and challenging it’s easy to look outside ourselves for the reason. We blame circumstances, other people or the situations we find ourselves in. Without denying that there may be things in all of these areas that need to change, Jesus also points us to the real source of our lives. It is what is within us that shapes us. It’s the condition of our hearts that draws us towards good or bad.

Jesus invites us to look within, to examine the motivations of our hearts. His words echo the book of Deuteronomy and it’s call to choose life:

“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live…”

In offering us life Jesus asks us to discern the things within that would draw us towards life. He asks us to nurture those things and to turn away from the things that would lead us away from life, those things that injure us and others.

His call to to discover the best within ourselves and to bring that to our encounters and interactions. To do this we need to put aside the judgement, envy, pride & malice that would draw us away from all that is life giving.

Where is Christ calling you to listen & discern today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture Uncategorized

The power of love.

bart-larue-jMd3WS9LBcc-unsplash-2.jpg

Today is the feast St Scholastica, sister of St Benedict and the patron saint of Benedictine women…It’s a feast about the power and importance of love.

We hear it in St Gregory the Great’s account of her last visit with St Benedict. At St Scholastica’s request they stay up all night “conversing of holy things”. This means Benedict has to spend the night outside his monastery. He initially refuses her request until her prayer results in such a fierce storm that he is compelled to stay with her. St Gregory comments:

“It is not surprising that the woman…was more effective than he [St Benedict] was on that occasion. For according to the saying of John, “…God is love.” So it was entirely right that she who loves more should accomplish more.”

The gospel is the story of Martha and Mary, so often seen in opposition. Mary is prayerful and contemplative and Martha as active and practical. The reality is more complex; they are both aspects of love. If we are to truly seek God, we need both of them, not in a hierarchy, but working together in union and tension.

We can see them come together in St Scholastica. She can only have recognised the significance of this last meeting with St Benedict if she had been a woman of prayer. She would also have been used to a life of practical service of others. She will have recognised the tension between them in her own life as Martha and Mary must have done. It may be that it was this that enabled her act out of love in praying for the extra time that she and her brother needed together on this last visit.

Where are you called to act out of love today?