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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Eucharist Gospel Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Invitation & challenge.

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Today’s readings speak of invitation, call and challenge. In the first reading Wisdom sends her maidservants out into the city to invite everyone to:

“Come eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared! Leave your folly and you will live, walk in the ways of perception.”

In the gospel Jesus also has an invitation, as he offers us his very self:

“I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread which I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.”

He invites us to choose the life-giving over the often beguiling death dealing:

“I tell you most solemnly… Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them… Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.”

The challenge in both these invitations is to change. Wisdom’s call to walk in the “ways of perception” requires that we examine how we live in the light of God’s teaching and to make changes where necessary.

The gospel carries a similar message. However devoted to and sustained we are by the Eucharist, by itself it is not enough. The invitation to partake in the Eucharist is a call to imitate Jesus’ life of loving service in all areas of our lives.

In the letter to the Ephesians St Paul grounds this theme even more explicitly in the reality of our daily interactions. He writes:

“Be careful about the sort of life you lead… Do not be thoughtless but recognise what is the will of the Lord… Be filled with the Spirit.”

While each of the readings draws us into a meaningful and sustaining spiritual practice, they also point as beyond it. They invite us to is to allow the spiritual practices affect our behaviour in every part of life. The challenge is to let the love of God we have received shine through in every encounter, every interaction and every relationship of our lives.

Where is Christ calling you to model your life on his today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Saints Scripture Uncategorized

The Treasure of the Kingdom

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Today, as we celebrate the feast of St Bede I’m reflecting on this from today’s gospel:

“Let the little children come to me, do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

It always takes me back to my days as a primary school teacher, looking for the qualities that Jesus might be talking about. I was often struck by the insight and perception the children I taught. It seemed to me to come from their openness and attentiveness.

 St Bede, a monk from the north-east of England, who lived a monastic life from childhood managed somehow to hold on to and develop these qualities through his long life. This is not something that would have come easily. Bede lived in challenging and dark times. From childhood he knew danger, uncertainty, suffering and the fragility of life.

Yet through all this he was able to keep the openness and attentiveness to God that seems so natural to children. Throughout all his challenges and hardships seeking the presence of God was the heart of his life as a monk. It enabled him to retain the openness and attentiveness of a child, and to discover the wisdom that can only come from an awareness of God’s presence

Through a simple life dedicated to study, writing, teaching and prayer he was able to discover and share some of the treasures of the kingdom with countless generations of Christians. It seems to me that his life embodies the qualities Jesus calls us to in this gospel.

Where are you being called to be open and attentive to the presence of Christ in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Pentecost Prayer Scripture Uncategorized Vespers

Come Holy Spirit

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Our celebration of Pentecost has begun with Vespers. It’s is full of passion and drama. There’s the Apostles transformed and inspired by the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel in new ways and new languages. There’s Jesus’ appearance to the disciples offering peace and sending them out to take the Good News to the whole world. There’s Paul’s beautiful image of unity and diversity. Out of this rich tapestry of inspiration it’s these words from St Paul’s letter to the Romans that have stayed with me:

“Since in our weakness we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit comes to help us and intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”

They’re words I return to regularly because they describe so clearly a reality that I often experience. There are many times in life when we need to pray and want to pray, and simply don’t have the words to express our need. I find that especially true in times of hardship and suffering. In these times when hardship and suffering seem to be multiplying in every direction there are many times when prayer is needed and we feel too overwhelmed by the circumstances to articulate our need.

In those situations, I find St Paul’s words full of consolation and hope. It is a great comfort to know that when we are unable to pray the Spirit is there to speak for us, to bring our prayers into the presence of the God who understands even the wordless sighs that come from the very depths of our hearts.

As we celebrate the joy and hope of Pentecost what does the Spirit carry from the depths of your heart to the presence of God?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Christmastide Gospel Holy Spirit John the Baptist Lectio Divina Scripture

Called to life and hope

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Today we’re celebrating the Baptism of the Lord, the feast that brings the Christmas season to an end. As it celebrates the first public appearance of Jesus it refocuses our attention in a new way. The humility and openness of John the Baptist turns our attention towards Jesus:

“Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals.”

His action takes an already growing sense of expectancy in the crowd and points it towards its source and hope. He shows us the one we are to follow, to imitate, to grow into. As she reflects on Mark’s account Sr Verna Holyhead writes:

“This gospel is a declaration of who Jesus is to Mark’s church, a statement of their self-understanding as disciples of the new messianic times who are sons and daughters of the Father because they are baptised into the Spirit-filled and Beloved Son, and commissioned to serve in his name.”

Her words remind me that we, like those first disciples, are called to reflect on who Christ is for us today. Like the early Church we will struggle to understand and accept the implications of that for our lives. The reflection will necessarily challenge us. It will lead us through deep and tumultuous waters as we struggle to let go of all that would prevent us from embracing the new life Christ offers

Jesus, the beloved and favoured one, has come to challenge and transform us with his costly gift of love. As he rises from the waters of his baptism he calls us to follow him through it’s depths into the light of life and hope.

How is Christ calling you to follow him today?