Category: Jubilee

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#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Christ Jubilee Lectio Divina Scripture

With renewed hearts.

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In my last post for the #JubileeOfConsecratedLife I’m reflecting on this from the prophet Ezekiel writes:

“I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead.”

His words bring me back to the heart of the Christian call and our Jubilee celebrations, the call of love. We are called into being by a loving God. Throughout our lives we are called to grow in that love, allowing it to shape our actions and relationships.

Inevitably the challenges and struggles of daily life draw us away from that goal. We act in ways that are less than loving. We put ourselves before others, considering our lives as more valuable than theirs, our needs as more worthy of being met.

Even while we do this, we know in our hearts it’s not good for us. We know that all humans flourish best when resources are equally shared, when everyone has what they need to live well. Our families, our communities, our societies work best when everyone has access to all they need to live with security and dignity.

A jubilee allows us to reset this balance. It calls us to undo the injustices that have crept in over the years. It’s a chance to return freedom to those who have been enslaved and to return stolen or lost property to those who have lost it.

Our jubilee celebrations call us to allow God to turn our stony hearts back into hearts of flesh so that we can respond with love and compassion to our neighbours once again.

Where do you most need God fill your heart with love and compassion?

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#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Gospel Jubilee Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Rule of St Benedict Scripture

Forgiven and Forgiving.

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Today I’m reflecting on forgiveness. It’s central to our human experience. Both our need to be forgiven and our need to forgive are deeply rooted in the reality of our daily lives, in both big and small things. It’s impossible to live connected to other people without at some point needing to both forgive and be forgiven.

This reality is reflected all the way through Scripture. As we continue to celebrate the jubilee of consecrated life, I’m reflecting on these words from the Our Father:

“Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.”

These words are so familiar that we sometimes overlook their significance. Yet, they have the power bring the healing that can reset our broken relationships.

St Benedict recognises this when he says that the Our Father should be said by the superior at Lauds and Vespers “because thorns of contention are likely to spring up”. It allows us to acknowledge before God that, whatever our intentions, we will have been hurt by others in the course of the day, and we will have hurt them.

St Benedict wanted the community to be reminded regularly both of their need for forgiveness and their need to forgive others in the course of their daily life.

These two are intimately linked. We begin by acknowledging our own need for forgiveness. When we know ourselves held in the loving forgiveness of God then we are able to reach out and offer forgiveness to the people who have wounded us.

Where are you being called to offer and accept forgiveness today?

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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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#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Jubilee Lectio Divina Psalms Scripture

A jubilee of thanksgiving.

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As part of the Jubilee Year, a Jubilee of Consecrated Life will be held in Rome on 8-9th Oct. From 8th-12th Oct. I’ll be reflecting on some of the biblical concepts of Jubilee. A Jubilee is first of all a call to reset our relationship with God and with one another. There are many elements to this reset.

Today I’m reflecting on thanksgiving. In many ways this is the most obvious part of the biblical call to Jubilee. When we think about jubilees we think about celebrations, we think of times of rejoicing and happiness.

Our jubilees are times when we gather to enjoy each other’s company and to give thanks for each other, and for all we have shared. Our jubilees are first and foremost celebrations of our capacity to give and receive love. These words from Psalm 106 come to mind:

“O give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his love endures forever.”

The psalmist takes us back to the source of that love, we are creatures of love because we are called into being and held in being by the love of God.

While this is a truth we all know and believe in our hearts, it’s one that easily gets brushed aside by the struggles and hardships of daily life. While that’s always true, it’s especially true in these challenging times we are living through. As we struggle with the demands of daily life it surprisingly easy to forget that we are loved.

When that happens it becomes very hard to treat others with love. The psalmist reminds us that a jubilee gives us an opportunity to remember and be thankful for the that love of God which never changes, and which is with us whatever we face.

What moves you to thankfulness in your life today?