Category: Lectio Divina

Categories
#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Jubilee Lectio Divina Scripture

A justice rooted in love.

Photo by Jesse Gardner on unsplash.com

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?

Categories
#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Jubilee Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Rule of St Benedict Scripture

Accepting freedom

Image by Joe from pixabay.com

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?

Categories
#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Jubilee Lectio Divina Psalms Scripture

A jubilee of thanksgiving.

Photo by Manuel Torres Garcia on unsplash.com

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?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Scripture

In a spirit of love.

Photo by Jez Timms on unsplash.com

We are living in challenging and disturbing times. All around us the structures and customs we relied on to hold our world steady seem to be under threat. Many of our values are being called into question and we are compelled to live with a great degree of uncertainty.

In such times it is so tempting to become hopeless, to lose faith in God and in the goodness of others. This leaves us feeling that there is nothing we can do that will make a difference. The voice that calls us in that direction can be powerful and compelling, but it’s not the voice of Christ.

St Paul and his companions knew equally hard and challenging times. They too lived in a violent and unequal world, and often suffered because of it. In his second letter to Timothy he writes:

“Beloved: I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.”

It’s easy to have faith when life is going well. It is much harder to have faith when the world seems dark and uncertain. Yet it is precisely when life is most challenging that we need to trust in that the spirit of power, love and self-control St Paul speaks.

It’s when life is hardest that we need to nurture that tiny flame. It’s when faith and trust seem the least likely response that we need to allow it to become the basis of all our interactions with others.

In these challenging times what helps you to sustain a spirit of love in your interactions?

Categories
Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Prayer Prophetic voices Saints Scripture St Therese of Lisieux

Love at the heart of the Church

Photo by Berkan Küçükgül on unsplash.com

Today we are celebrating the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. She entered Carmel at 15 and died at 24. Once she entered Carmel she never left, she built no career, had no wealth and little influence. Even after her death, when her saintliness is recognised, she is often presented with an overlay of sentimentality and sweetness.

Her spirituality is often called “a little way” and that can make it tempting to dismiss her in these challenging times we might be tempted to look for a saint who is more obviously heroic than this young woman. To do that would be to greatly undervalue St Therese’s message.

Saint Therese was a woman of faith, courage, wisdom and discernment. Her little way takes us to the heart of the gospel. In a time when the church placed little value on love she was courageous in putting it at the heart of Christian life. Reflecting on St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians she writes:

“Love, in fact is the vocation which includes all others; it is a universe of its own, comprising all time and space – its eternal… My vocation is love… I had discovered where it is that I belong in the Church, the niche God has appointed for me. To be nothing else than love… That’s to be everything at once.”

She was able to see the one thing that she could do that had the power to change the world, one small act at a time. In these times when we are overwhelmed by the suffering we see in every area she offers us a way of making a difference. By choosing to show love in a world that often feels hateful our actions can affect real and lasting change.

Where are you being called to put love at the heart of your life today?


Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Truth

Waking to the truth.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on unsplash.com

Today’s gospel is an uncomfortable read for those of us who live with more than we need. In his lifetime the rich man has more than he needs, he can indulge every whim and every desire without a thought for the cost. His wealth does nothing to increase his generosity or understanding of those who struggle to meet their basic needs. He seems perfectly comfortable ignoring the Lazarus begging for a few scraps at his gate.

When both men died the tables are turned, and Lazarus is held and cherished “in the bosom of Abraham” while the rich man is tormented in Hades. His agony awakens him to the truth and he begs that Lazarus returned to earth to warn his family to change their ways, but Abraham tells him that even if someone were to return from the dead, they would not believe him:

“If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”

We can sanitise this and dismiss it as a morality tale, but it is much more than that. It’s a call to all of us who live with plenty to examine our attitudes to what we have. Unlike the rich man, we have someone who rose from the dead to show us the way of life. The call of Christ, the call of the gospel is not to gather riches, not to look after ourselves, but to share whatever we have, however little, with others.

Where is Christ calling you to share your gifts generously today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

A risky discipleship.

Photo by Galen Crout on Unsplash

It can be hard to feel hopeful when life is tough. In challenging and uncertain times we tend to tense up and close in on ourselves. We find it hard to be hopeful, trustful or aware of our blessings. We look for ways of maintaining the status quo, and keeping ourselves safe Understandable as that is Scripture calls us to a different way of being.

In his own challenging and uncertain times Jesus sends the Twelve out to preach the Good News with nothing except his authority. Instead of allowing them to look for ways to protect themselves he challenges them to risk embracing the uncertainty:

“He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to take sandals, but he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’”

We are so familiar with this passage that it’s easy to sanitise it. We can assume it’s for the disciples, but not for us today. We can allow the challenges of our lives today to overshadow that call, using those legitimate demands to avoid it. We are also called to the radical trust and hope of discipleship. That can be easier when life is good, when our nations and societies seem stable and secure.

It becomes much more difficult when we live with fear and uncertainty across the globe. Yet, while the details might look different to the instructions to the Twelve, the underlying call is the same. We too are called to live with radical trust and hope in the midst of much that would undermine that.

Where are you being called to radical trust in Christ in your life today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Truth

With undivided heart.

Photo by Linda Ferns on unsplash.com

Today’s gospel is an uncomfortable read. It describes a dishonest steward, willing to cheat his master to ensure a comfortable & financially secure life for himself. He knows himself well enough to know he’s incapable of either manual work or begging. So, he sets about cutting the bills of his master’s debtor.

This is not to relieve them of their debt, but to ensure that they owe him a favour that he can call in at another time. All his self-knowledge only leads him to greater selfishness. Instead of criticising him his master expresses grudging admiration for his understanding of the ways of the world.

We all recognize the truth of this. We too live in a world, where looking after our own interests takes precedence over anything else. We live with the consequences of a worldview that values success over either truth or compassion.

While Jesus recognises this reality, he is determined to ensure that his disciples understand that this is not the way of his Kingdom. His disciples have to be alert to the ways of the world, but not to live by them. He says to them:

“No servant can be the slave of two masters: they will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.”

He makes it clear that his Kingdom has no space for divided loyalties or double dealing. We have to follow him with whole and undivided hearts. Such a wholehearted commitment to the Kingdom rules out the duplicity the steward exhibits.

Where is Christ calling you to a wholehearted commitment to him today?

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

Challenged to hope.

Photo by Rupert Britton on unsplash.com

Today’s feast, St Hildegarde of Bingen, is giving me a helpful perspective on a challenging gospel. Jesus, perhaps fed up with a barrage of complaints, says to the people:

“‘What description can I find for this generation? What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market-place: ‘We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t cry.’”

His words challenge me to reflect on a very human tendency which we all recognize and fall into all to easily, grumbling. It can sometimes seem that whatever we have, even if we get exactly what we say we want, we are never content. We always hanker after something else.

His words take me back to the Rule of St Benedict. They almost perfectly illustrate one of the things he warns against at every opportunity. He repeatedly warns his community against “murmuring”, that low level discontent that can bubble destructively under the surface of our lives, sapping our appetite for real and constructive change.

St Hildegarde, a Benedictine nun, would have been familiar with the concept both from the Rule and from her own challenging experience of monastic life.

It’s easy to grumble in these challenging times when so much that we relied on seems to be broken or untrustworthy. This distracts us, helping us to avoid taking responsibility and appropriate action where we can. That’s never the call of the gospel.

Instead, Jesus’ words are a call to discernment. He calls us to look at where we fall into the temptation of grumbling instead of using our discontent to seek constructive solutions to our challenges.

Where is Christ challenging you to avoid grumbling today?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Challenged by the Cross.

Photo by Hugo Fergusson on unsplash.com

As we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross I’m reflecting the variety of meanings that the cross carries for us. As today’s feast suggests it signifies the ultimate triumph of Christ over death.

It’s a symbol of hope, reminding us that this is not the end. It speaks of the lowest point of human suffering, ensuring us that even when we reach that point we are not alone, because our God understands that suffering completely.

We have to be honest and admit that it is also sometimes used to signify less positive and less hopeful things. We can, and have used the cross as a sign of judgement, exclusion and alienation.

That brings me to another important role that the cross has in our lives. It can act as a mirror, inviting and challenging us to reflect on how our lives measure up to the call of love which is the heart of the gospel. I’m reflecting on this from today’s gospel.

“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.”

The cross promises us that our suffering will never separate us from God’s love. The passage continues:

“For God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.”

We live in times that are quick to condemn and to judge, and it’s very easy to get caught up in that or even to use the cross to justify it. Today’s feast reminds us that the call of the cross is not to condemn, to bring God’s love and healing to our broken world.

How does the cross challenge you to bring God’s love and healing to your encounters?