Category: Lectio Divina

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

A Kingdom of peace and harmony

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Today’s first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, paints a beautiful picture of peace and harmony. It describes a leader filled with the spirit of the Lord, who acts with integrity, wisdom and insight:

“A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of the Lord rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

His coming heralds a time of peace and prosperity, where differences are put aside, and unlikely partners live and flourish in alongside each other:

“They do no hurt, no harm, on all my holy mountain, for the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters swell the sea.”

This beautiful vision touches us deeply because in the depths of our hearts long for wise leadership, and the true peace that allows all people to flourish. Yet, as we look around our world today we see few signs of such leaders or of the peace Isaiah describes.

Isaiah’s vision is based on the hopes of generations of people of faith, and of their understanding of what makes for human flourishing. More than that it’s based on the efforts of people of faith and goodwill, who acted with courage and integrity even when that seemed to go against their own best interests.

Advent is a wake-up call It compels us to notice the disparity between Isaiah’s vision and the word we live in. It invites us to ask ourselves what choices we can make in our lives to help make that vision a reality.

To even attempt that is admit the need to make hard choices, putting aside our own interests for others. Advent calls us to help make this vision a reality for today in whatever small ways we can.

Where are you being called to help make the kingdom a reality for those around you this Advent?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Recognition

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We often go through life so caught up with our own affairs that we miss the important signs of Christ’s kingdom that are all around us. Advent invites us to move away from that way of being. It’s a time to start paying attention again, to notice what is going on around us. It especially calls us to pay attention to where we discover the presence of Christ and the signs of his kingdom in our everyday lives.

Today’s gospel, the story of the centurion’s sick servant, is a reminder of that. It’s not the disciples, the faithful followers of Jesus, or the people who’ve waited generations for the Messiah who recognise Jesus. It’s a complete outsider, a solider of the occupying nation who is alert enough to recognise the authority Jesus carries.

Jesus looks beyond the Centurion’s otherness, and, seeing into his heart, recognises his faith saying:

“I tell you solemnly, nowhere…have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.”

As we start Advent this encounter calls us back to attentiveness. Jesus’ response calls us also to look beyond the surface of our prejudice, and to recognise the Christ who comes to us in surprising and unsettling guises. It reminds us that the kingdom will become apparent in unexpected ways and places. It calls us to notice Christ being revealed not only in the familiar, but in the outsider, the marginalised, the people we are inclined to reject or even despise.

Where is Christ calling you to recognise his presence in challenging encounters this Advent?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Being Ready

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Today I’m reflecting on the responsorial psalm, (psalm 121, 122). It’s a part of the liturgy that I can be inclined to overlook. It’s the song of praise of a pilgrim who has reached their destination and found their home in the house of the Lord.

The struggles and hardships of the journey are behind them and they can rest in the Lord’s presence, full of thankfulness, joy and hope In dark and challenging times it’s good to remember that Advent calls us to prepare in hope for a joyous homecoming:

“I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.”

It may seem strange to start Advent with a Psalm that focuses on the journey’s end rather than its beginning. Yet, in practice we rarely set out on any sort of journey without some idea of our destination in mind. In today’s gospel Jesus calls us to:

“Stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

As we stand ready to seek his presence in Advent, psalm 122 (121) reminds us that goal of this journey is bring us home to God’s presence in our lives and in our hearts. Whatever challenges and uncertainties we face along the way we carry a promise that offers joy and hope that can never be taken away.

As we start out on our Advent journey how are you preparing your heart to receive the promise of joy and hope Christ offers?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

In the hands of God.

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Today’s gospel is very direct about where following Christ might lead us, and it’s not a comforting picture. Jesus tells his disciples that they will be persecuted, exiled and imprisoned. This is something that none of us want to face any more than the disciples did.

Common sense tells us that if we do have to face it, we want to have our arguments and strategies honed and ready. We want to be able to answer for ourselves, convince others and so when the day. I am a planner, I like to feel prepared for every situation. So I am immediately challenged when Jesus says to his disciples:

“You are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.”

His words go against all my natural inclinations to the extent that they almost seem like madness. Yet, they also call to a new way of being. They are call to let go of my need to be in control. The required that I admit that maybe I don’t have all the answers and I can’t fix everything.

They are a call to trust that Jesus will always be at my side, leading me and protecting me, whatever I face. They are a call to allow myself to be vulnerable in the presence of Christ, fully aware of my limitations and failings. His words compel me to accept that I can’t bring about my salvation by myself, it is purely the result of his grace and gift.

Where are you being called to trust in God’s grace in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Christ The King Cross Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

Jesus remember me…

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The feast of Christ the King is one of the most challenging feasts in the year. In times that are, often justifiably, suspicious of authority figures we have to really think about what Christ the King can mean to us today.

We can no longer align that title to any earthly understanding of leadership. Maybe that was always a mistake because throughout the gospel the leadership Jesus shows us is different to any other leadership we have known.

This is highlighted in today’s gospel. It doesn’t show us a king enjoying power and ruling in majesty. Instead, it shows us a man, undeservedly dying a painful and humiliating death mocked by his enemies and abandoned by his friends.

Throughout the gospel Jesus has been telling his disciples that his kingdom is like no earthly kingdom. He makes it clear to them that kingship in the kingdom is to be based on loving service of others, especially of the poor, the needy and the outcast.

Even as he is dying on the cross the question that has followed him throughout his ministry is still ringing in the air with its notes of uncertainty, disbelief, surprise and now mockery: “Are you the Christ?”

Yet even here Jesus lives up to his own model of leadership. When the thief, dying alongside him glimpses something of who he really is, saying:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom…”

Jesus welcomes him with his whole heart, promising that:

“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

As we move towards the end of this liturgical year where do you need to know that Christ the King remembers you in his heart?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Small acts of faithfulness.

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Seen through the lens of modern sensibilities today’s gospel is at best uncomfortable. In a world all too aware of the damage caused by unethical business practices it raises challenging questions.

That can make it tempting to turn away from it or dismiss it as irrelevant. We are called to dig deeper than that. We are called to go beyond our initial discomfort, or even to use that discomfort, to help us find something of value in the text.

Today I am focusing on these words:

“You have proved yourself faithful in a very small thing…”

It seems a very small glimmer of light in a very challenging gospel. Yet, it reminds me of the importance of small things that we might undervalue or overlook. As we look around the world today there are so many big problems, big issues, big situations that need resolving, renewing or remaking.

We hear a narrative that tells us everything is broken, and that it’s all too big for us to fix. we stop to even look for things that we might do to help the situation. We get it into our heads that big problems need big solutions, and that small actions that we might take will have no effect.

It seems to me that’s today’s gospel suggests a different way. It suggests small acts of faithfulness can make more of a difference than we might think. Far from being pointless or useless our small acts of faithfulness can bring hope and help make these hard times more bearable for us all.

What small act of faithfulness are you being called to today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Enduring in love.

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As we approach the end of the liturgical year the readings are full of challenge and warning. They are extremely honest about all the things that might tempt us away from that call, and how hard they will be to resist. In the northern hemisphere at least, as we approach the darkest, coldest part of the year, they seem to be reminding us of all that would lead us astray.

In the unsettling times we live in, with so many conflicting views and opinions circulating, these warnings seem to be particularly relevant. It’s hard to know who to believe, or which source to trust.

Jesus warns his listeners precisely of this danger:

‘Take care not to be deceived,’ he said ‘because many will come using my name and saying, “I am he” and, “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them.”

His words call us to stay focused on the values of his kingdom despite the distractions and temptations that come our way. He warns us that this will not be an easy choice. It will lead to misunderstandings and even persecutions. But he does not leave us without hope. Having been completely honest about the challenge and difficulties he reminds us of the hope that will sustain us:

“You will be hated by all people on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’”

He reminds us that whatever we face in life we are held in the embrace of a loving God who will not allow even one hair from our heads to be lost.

As we approach the end of the liturgical year where do you most need the loving embrace of God in your life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Encounter on the margins.

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For the past few days I’ve been reflecting on the story of the ten lepers that we heard earlier this week. Usually I reflect on the gratitude/ingratitude of the lepers, but this time I’ve been taken in another direction, and have been sitting with this:

“On the way to Jerusalem Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.”

It made me aware of how often Jesus is a marginal figure in the Gospels. His teaching, his lifestyle, the people he chooses to engage with all mean that he often walks a fine line along the borders of his day. He chooses to embrace this risky endeavour, knowing that as well as risk it gives insights and opportunities that might otherwise be lost.

Part of our call to follow Jesus is a call to the risk being on the margins. It’s a call that can leave us feeling like outsiders, alienated and even abandoned. Yet, it also carries hope, possibilities and blessings.

It can give us insights and perspectives that we might otherwise miss. Being open to that when we feel the vulnerability of marginalisation isn’t easy. It requires the openness to change that Ezekiel talks about when he says:

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

This is one of my favourite texts, yet it’s also a hard one. To allow our hearts to be released from their protective covering of stone isn’t easy. It may only be possible if we are able go out to meet Jesus in those border places.

Where is Christ calling you to explore the border places in your life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Liturgy Saints Scripture

The Temple of the Living God.

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The feast of the Lateran Basilica is a good time to reflect on what it means to be church. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul reminds us that the church is more than a building, it is a community of people, with all the challenges and blessings that brings. Writing to the Corinthians he says:

“You are God’s building…Didn’t you realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you?… the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.”

His words are hopeful and empowering. They remind us however challenging we find life the spirit of God is dwelling in it with us. Yet it is not enough to believe these words in our hearts, they have to shape how we live and that brings a whole new challenge with it.

It’s easy to believe that we are the living stones that make up the community of the church when we are with people who agree with us, who are like us, who we feel comfortable with. That is not our call.

The temple Paul calls us to be part of is a community of love that includes everyone. It includes those we feel comfortable with, those who challenge or offend us and even those who we find simply annoying. George Eliot’s sums up the call to be church up in her book, Adam Bede:

“Everyone, must be accepted as they are – you can neither straighten their noses, nor brighten their wit, nor rectify their dispositions; and it is these people – amongst whom your life is past – that it is needful that you should tolerate, pity, and love…”

The church is not a church of people who know the answers, who are right, who have their lives under control. Instead, it’s a church of the ordinary people with life’s that are sometimes messy, broken and damaged. That is the source of our hope and rejoicing because it means that we can find a home here with whatever messiness and brokenness we carry

Where are you aware of God’s indwelling spirit in your life today?

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#ConsecrateLife Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Psalms Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

Taste and See…

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Today we’re celebrating the dedication of our Oratory. I had intended to write a new post, but events overtook me. So I’m reposting this from the archives. The scripture reading at the vigil was from the first letter of St Peter:

“Be sure you are never spiteful, or deceitful, or hypocritical, or envious and critical of each other. You are new born, and, like babies, you should be hungry for nothing but milk – the spiritual honesty which will help you grow up to salvation – now that you have tasted the goodness of the Lord.”

Several things resonate with me in in. It’s reminder of how we are called to behave and to treat one another seems especially important just now. Living through stressful and challenging times can give us all a short fuse and doesn’t always bring out the best in us. St Peter reminds us that, whatever challenges and uncertainties we face we are called not to give into the temptation to spitefulness and criticism. The call is still to become more Christlike whatever we face.

He goes on to tell us that as we have tasted the goodness of the Lord already our desire and long should be for those things that will help us grow into our salvation. This brings to mind a favourite psalm, psalm 34, “taste and see that the Lord is good”, and I’m reminded to keep seeking the goodness of the Lord in whatever challenges and uncertainties life is currently throwing at us.

Where are you tasting the Lord’s goodness in the challenging times you have to face?