Category: Lectio Divina

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Christ Discernment Divine Office Lectio Divina Prayer Prophetic voices Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Hearing the call

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From the archives for the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. Today we are celebrating the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. She’s often been presented with an overlay of sentimentality and sweetness that undermines her great spiritual wisdom and insight. She was a women of great faith, courage, determination and discernment. This morning we had a reading from her autobiography, where she describes some of her struggle with vocation and its resolution. Reflecting on St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:

“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.”

Her realisation is the result of a deep and honest personal reflection. To reach it she must have paid attention to her deepest discontent as well as her deepest desires, searching the Scriptures to discover how God was leading her through both to discover and respond to God’s call. To go through that process requires great honesty and courage, it’s something we’re all called to.

St Therese’s discernment takes us right back to the very heart of our Christian call, the call to love. It’s a call that seems obvious, straightforward and simple. But, as St Therese herself could tell us the ups and downs of life soon shows us that the call to love is also costly, challenging and painful.

How is God calling you to discover the niche God has appointed for you?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

Expanding the boundaries.

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We are communal beings, despite the individualistic tone of our society we flourish in relationship and in community. Although it has an intensely intimate aspect our faith is a communal one. As St Benedict reminds us we travel to Christ and eternal life “altogether”, not alone.

All this is profoundly life giving, but today’s gospel points out that it also has a downside that we need to be aware of. When it stops being all inclusive community can descend into tribalism. If shifts from being a space where all are welcome, and there is only “us” to being a separatist space divided into “us and them”.

In today’s gospel, the disciples fall into this tribal trap. Shocked by seeing an outsider casting out demons in Jesus’ name they try to stop him, and then complain to Jesus. His response is unexpected. Instead of anger he replies:

“You must not stop him: 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.”

Unlike his disciples Jesus is able to be open and inclusive, trusting the good intentions of the man’s intentions. He is able to see a bigger picture than the disciples, and reaches out, not to criticise the man, but to enlarge the disciples understanding of community and belonging.

In our challenging times when tribalism is on the increase we too are challenged by Jesus to expand our ideal of community until there is no “them and us”, but just an all inclusive us, journeying together towards the God of love.

What boundaries is Christ challenging you to expand today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Prayer Scripture Truth Uncategorized

First and last

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We live times where status matters. Whether our status is related to work, wealth, or online presence we see it self defining in some way. It can make us feel important, valued, seen or powerful. The temptation to seek status can be beguiling and misleading.

In today’s gospel the disciples fall into this trap. Discovering them arguing about who is the greatest among them Jesus takes them aside, offering a teaching that turns all their ideas about status and power upside down.

He tells them that the greatness they seek is not part of the kingdom. The way of the kingdom is not to seek to be first, but to choose to put others first:

“If anyone wants to be first, they must make themselves last of all and servant of all.”

It’s not what the disciples had left everything to follow him were expecting to hear. If we are honest about our own reactions his words they are just as startling to us today.

He calls us to a way of living that puts the needs of others before our own, to treat them as we would like to be treated. I wonder how life might change if that became the guiding principle of all our daily interactions and encounters? There is no doubt that such a change would be costly for us, and would require a daily effort. Alongside this challenge the gospel offers us the hope that it would also be an enriching and life enhancing experience.

How is Christ calling you to serve today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Lectio Divina Scripture Truth Uncategorized

Space for love to flourish

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Today I’m reflecting on the first reading. From the 1st letter of St Paul to the Corinthians it’s a call to allow every aspect of our lives to be shaped by love:

“Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins, but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.”

St Paul captures the essence of love and why it is so essential to our lives. He expresses both the ideal we strive towards and the practicalities of how we make that ideal a reality in our daily lives. He reminds me that the call of love is always to seek the good of the other, to act with kindness and to to give the benefit of the doubt wherever we can.

We live in times that are quick to judge and condemn. Fuelled by the speed and anonymity of the internet it’s rare that we take the time to listen & understand views that are different from ours. Sometimes we rush into reacting before love has a chance to make its voice heard.

St Paul’s call to love is a call to re-evaluate all of that, to consider our response to disagreement in the light of the love we’re called to by the gospel. How that could reinvent the digital arena, and all our public engagement?

Often I think we find it easier to act with love in challenging, difficult situations than in the ordinary, mundane interactions of daily life. Yet it’s the daily small kindnesses and patience in bearing with one another that changes lives, easing burdens and allowing love to flourish.

Where are you being called to allow love to flourish in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Accepting the Cross.

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In today’s gospel Jesus is brutally honest with his disciples. Having received Peter’s assertion of faith he takes he begins to talk about his own suffering and death. It’s not surprising that Peter remonstrates with him, it’s hardly what the disciples expected to hear. Having left everything to follow him they want to hear a message full of hope & reassurance. Instead Jesus brushes Peter aside, insisting that following him will include suffering, loss, challenge and conflict. Jesus is making it clear to his disciples that following him will not help them to avoid the suffering of life. On the contrary, he calls them to accept that suffering willingly, refusing to give into the temptations of avoidance and grumbling which can be so soul destroying. He says to them:

“‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let them renounce themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Those who want to save their will lose it; but those who loses their lives life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.’”

His words turn all our expectations upside down, calling us to examine our actions. He challenges us to look honestly at the tactics we use to numb our pain instead of accepting it as part of life and as something we can, by the grace of God, grow through towards new life. Knowing human suffering from personal experience he offers us the hope of completely understanding our suffering, however unlikely that might sometimes appear.

He promises us that whatever sufferings we face in life he will be there with us, a compassionate, loving presence in even the darkest of times. While neither the hope nor the promise will remove the sufferings they offer a framework to encourage us to face them.

What cross is Christ calling you to take up today?

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Beatitudes Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

The challenge of the Kingdom

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Luke’s Beatitudes are challenging read. Unlike Matthew, whose focus is on the spiritual attributes of the Beatitudes, Luke links them much more to the grim material reality of poverty and hunger. For those of us who live materially comfortable lives it gives them a stark urgency, showing us precisely how different the values of the kingdom are from our human values.

Almost everything he lists as blessed, we would choose to call cursed, and vice versa. His words remind me that if we are to follow Christ we have to choose to live by values that are not the world’s. We have to be prepared both to rock the boat and to live with the consequences of that:

“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.”

They have particular resonance as we face a cost of living crisis that is driving many more people into poverty. It seems to me that they call us question a status quo that leaves so many unable to meet their most basic needs while others, including ourselves, have so much more than needed.

They call us to look hard at our own lives, the choices we make and how they impact on other people. Their concern with the material reality of life remained us that the call to build the kingdom is not just about our heavenly future. It is a call to do all we can to make it possible for everybody have the material basics they need to live life with dignity.

How are you allowing the challenge of the Beatitudes to shape the choices you make in daily life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Scripture Uncategorized

Discovering the good.

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Today were celebrating the Birthday of Our Lady, a solemnity for our congregation. It’s the anniversary of the day I entered the monastery, so it carries a certain resonance for me, and I often find myself looking back to that day.

So I was especially struck by these words from our first reading at Mass:

“We know that for those who love God, everything works together for good…” (Romans 8:28)

These are not the words of Scripture that would have come to mind on the day I entered. I can see the truth in them with hindsight but, I’m not sure I could have seen it on that day of mixed and sometimes conflicting emotions. The reality of the hope that they express is central to our faith, yet it is very easily pushed to one side as soon as we struggle with the challenging realities of life.

When I think of Mary I imagine that she too experienced mixed and conflicting emotions as she faced the consequences of the “yes” that changed the world for all of us. Yet, she is still able to trust and rejoice in God’s great goodness:

“I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God!”

Her words offer me hope and encouragement that seem particularly important in our unsettled times. She reminds me that, unlikely as it may seem, we are loved and held by God. Whatever we face, whatever we suffer, the God of love will be there, not necessarily to remove the suffering, but to hold and support us as we face it.

Where are you being reminded of the presence of the God of love in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Finding Space.

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Today’s gospel is all about service. Leaving the synagogue Jesus goes immediately to Simon’s house where he cures Simon’s mother-in-law. Immediately she gets up and begins to serve them. The evening sees Jesus serving again, as crowds of people come to him seeking healing. It must have been a long and tiring day, and all of us know that feeling. The next morning Luke tells us:

“When daylight came, he got up and left the house and made his way to a lonely place.”

We read this as a break in the pattern of service, Jesus taking time out to pray in order to return to serving refreshed and renewed. On one level that is is true, but the Gospels often have many layers of truth. On another level Jesus’ act of taking time to be alone in God’s presence is also an act of service.

It is an act of self-care which allows him to draw all that he needs to carry on from God. It’s also an act of service to others, a reminder that part of what it is to be human is to need time to rest and recharge.

When the needs of the people we serve seem to be overwhelming we can feel pressured to keep going regardless of our own needs. Jesus doesn’t wait until every need is met, every person healed, every situation resolved before he takes the time he needs. He doesn’t expect us to do that either there is both an invitation and a challenge in that.

Where is Jesus inviting you to take time to pray in the midst of serving others?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Prayer Uncategorized

St Gregory the Great.

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Today we’re celebrating the feast of St Gregory the Great. The gospel poses the question at the heart of Christian life. Jesus asks his disciples what people are saying about him. It highlights Jesus’ humanity, like all of us he wonders what people think of him, and how much impact his message is having them. He gets a varied response from the disciples. Some people say he’s John the Baptist, or Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Brushing this mixed bag aside he asks the disciples:

“But you…who do you say I am?”

This question moves the discussion to a deeper level. Directed, not to the crowds who hear him in the market place or synagogue, but to the people who left everything to follow him. It requires a deeper response than the comments the disciples have passed on. I can imagine the silence that fell as the disciples realised this and pondered their response. As usual it is Simon Peter who has the courage to break that silence as he says:

“You are the Christ…, the Son of the living God.”

As the rest of the passage unfolds we see how life changing this response is for Peter, and for St Gregory the Great. It’s left me pondering my own response to the question. Yet, each time it arises it has the potential to be life changing for us too. Whenever it comes up we’re called to give it our whole attention so that we, like Peter and St Gregory, can answer it from the depths of our hearts.

Who do you say Christ is today?

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Learning compassion.

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This Sunday’s gospel is about judgement and motivation. It opens with the Pharisees questioning why the disciples are eating with unclean hands. Their comments are both judgemental and critical. Jesus uses the prophet Isaiah to challenge both these attitudes. He reminds them them that faith is about more than adhering to human tradition however valuable and revered that might be:

“This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations. You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.“

He goes on to call the people to him, telling them:

“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.”

Jesus’ words are every bit as relevant to us as they were to the Pharisees. The challenge to attitudes and behaviours, the judgements and presuppositions applies as much to us in the church today as it did to the Pharisees.

Within the church today, we know all too well the temptation to judge and criticise others for their beliefs or spiritual practices. Especially when social media can spread our ideas so far we know how damaging and undermining such attitudes can be. Jesus calls us to listen with the “ear of our hearts”, to look inwards at our own motivations, and focus on our own response to his teaching.

If we give our whole attention to this, we will have little energy or interest in judging others. As our inward journey shows us both our own strengths and weaknesses we will discover that we grow in compassion and so we will be less tempted be judgemental or critical to others.

Where is Christ challenging you to look inwards today?