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Into the Father’s hands.

Some thoughts on Holy Week from the archives.

One of the things that holds the themes of Holy Week together for me is our Lauds hymn. Each day it its own verse that reflects a particular aspect of the Salvation narrative that we’re celebrating through this great and challenging week.

These are combined with a refrain that’s repeated each day, linking the themes and drawing them together across the days.

Today’s theme is trust.

The Son of man alone yet trusting goes.
His life into his Father’s hands commends.”


Alone, betrayed and deserted by those who love him Jesus hands himself over to the Father in complete trust. In stressful times I tend towards micromanagement, wanting to control and fix everything myself. So I find Jesus’ capacity to abandon himself completely to God’s will breath taking and challenging. It reminds me that I am also called to surrender and to put myself and my concerns into God’s hands rather than trying to fix everything myself.

Where are you called to surrender your life to God this Holy Week?

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New Hope

Some thoughts from the archives on the new hope of Holy Week:

One of the things that holds the themes of Holy Week together for me is our Lauds hymn. Each day it its own verse that reflects a particular aspect of the Salvation narrative that we’re celebrating through this great and challenging week.

These are combined with a refrain that’s repeated each day, linking the themes and drawing them together across the days.

The second theme of I find it helpful to reflect on is new hope:

“There Love cries out despairing at his end
New hope to us, the loveless to extend.”



Holy Week can feel so full of fear, despair and betrayal that it can be hard to keep sight of hope. Even as Jesus cries out in despair from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, his love reaches across the despair with a new hope.

Where is Christ’s love calling out to you today?

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The Tree of Life.

Some thoughts for Holy Week from the archives…

“And stretching out his arms on Calvary,
Draw all the ages to him on the Tree.”


One of the things that holds the themes of Holy Week together for me is our Lauds hymn. Each day it its own verse that reflects a particular aspect of the Salvation narrative that we’re celebrating through this great and challenging week.

These are combined with a refrain that’s repeated each day, linking the themes and drawing them together across the days.

Today’s theme is the tree of life. It links the tree of life in the garden of Eden with the cross. It reminds me that death and life are linked, that by drawing us to himself on the cross Jesus draws us into the light of new life.

Where do you feel Christ drawing you to himself this Holy Week?

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A loving challenge

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Whenever tragedy strikes our instinct is to look for reasons why this has happened. While this might be a necessary process for us it can sometimes be less than helpful. I’m struck by how often it can lead us to be judgemental and blaming of others. We see something of this in today’s gospel as we are brought face-to-face with Judas, the disciple who who betrayed Jesus, handing him over for thirty pieces of silver.

Judas is often portrayed as a scapegoat, everything that subsequently happens is blamed on his betrayal. Yet, if we read the Gospels carefully we see that Judas is part of a bigger picture. Jesus makes that clear as he says:

“The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the Scriptures say he will…”

In “Entering the Passion, a beginner’s guide to Holy Week.” Amy-Jill Levine suggests that we read the passion narratives with compassion. While we can do that with Peter, and the other disciples, it seems much harder to apply to Judas. Judas presents us with a challenge. He compels us us reflect on whether we’ve ever compelled others to act in a particular way to meet our own needs.

He challenges us to ask ourselves, where we have let others down or felt unworthy and unresponsive to the redemptive love God offers us. The passion narratives show us both the best and the worst that we are capable of. Today’s gospel requires that we acknowledge the worst we can be, and then turn back to the God who is waiting to heal and redeem us.

Where are you being challenged to open yourself to the redemptive love of God today?

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A costly freedom

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A post from the archives for Tuesday in Holy Week.

Each day in Holy Week the gospel seems to get darker, as the tension increases. In today’s gospel, part of his account of the Last Supper, John tells us that even Jesus is “troubled in spirit”.

It shows us a very human side of Jesus, anxious and troubled, knowing that he is about to be betrayed by those he trusts and loves. We can all identify with that experience. Yet, as we glimpse Jesus’ very human suffering we recognise his divinity in his clear sense of being at one with the Father as he goes on to say:

“Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified.”

Knowing what is to come and seeing the fear, suspicion and mistrust growing among the disciples, it’s hard for us to see how God could be glorified in this. It doesn’t speak of anything we’d recognise as glory in human terms, if anything it presents an image of the opposite.

The passage reminds us that God’s ways are not our ways, and that Jesus, completely attuned to God’s way, will always turn human values and expectations upside down. Although he speaks openly of betrayal and denial to Judas and Peter he neither blames nor criticises them.

He leaves them an open door both to making mistakes and to being forgiven. In doing so he offers them a valuable and costly freedom. I wonder how different our relationships and interactions would be if we were able to offer each other that freedom.

Where is Christ offering you a costly freedom this Holy Week?

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The scent of love

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Today’s gospel, the anointing at Bethany is a powerful story of hope in desperate times. It’s one of the Gospels that touches me most deeply. Every year I moved by its passion, its radical yet simple act of love, and its kindness. In fear and uncertainty, the disciples gather at Martha’s house which offers them an oasis of hospitality and safety in the increasingly dangerous times.

In such circumstances it is easy to understand Judas’ distrust and questioning. In times of great danger questions and doubts that we thought we’d put to rest often resurface. It’s easy to imagine that Judas was not the only disciple facing such doubts.

In the midst of the tension Mary’s action provides a fresh focus. She doesn’t deny or banish the fear or the danger, instead her action points out that those are not the whole story:

“Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the ointment.”

Jesus tells his disciples that she has anointed him for his burial, acknowledging that he is facing death, and preparing his disciples for that. As the scent of her ointment fills the house her simple action is a sign that love is stronger even than death. As she anoints Jesus she reminds us that our Holy Week journey ultimately leads us through death to the new life of resurrection.

As we move through Holy Week where are you aware of the strength of love sustaining you?

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Welcoming the uncontainable God.

After I wrote my post for Palm Sunday I went to the Vigil and heard again the beautiful second reading from St Andrew of Crete. It’s too good not to share again. Here’s a reflection on the reading from our archives.

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Every year at on the Eve of Palm Sunday we listen to a beautiful reading from the writings of St Andrew of Crete. It sums up Palm Sunday for me, opening the way to Holy Week and setting the tone for it. I return again and again to these words:

“Let us imitate those who have gone out to meet him, not scattering olive branches or garments or palms in his path, but spreading ourselves before him as best we can, with humility of soul and upright purpose. So may we welcome the Word as he comes, so may God, who cannot be contained within any bounds, be contained within us.”

We are living in uncertain and challenging times. In the midst of much hardship we’re discovering much about the God cannot be contained and about the myriad of ways that God can transform our lives. We’ve also learned much about the boundaries and limitations we are tempted to try to erect around God.

We’re moving into Holy Week aware of the sufferings and uncertainties in our fragile and broken lives and world, knowing that it’s beyond our power to fix it. With all that in our hearts we can move into Holy Week aware of our need for the transforming presence of “God who cannot be contained within any bounds” nurturing us in the depths of our hearts.

As we move into Holy Week where are you discovering the God “who cannot be contained within any bounds”?

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With a disciples’ ear

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This Palm Sunday I’m reflecting on the first reading from the prophet Isaiah. I’m especially struck by these words:

“Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear.”

The liturgy for Palm Sunday can be a bit of a challenge. There’s so much going on that it can leave me feeling a bit distracted. So my hope is that the attentive listening Isaiah calls me to will help me find where I need to focus in order to best hear the words the Lord has for me this year.

The reading of the passion compels us to face some challenging truths. The Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy Jill Levine points out that the passion is a powerful story. If we let it, it can speak to & change our hearts, listening to it becomes a risky & uncomfortable business.

As we watch the disciples struggle through it with a mixture of failure and courage, hope and despair our own consciences are pricked. It calls us to reflect on where we have misunderstood, betrayed, or fallen asleep when we should have been awake to the suffering of those around us.

As we see Jesus condemned and moving towards crucifixion it’s hard to avoid some hard questions about the value we place on life, our own lives and the lives of others, especially the lives of those who are pushed to the margins.

As we move into Palm Sunday where is Christ calling you to wake up and listen?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

The Joy of Lent

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Halfway through Lent the practices we began so full of hope on Ash Wednesday may have lost some of their appeal. They might be feeling burdensome, or have been swept away altogether by the rush of daily life. At this point the church invites us to celebrate Laetare Sunday, offering an opportunity to remind ourselves that the purpose of all our Lent practices is to prepare us to celebrate the Resurrection.

Today’s liturgy reminds us that love is the heart of our faith, and underpins all our Lent practices. In his letter to the Ephesians St Paul writes:

“God loved us with so much love that God was generous with God’s mercy: when we were dead through our sins he brought us to life with Christ…”

That’s not to deny the suffering we experience and inflict on each other, to pretend that everything is fine in our lives or in our world. It offers a deeper and more honest hope than that. It acknowledges our sin and failure. It accepts it and promises that the healing power of God’s love is stronger and deeper than anything our sin can throw up.

However shakily we’re keeping Lent, however messy life might Laetare Sunday calls us to pause and rejoice in being held and supported by God’s love. Held in this love we can face life with hope, even when it might feel hopeless. Supported by this love we can trust that Christ will lead us into the light of new life.

As we celebrate Laetare Sunday where are you aware of the generous love of God being poured into your life?

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Ash Wednesday

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There are many ways to describe Lent. It’s a time for, reflection, renewal, fasting, almsgiving and much more. Generally, one of these will take on more significance or importance for us than others, and that may change from year to year. But underlying all of those is the call back into relationship with God. At the heart of all our Lenten practices, from Ash Wednesday onwards is this call to relationship. The Prophet Joel writes:

“Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning… Turn to the Lord your God again for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness and ready to relent. Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent, will not leave a blessing as he passes…”


It’s a call that’s full of challenge and promise. It challenges us to look closely at our lives, to ask how far we’ve allowed the busyness of our lives to squeeze God out. In a world where we are always supposed to be positive and in control his words remind us of all the grief that we both carry and cause. We are challenged to allow ourselves the freedom to admit that all is not well in our lives and in our world. Alongside the challenge there is hope and a promise that helps us to face it. Whatever we are facing, however enthusiastically we begin Lent and however that enthusiasm might wane over the coming weeks the gracious promise of God will remain, offering us hope and encouragement. Wherever this Lenten journey leads us the God of tenderness and compassion will be there with us, encouraging and supporting us whatever we face.

On this Ash Wednesday where do you hope to encounter the God who is all tenderness and compassion?