Category: Liturgy

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Holy Spirit John the Baptist Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Saints Scripture

Marked by God

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Today we’re celebrating the birth of St John the Baptist, prophet and precursor of Christ. His role is central to the gospel. He is called to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of the Messiah, and to point him out to others when he appears.

He is also at the heart of his Jewish faith, both his parents can trace their heritage back through the history of the people of Israel. His father, Zechariah, is a priest. These are good and faithful people, living out the covenant and waiting in hope for the coming of the Messiah.


This might make him seem like the ultimate insider, yet from the beginning it’s clear that John is to perform this role from the fringes. He is always to be an outsider, a presence that challenges people and makes them uncomfortable.

From the beginning he is marked out. He’s born to parents long past childbearing. His birth was announced to his unbelieving father by an angel. Zechariah’s doubt leaves him without speech until after John’s birth. The angel tells Zechariah:

“Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.”

The angel’s words are full of hope and promise. Yet, they also carry a challenge. John’s call put him at odds with his times, constantly compelling him to challenge his people to make the changes necessary to prepare their hearts to welcome Christ. That challenge is just as relevant to us today as it was when John first preached.

Where are you being challenged to prepare your heart to welcome Christ today?

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Baptism Benedictine Spirituality Discernment Divine Office Ecumenism Gospel Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

United in Christ

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I’m reflecting on St Paul’s letter to the Galatians. His words are a call to unity that has a particular resonance in today’s divided and fragmented world. It seems that wherever we look today we see broken broken relationships and broken communities. There are many voices today that encourage and fuel division, encouraging us to distance ourselves from others.

In challenging times these voices can be beguiling. They call us to draw together with others “like us”, creating divisions between “insiders and outsiders”, between “them and us”. St Paul reminds the Galatians and us that there is no place for such division in the Christian community:

“You are, all of you, children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

His words are not a call to uniformity, that would be fairly straightforward. We could create a “Christian model” that everyone has to conform to. We’ve tried that in various forms over the centuries and we know it doesn’t work.

Instead St Paul reminds us that in clothing us in Christ our baptism calls us to seek true unity. It’s a unity that risks allowing diversity to flourish, that acknowledges that diversity can enrich and sustain our unity. The unity baptism calls us to requires us to accept and embrace our differences.

It calls us to maintain our unity in Christ by welcoming those we consider “other” as we would welcome Christ. It requires us to put ourselves aside so we can listen to their stories with open and humble hearts. Baptism calls us to build a unity that delights in our rich diversity as God delights in us.

How are you responding to the unifying call of your baptism today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Communion Corpus Christi Divine Office Gospel Liturgy Prayer Resurrection Scripture

In the presence of Christ

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As we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi I’m reflecting on the nature of Eucharist. The Scripture that comes to mind is the Emmaus story. Although it’s not part of the feast’s liturgy it seems to me to capture something of its essence.

It acknowledges the despair and hopelessness of the disciples as they trudged home disappointed and unsettled by all that has happened. We can identify so strongly with those feelings in our own lives that we almost feel the weight of it all as they pour out their story to Jesus. They remind me that Eucharist offers us an opportunity to bring our brokenness, hurt and disappointment into the presence of Christ.

Jesus responds to their despair by taking them through the Scriptures already know, reminding them of the passages that speak about the Messiah. As he does this their hearts are ignited, and through their sadness they glimpse something so good that they don’t want to let it go, so they invite him to stay with them. Full recognition only dawns as they sit down to eat together and:

“He took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened, and the recognised him…”

It seems to me that the essence of the Eucharist is an invitation rediscover the reality of Christ’s presence in every part of our lives, in our liturgies, in our communities, in all our relationships and activities.

As we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi where do you recognise the reality of Christ’s presence in your life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Trinity Vespers

Held in the love of the Trinity

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The feast of the Holy Trinity can get so tangled up in complex theological concepts that it can feel overwhelming. It can seem obscure and difficult, so wrapped up in mystery that we struggle to engage with it. There’s no doubt that the feast is full of mystery, but at heart it’s also beautifully simple. It’s summed up for me in this antiphon from Lauds:

“Remain in my love, ‘says the Lord’, then my own joy will be in you, and your joy will be complete.”

It expresses both the deep depths and utter simplicity of the feast. At heart the Trinity is all about love. It expresses the relationship of love between the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, that created the world and holds it in being.

It touches on how that love invites us into that relationship of love to be held, supported, sustained by it. That is certainly a mysterious process, that can be hard to understand and can feel very abstract.

Fortunately, the love the Trinity offers is much more grounded than that. It’s source of the love that plays out in everyday life. It’s what grounds the love that we feel for our families, our friends, our neighbours and the strangers that we encounter in every day life.

It’s the love that compels us to serve others, to help others. It’s the love that calls us to put what’s best for others before our own interests in the thousands of small and big actions that make up everyday life.

Where are you being called to share the love of the Trinity with those you encounter today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Help from the Spirit.

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Eastertide ended with our celebration of Pentecost and this week we move back to Ordinary Time. Sometimes it can be tempting to pack away the insights we’ve learned during the season along with the special tapestries, decorations and liturgy papers. But Pentecost is not an ending it’s another new beginning.

So I’ve been reflecting on what I can take forward from those seasons into the rest of my life. These words from St Paul’s letter to the Romans have been running through my mind:

“Since in our weakness we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit comes to help us and intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”

They’re words I return to again and again because they describe so clearly a reality that I often experience. There are many times in life when we need to pray and want to pray, and simply don’t have the words to express our need.

I find that especially true in times of hardship and suffering. In these times when hardship and suffering seem to be multiplying in every direction there are many times when prayer is needed and we feel too overwhelmed by the circumstances to articulate our need.

In those situations, I find St Paul’s words full of consolation and hope. It is a great comfort to know that when we are unable to pray the Spirit is there to speak for us, to bring our prayers into the presence of the God who understands even the wordless sighs that come from the very depths of our hearts.

As we move back to Ordinary Time what does the Spirit carry from the depths of your heart to the presence of God?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Pentecost Prayer Scripture

Come Holy Spirit.

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As we begin to celebrate Pentecost I find myself reflecting on our Pentecost tapestry and how it highlights the themes of the feast, listing our hopes for the coming of the Spirit into our lives:

“Come, cleanse, renew, heal, guide, fill, strengthen.”

I often find myself thinking that it seems a little bit crowded. The words seem to be jostling for space, almost overflowing the narrow hanging. This thought was in my mind as I read the first reading from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. He tells us:

“There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them.”

In the light of his words I it seems hardly surprising that the words on the tapestry seem to burst out of the available space. Pentecost is a feast overflowing with a generosity and energy that are impossible to contain. The variety of gifts God pours out at Pentecost cannot be contained.

They overflow, just like the words on our tapestry, insisting that we use them in all sorts of different ways to help, support and nurture the people of our times. Just as the disciples were compelled to reach out to the world by wind and fire the Spirit demands that we burst out of whatever upper room imprisons us to share her gifts generously with our needy world.

What gift of the Spirit do you need to overflow in your heart this Pentecost?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Focussed on Christ

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Today’s gospel brings us to the end of John’s gospel. It covers the very end of Jesus’ conversation with Peter. Once again I find myself touched by Peter’s bluntness. Even in the middle of his intense and intimate conversation with Jesus Peter is distracted enough to wonder about the fate of the beloved disciple. He asks Jesus:

“What about him, Lord?”

I too can be easily distracted even in my most prayerful moments. So Peter’s distraction and his honesty about it are consoling. They make me realise how commonplace distraction in prayer his. His honesty in speaking to Jesus about it are a reminder that we can be open with Jesus when we too are distracted. Jesus’ response brings Peter back, firmly and lovingly from his distraction. He draws him back to the focus of their conversation, saying to him:

“If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.”

Sometimes allowing distractions to flourish in our minds and hearts can blunt the urgency or challenge of Jesus’ call. If we feel challenged, we can shift some of our discomfort by focussing on other things or other people. This last part of Jesus’ conversation with Peter calls us to reflect on that. It calls us to notice our distractions and to bring them to Jesus. Then he can help us to lay them aside so that we, like Peter can give ourselves wholly to our encounter with him.

As we move towards Pentecost where is Christ challenging you to give your full attention to following him?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Eastertide Gospel Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Held in the heart of Christ.

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The farewell discourse in John’s gospel are full of riches as Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure. Today I’m reflecting on these words:

“I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.”

They take me back to the heart of our Christian call, to dwell in the love of Christ. It’s a call to intimacy and to openness. At heart it’s a call to allow Christ to love us, to be aware of that love in our lives and to relish it. On the surface that can seem obvious, of course we “know” we are held in the heart of Christ’s love.

In practice the knocks and bumps of daily life very quickly overshadowed that deep reality. Then we forget it, and that leaves us feeling far from Christ and his love. It can leave us feeling frustrated, isolated and unloved. It’s so tempting to give into those feelings especially when life is hard and uncertain.

This is one of the reasons I think we cannot hear these words of Jesus, reminding us of how he loves us, often enough. In these hard, frightening and challenging times we need actively put ourselves in the way of hearing that message as often as possible.

We need to find ways of allowing it to sink into our hearts. We need to let it put down roots and to grow within us so that it becomes impossible for us to forget it, whatever challenges we face in our daily lives.

Where is Christ inviting you to allow his love to shape and transform your life this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Resurrection Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Consecrated in truth

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I’m reflecting truth. We live in times where truth seems to have little value. We talk about a “post-truth” society where it is increasingly difficult to discover whether what we are hearing and seeing is actually true.

There are areas where we can live well enough with subjective views of truth that differ radically from each other. However, there are some areas we need a deeper, more grounded truth even if that means we have to let go of some of our personal theories.

In the first reading St Paul reminds the church at Ephesus to be wary of some of the things that are presented to them as truth:

“Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them.”

It’s easy and tempting to take things at face value, assuming because we’ve been told it, or read it, or see it on the Internet that it must be true. St Paul’s words remind us that it’s not always easy to discover the truth of things, and that we can be easily led astray. The gospel adds weight to St Paul’s concern with truth as Jesus prays for his disciples:

“Consecrate them in the truth…”

Even in these “post-truth” times we are called to be people of truth. To discover the truth requires some hard work on our part. We have to pay attention to what is going on around us and to the effects it has. We have to listen to what we are being told and to our own instincts. It requires the hard work of learning discernment.

Where is Christ calling you to learn and practice discernment this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Eastertide Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Living in love.

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I’m reflecting on the first letter of St John. We’ve been listening to it throughout Eastertide, now as we move towards Pentecost its message has a particular resonance. St John takes us to the very heart of the gospel, to the relationship of love that both calls and sustains us wherever life leads us. He writes:

“My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God; but as long as we love one another God will live in us and God will be complete in us.”

He makes a very clear connection between God’s love for us and our love for one another. The love he speaks of is life changing, life enhancing and challenging. It’s not a love of fine sentiments. It asks us to imitate the faithful love God lavishes on us. It requires commitment and sacrifice. It’s a love that doesn’t give up when it’s hard or painful.

As St Benedict reminds us this love calls us to consider first what is best for the other rather than for ourselves. We have to recommit ourselves daily to this love. Sometimes that proves easier in the big challenges we face than in the small interactions of daily life which can feel so mundane and irritating.

It can feel like such love is beyond our human capacity, and in many ways it is. It is only when we are able to know and accept ourselves as truly and unconditionally loved by God that we find the qualities we need to reach out and offer love to those around us.

As we move towards Pentecost it’s worth remembering that our capacity to love relies on us abiding in God’s love so that we can carry it with us to a world in need.

How are you being called to live in and share God’s love this Eastertide?