Category: Monastic Life

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Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Monastic Life Resurrection Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

The true vine

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In today’s gospel Jesus uses the image of a vine to explain the relationship between his Father, himself and the disciples:

“I am the true vine; you are the branches.”

It’s an image that we hear repeatedly in the Gospels. sometimes such images can become so familiar that they lose their potency. Sr Verna Holyhead gave me a fresh perspective on this:

“The vine is a radically non-hierarchical image of the people of God for all the branches are so intertwined that…it is almost impossible to tell where one branch begins and another ends.”

She reflects that this is a radically new way of thinking about relationship and community. It suggests a closeness and equality of relationship that treasures each member and the gifts they bring to the whole. It’s an image that works against our natural inclination to be independent, to look after ourselves first at the expense of others.

This reminds me of my favourite part of the Rule of St Benedict, chapter 72 where St Benedict tells his community they should:

“Support with the greatest patience one another’s weaknesses of body or behaviour… No one is to pursue what the judge better for themselves, but instead what the judge better for someone else… Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and maybe bring us all together to everlasting life.”

His words highlight in a very practical way what a community based on this beautiful image of the vine would look like. They remind us that our goal is to come to Christ all together, not racing ahead and leaving others behind, but finding ways of supporting and encouraging one another on the journey, making sure everyone has what they need.

Even in these most challenging times we have choice and opportunity. We can choose to build communities based on the love, hope, trust, mutual respect and interdependence that the gospel suggests. While that choice is challenging it has the potential to bring us to new life in ways we could never have imagined.

As we move through Eastertide how does being intertwined with Christ shape your life and your relationships?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Monastic Life Scripture Uncategorized

A time of promise.

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Since we started Lent the word that’s been going through my mind is promise. I look this year Lent seems to be offering a promise, reminding me that God is calling us back into a covenantal relationship that is based on love in today’s first reading God makes a covenant with Noah, promising never again to sweep everything away in a flood:

“Here is the sign of the Covenant I make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all generations: I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

St Peter talks about the waters of baptism that lead us to the promise of resurrection. In the gospel we see Jesus driven into the wilderness by the Spirit. His time in the wilderness is a time of testing:

“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness and he remained there for 40 days, and was tempted by Satan.”

As I look back at Jesus’ wilderness experience I find there is hope and promise as well as struggle. As he is driven into the wilderness he carries with him the promise of his baptism, when the clouds were torn open and God reminds him that he is God’s beloved son. Even in his experience of temptation there is hope and a reminder of the promise carried in those words of God. Jesus doesn’t only face temptation in his wilderness time, as Mark tells us:

“And the angels looked after him.”

Lent is a time for us to face our own wilderness and the temptations it brings. It can be easy to lose sight of the promise that is also there. Yet, as we face the temptations and challenges of Lent we are also offered the promise of God’s everlasting love.

As you begin your Lent journey where are you aware of the promise of God’s love sustaining you?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life O Antiphons Rule of St Benedict Scripture Vespers

Called to be free.

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From the Archives for the 4th O antiphon. Today at Vespers we’ll sing the 4th O antiphon, O Clavis David, O key of David”:

“O key of David, and ruler of the house of Israel: who open and none can close: close and none may open: come bring out of prison the captive who sits in darkness and the shadow of death.”

It speaks of a deep and powerful yearning for freedom that lives within all of us. We each long for freedom from all that would restrict our growth and development. We desire the freedom to become the people we are called to be, to nurture the talents we’ve each been given. This yearning for freedom is deeply personal and individual, yet there is more to it that that. The past few years have taught us some hard lessons about freedom. The pandemic, the suffering of war, the economic crisis, the worsening ecological situation all point to the fact that this freedom we desire can’t only be a personal, individual freedom.

It has also to be a communal freedom, a freedom that is willing to sacrifice individual freedoms for the common good. It has to be a freedom that is willing to put the needs of others before our own. In chapter 72 of the Rule St Benedict tells us that Christ brings us “all together” to everlasting life. It seems to me the same is true of the freedom Christ offers us, we accept it for each other as much as for ourselves.

What would enable you to accept the freedom Christ offers this Advent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Monastic Life Prayer Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized Vespers

Grounded in love and prayer.

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Today’s gospel is about learning to pray and forgiveness. As I reflected on it I was struck first of all by these words:

“Jesus was in a certain place praying.”

They reminded me that prayer is not an abstract activity, it is a practical activity grounded in the reality of our daily lives. Jesus is praying in a real, physical place in the midst of a particular web of relationships and events. It is in the midst of this complex reality that his disciples ask him to teach them to pray. The pattern of prayer he lays out for them grounds them even further in the reality of their daily lives, moving them from praise and thankfulness to forgiveness.

Forgiveness also needs to be grounded in the reality and context of our daily lives. St Benedict recognises this when he says that the Our Father should be said by the superior at Lauds and Vespers “because thorns of contention are likely to spring up“. He wants the community to be reminded regularly both of their need for forgiveness and their need to forgive others in the course of their daily life. The prayer Jesus teaches his disciples points us in the same direction, asking us both to accept and give forgiveness:

“Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.”

It seems to me that these two are intimately linked. We begin by acknowledging our own need for forgiveness. When we know ourselves held in the loving forgiveness of God then we are able to reach out and offer forgiveness to the people who have wounded us in the course of our daily interactions.

What enables you to ground your prayer in the reality of your daily life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Monastic Life Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Bearers of Peace.

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This is my final post on Benedictine spirituality for now. Thank you to everybody who shared their favourite Benedictine quotes with me. It’s been an interesting and enriching experience to reflect on and write something about them. Today I’m reflecting on what has become the motto for modern Benedictines, “Pax”.

Although he most certainly didn’t write this motto I am sure that St Benedict knew the importance of peace for human flourishing and spiritual growth. Living violent and troublesome times he would have been only too aware of the damage that a lack of peace can cause. His desire to maintain peace is a thread that runs through the whole Rule.

We see it in his concern for both this physical and spiritual well-being of the community. Whether he is ensuring that the community have adequate clothing and food or warning them against the vice of grumbling his aim is to ensure a peaceful environment where everyone can flourish.

The peace he seeks to establish in his community is not a human structure, it is the peace of Christ. It is the peace that St John tells us Christ gives to his disciples in that darkest of times before his crucifixion

“Peace I leave you, my own peace I give you…”

Living in our own violent and troublesome times I too am all too aware of the need for Christ peace to come into our world, to change hearts and minds, to enable us to build communities that are stable and allow people to flourish.


Where is Christ calling you to share his peace in your community today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Lectio Divina Monastic Life Rule of St Benedict Uncategorized

A balanced yearning

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Today my Benedictine quote comes from chapter 64, “on the election of an Abbot”. In his two chapters on the abbot St Benedict sets high standards. The superior is the representative of Christ in the community, and as such has the responsibility to ensure that each member of the community is able to grow in the love of Christ, developing their potential and talents. This is not always easy to achieve. St Benedict writes:

“The Superior must so arrange everything that the strong have something to yearn for and the weak nothing to run from.”

These chapters on the abbot can be easily overlooked as not being relevant for people outside the monastery. I think they have a real wisdom that can help in many situations. In any group of people there will be a variety of talents and capabilities. We can all fall into the trap of thinking a one size fits all approach would be the most straightforward. While that can appear easy it can lead to uniformity rather than unity. St Benedict is wiser than that and suggest an alternative approach.

He asks that community life should be organised so that that those who are stronger are able to develop their strengths without putting pressure on others to keep up with them. Those who are weaker should have the space and opportunity to step back when they need to. While it’s a beautiful ideal it’s not always easy to live up to. To strive towards it we need to admit both our strengths and weaknesses with humility, and to rejoice in the strengths that others have that we might lack.

What yearning do you want to bring into Christ’s presence today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Monastic Life Rule of St Benedict Uncategorized

Never loss hope

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The next quote in my series on the Rule of St Benedict is from chapter 4, “The tools for good works.” At first glance it can seem like a rather dreary list of dos and don’ts. At times it felt a bit hectoring it took time and practice to see its value. Over time I learned to appreciate its insights.

It lays out very clearly and practically how we need to treat one another to live by the values of the commandments and the Gospels. St Benedict offers us a list of tools that enable us to learn to put the good others first. To use them requires self-knowledge, self-discipline and self-sacrifice. There are days when it can feel like a long list of impossibilities. Then, as he comes to the end of this list he says:

“And finally, never lose hope in God’s mercy.”

Those few words at the end of that chapter put everything into a new context, they draw us back to a central principle of the Rule, we can’t do this alone. However determined we are we we fail daily in using these tools. We will grumble, we will be unkind, dismissive and hurtful to others and we will receive similar treatment from them. It is then that we need to remind that whatever our failings we can turn in hope to the merciful God, assured that God will give us the courage to begin again.

Where do you need to hope in the gentle and everlasting mercy of God in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Listen

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The first Benedictine quote I am reflecting on is “listen”. It’s the first word of the Rule and the key to all of Benedictine spirituality, and to our Christian calling. St Benedict tells us that we should begin our Christian journey by listening:

“Listen carefully to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”

If we want to follow Christ, the first step is to listen to his calling us with our whole attention. We how important it is to listen attentively & how easily we are distracted. We go through life not paying attention, not listening for that call that starts us on the journey towards seeking God.

This morning’s first reading was the call of Moses at the burning bush. Reflecting on it I was struck by the pattern of listening that it unfolds. In the midst of his ordinary, daily tasks Moses began by listening to his own curiosity, allowing it to draw him aside to look at the strange sight of the burning bush. Then he was able recognise that he was in God’s presence, and to to both listen and respond to God’s call.

God also calls us in the midst of the tasks that make up our daily lives. It might begin with a prickle of curiosity or with the feeling of discomfort or unease, a sense that something needs to change. If we listen to attentively to that feeling it will lead us to a place where we can begin to encounter the living God.

Where is God calling you to listen with the ear of your heart today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Monastic Life Scripture Uncategorized

Planted in rich soil.

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Today’s gospel sees Jesus teaching through parables once again. The parable of the sower is full of rich resources for us to ponder. Each time we visit it there seems to be something new to discover and reflect on. The image that has stayed with me today is that of the seed. Seeds are small, and apparently insignificant. Their potential is so well hidden that it can be easily overlooked or brushed aside. Yet, as Sister Verna Holyhead says in her reflection on the passage:

“The seed is a wonderful symbol of the kingdom. Small, hard, unattractive to the senses, yet within it lies the future promise and hope of green and growing things, of harvest and bread.”

Jesus tells his disciples that the meaning of the parable lies in how we receive the seed of the kingdom into our hearts. We can receive it in ways that stifle or prevent its growth, and so receive either only a fleeting benefit or no benefit at all. Or, we can prepare the soil of our hearts opening them to the life changing presence of Christ:

“Those who receive the seed in rich soil are the ones who hear the word and understand it; they are the ones who yields a harvest and produce now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.”

To open our hearts in this way is risky. There is so much in our lives and our societies would harden our hearts. The challenge of living in difficult times can make us us wary and untrusting. Jesus offers us a different way. He promises that if we give our whole attention to listening to the Word, allowing it to shape every aspect of our lives we will yield a rich harvest for ourselves and for all those we encounter.

How is Christ helping you to prepare your heart to allow his words to take root in your heart today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Monastic Life Prayer Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Saint Benedict’s call to serve.

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Celebrating the feast of St Benedict, I’m reflecting on Jesus’ call to service. He interrupts the disciples’ arguments about greatness by turning their perceptions upside down, telling them:

“The greatest among you must be as the youngest, the leader as the one who serves. For who is greater: the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table surely? Yet, I am among you as one who serves!”

His words remind his disciples that they are called to put the needs of others first. That was a startling call to his disciples. It can seem an even more challenging call to us living in a time when individual fulfilment and satisfaction are so much to the fore.

St Benedict puts the call to service at the very heart of his Rule, telling us that we should pursue what is better for others instead of for ourselves. He knows that this is not an easy call, and reminds us that we should bear patiently with one another as we strive to fulfil it.

Community life offers us many opportunities to practice both service and patience throughout the day, whether in big things or small. I often find it’s easier to do in the big things of life. When we know someone is facing something really difficult or challenging it’s easy to be loving and supportive.

It can be much harder in the myriad of little mistakes and annoyances that make up the bulk of most days. However hard it might feel St Benedict is clear that if we “long for life and to see good days” the only way is a life of loving service.

How are you being called to serve today?