Category: Pentecost

Come Holy Spirit.

Post author By Sr Judith
Post date 08/06/2025

Image ©Turvey Abbey

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?

Tags #Benedictine, #challenge, #Corinthians, #eastertide, #gifts, #GiftsOfTheSpirit, #HolySpirit, #Hope, #kingdom, #KingdomValues, #lectiodivina, #love, #newlife, #Paraclete, #Pentecost, #StPaul, #trust

Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Pentecost Resurrection Scripture Trinity

The call to unity.

Post author By Sr Judith
Post date 01/06/2025

Photo by Hannah Busing on unsplash.com

As we celebrate the seventh Sunday of Eastertide Jesus calls his disciples to unity. It’s a call that’s always been necessary for the church and for the world. It has particular resonance in these times. It seems that in every area we are becoming more aware of our fragmentation and brokenness. Wherever we look we see the very real human cost of those divisions.

The reality is that we are called to live with others, and human life flourishes best when we can live together in some sort of community. When those communities break down, whatever the cause, life becomes harder, more impoverished and sometimes impossible for all of us.

So Jesus’ call to unity has an even greater urgency today that may have had at other times. As he prays for his disciples he says:

“May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me, and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.”

His words are a deeper call than human unity, important as that is. He invites us into union with himself and the Father. This deeper union in Christ is the foundation stone of the human unity that our fractured world needs so desperately. Healing fractured relationships and rebuilding communities is hard work.

It is only through our grounding in the love of Christ and the Father that we are able to commit ourselves to reaching out to those who are different from us, who disagree with us, who scare us or who have hurt us.

Where do you hear Christ’s call to unity in your life today?

Tags #Benedictine, #challenge, #Christ, #Christlike, #community, #Disciples, #Discipleship, #eastertide, #Father, #gospel, #Hope, #kingdom, #KingdomValues, #lectiodivina, #love, #trust, #unity

Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Liturgy Pentecost Prayer Scripture Uncategorized Vespers

Come Holy Spirit

Post author By Sr Judith
Post date 19/05/2024

Image by Michael Schwarzenberger from pixabay.com

Our celebration of Pentecost has begun with Vespers. It’s is full of passion and drama. There’s the Apostles transformed and inspired by the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel in new ways and new languages. There’s Jesus’ appearance to the disciples offering peace and sending them out to take the Good News to the whole world. There’s Paul’s beautiful image of unity and diversity. Out of this rich tapestry of inspiration it’s these words from St Paul’s letter to the Romans that have stayed with me:

“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 regularly 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 celebrate the joy and hope of Pentecost what does the Spirit carry from the depths of your heart to the presence of God?

Tags #Benedictine, #challenge, #Disciples, #GoodNews, #gospel, #HolySpirit, #Hope, #kingdom, #KingdomValues, #lectiodivina, #love, #newlife, #Paraclete, #Pentecost, #Praise, #prayer, #trust