Category: Prophetic voices

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Scripture Uncategorized

Treasures, new and old.

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We are fascinated by novelty. There is a particular attraction in something new, something we’ve never come across before. Novelty is often captivating and exciting. Without it so much of human development and flourishing would have been impossible.

However, there is another side to this that is particularly pertinent in this age of ever-increasing technological development. Sometimes as we are caught up whatever the next new thing is we lose sight of the value of what we already have. We seem to think that something new invalidates all that went before. In today’s gospel Jesus warned his disciples against this very attitude:

“Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved.”

In the excitement of listening to Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom it would be easy to think that the Law and the Prophets, are no longer relevant. Instead, Jesus tells them that his kingdom is built on the teaching of the Law and the Prophets that they already know and love. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and.

It can be hard to hold those two together. It’s so much more exciting to abandon the old and rush forward to embrace the new. That is not the way of the Kingdom. It requires a slower approach, one that allows us to reflect on what can be let go of because it no longer serves us well and what we need to carry forward as we embrace the challenges of our present age.

What part of our faith heritage do you most need to to help you embrace the challenges of the present?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Communion Corpus Christi Eucharist Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prayer Prophetic voices Scripture

United in love.

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Corpus Christi being celebrated on two different days gives me another opportunity to revisit its rich readings.

“Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

His words are full of hope, speaking to the unity we all desire. It’s a unity that has two dimensions. There is the personal union with Christ that we are all called to, but desirable as that is it is not enough. So alongside that there is a call to unity with our sisters and brothers.

The call to follow Christ, while it is deeply personal, is not individual. It’s a call to community. As Benedict reminds us we go to Christ “altogether”.

In a world where we are all too aware of our disagreements and divisions, both in society and in the church,St Paul’s words can seem impossibly idealistic. When we look at the divisions between our churches his vision can seem like an unachievable dream.

With this in mind I turned to the readings for the 10 Sunday of ordinary time. I found that they laid out a pathway to the unity St Paul speaks of. In the first reading the Prophet Hosea reminds the people that God calls them to be people of love:

“What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.”

This gives me a deeper understanding the unity at the heart of Corpus Christi. It is first a call to build a community of love that is inclusive and welcoming to all who seek God.

As we celebrate Corpus Christi how are you being called to help build the church into a community of love?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Resurrection Scripture Truth

A step into the unkown

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Today’s gospel finds Jesus disputing with the Sadducees. They come to him with a series of hard questions, hoping to trap him into speaking out against the Law. Jesus knows what they are up to and takes the conversation beyond those arguments to a new level.

Their arguments are based on the assumption that life after resurrection will be in some way a continuation of the life we already know. We have to admit that there is a certain amount of appeal in that assumption, even as we face the unknown we hope that there will be something familiar to cling onto.

Jesus however takes them beyond that assumption, reminding them that life after resurrection will not be a copy of life on earth. Yet, even as he removes that assurance he offers them a deeper, truer hope, reminding them of Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush:

“God spoke to him, and said: ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’” God is God, not of the dead, but of the living.”

It seems to me that his words are a call for us to leave behind all that would prevent us from embracing the new life offered by the resurrection. He invites us to let go of the ways that would hold us bound.

His invitation echoes that of Deuteronomy when God calls the people to choose life. If we are to be free to choose the new life Christ offers us we have to be prepared to let go, and to step out into the unknown.

Where is Christ calling you to step into the unknown today?

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Ascension Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Holy Spirit Lectio Divina Pentecost Prayer Prophetic voices Resurrection Scripture Uncategorized

The abundant generosity of the Holy Spirit.

Image ©Turvey Abbey

ABUNDANCE

My final Eastertide word is ABUNDANCE. All of Eastertide expresses the overflowing abundance of God’s love for us. That’s especially true as we celebrate the ABUNDANCE of gifts the Holy Spirit showers on us at Pentecost.

This comes to mind when I reflect 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 want to overflow in your heart this Pentecost?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Resurrection Scripture Uncategorized

Out of the shadows.

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SHADOW

Today’s Eastertide word is: SHADOW. It doesn’t comfortably sit with Eastertide, the season of light and new life. Yet, there are plenty of shadowy moments in the Easter gospel, the Acts of the Apostles and our own Eastertide experiences. The light of the risen Christ can make as even more aware of our shadows.

Today is the feast of St Joseph the worker. In many ways it’s hard to imagine a more shadowy figure. He is always in the background, supporting Mary and the child Jesus, bringing stability and respectability to difficult situation.

Yet, if we look beyond that image we find a different story. I’m reflecting on these words from a hymn for his feast:

“His love was humble, flame of God’s own fire,
A light to guide the path he trod alone;
Like Abraham, like Moses he believed,
And went in faith to find a land unknown.”

They speak of a man of great faith who is not afraid of the shadows. He allows them to guide him into God’s light following in the footsteps of his ancestors, leaving everything to follow God into the unknown. It can’t have been an easy choice, it will have required both humility and courage.

It’s impossible to think of this without reflecting on the ever-darkening shadows that overwhelm our world today. In such shadowy times St Joseph can be a valuable role model for us.

In this challenging Eastertide St Joseph reminds us that however dark shadows seem the risen will be with us, leading us into new life by the light of his love.

What are the shadows that you need the risen Christ to dispel in your life this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Eucharist Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Resurrection Scripture

With hearts aflame.

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission

BACKGROUND READING LUKE 24: 13-35

Mary is the wife of Cleopas. A follower of Jesus, she witnessed his death. After the crucifixion, she sets out with her husband to return to Emmaus. They feel so heartbroken and hopeless that they can barely drag themselves along the road.

Before they felt they’d heard the other women’s story of the empty tomb. Initially it rekindled Mary’s hope, but it died again when they saw nothing had changed in the world around them.

As they walk along, Mary reflects on how her expectations of Jesus turned out to be so different to what happened. As she argues with Clopas about all that has happened a stranger joins them and asks what they are talking about.

They pour their hearts out to him, sharing their pain and disappointment. His response begins to heal their hearts, allowing hope to be rekindled:

“He told my story – all my hopes and my dreams – in the words of scripture. My heart leapt and burnt within me.”

As they approach their village and the stranger makes to leave them, Mary realises that she wants him to stay:

“All of a sudden, I couldn’t bear the thought that this stranger might leave us. It seemed that Cleopas felt the same, and so we begged and cajoled, pleaded and persuaded him to eat with him.”

When he takes the bread and blesses it, as he’d done day in day out on their travels, she recognises him and her world is transformed.

The sadness and hopelessness vanish. Their tiredness disappears, and they practically fly back to Jerusalem to share this great news with the others.

However hopeless life might feel the risen Christ walks alongside us. He is always looking for an opening to help us discover our own story in the scriptures.

Where are you aware of the risen Christ walking alongside you this Eastertide?

You can listen to Mary’s story here:

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Holy Saturday Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Prayer Prophetic voices Scripture

In The Emptiness

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After the high drama of Good Friday people often talk of Holy Saturday as a “tomb day”, a time to sit with the emptiness that follows death, to allow the events of Good Friday to sink in. I recognise the yearning for that and its wisdom. Yet, it’s not an experience I recognise from monastic life.

In practice, for many of us Holy Saturday is very much a hybrid day, we are aware of its emptiness, the mourning and the uncertainty. We also have to acknowledge that the Easter vigil is fast approaching and that Easter liturgies and treats do not plan themselves. So it is also a day of preparation and anticipation that can be very busy.

As we move through this hybrid day I’m reflecting on these words from the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah from this morning’s Office of Readings:

“The favours of the Lord are not all past, nor his kindnesses exhausted; every morning they are renewed: great is his faithfulness. My portion is with the Lord says my soul, and so I will hope in him.”

Even in the midst of his lamentation Jeremiah is able to acknowledge the kindness and faithfulness of God, and to put his hope in that. His words speak to me of the hybrid reality of the day. It seems to me that the emptiness of Holy Saturday calls us to imitate God’s kindness to others as we get on with the many preparations for Easter, and to ourselves as we seek small moments of quiet during the day.

In the emptiness of Holy Saturday where are you aware of the Lord renewing your capacity for kindness?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Prophetic voices Scripture

Freedom

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission

BACKGROUND READING MATTHEW 26: 6-13 MARK 14: 3-9 LUKE 7: 36-50 JOHN 12: 1-8. OR JUST MARK 14: 3-9

Susannah was wealthy and well loved, living a privileged life. Reflecting on this later she says: “I had no idea how lucky I was.” On the surface her life of privilege carries on after her marriage as she moves from one comfortable, spacious home to another.

Her husband was a harsh man who relished hurting people. When, after several years, he put her aside he spreads rumours that damaged her reputation so badly that she could never return to her parents’ home.

Despite her father’s financial support, she is alone and isolated in a society that refuses to even listen to her side of the story. In our post truth society we recognise how easily that can happen.

Her friends, Joanna and Mary of Magdala almost had to drag her to meet Jesus. As he looked at her across a crowded room, she realises that there is no need to explain or justify herself to him. She recognised that he loves her just as she is. As he tells her: “Dear child, your sins are forgiven.” she was free from all her burdens.

She joined the women who followed Jesus, “providing for him out of their resources”. At Bethany she takes her most precious possession, an alabaster jar of pure nard. Breaking the jar, she pours its contents over Jesus’ head. It’s an act of extravagant love and self-giving, that was misunderstood then as now. But she knew that he understood the gesture, even if others did not.

What do you need Jesus to set you free from this Holy Week?

You can listen to Paula Gooder read Susannah’s story here:

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Gospel Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Palm Sunday Prophetic voices Psalms Scripture Uncategorized

Women of Holy Week

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From Palm Sunday I’ll be using Paula Gooder’s book “Women of Holy Week” as the basis of my prayer. They tell the stories of ordinary women, some we know from the gospels, though their stories are not elaborated there. Others are not mentioned in the gospel, but it’s possible that someone like them was there in the crowd.

All of their lives were touched and changed, either by encountering Jesus on his journey through Holy Week and Easter or by hearing about him. from others. I will include a link to Paula’s audio reflection at the end of each day’s post.

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Lectio Divina Lent Prophetic voices Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

Celebrating St Benedict

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Today we’re celebrating the feast of the passing of St Benedict. This post from the archives takes me back to the heart of the Rule, the call to listen…

Lent is the time for turning back to God. It encourages us to reassess our practices and to recommit ourselves to those that will draw us closer to God. With this in mind I’m reflecting on this from the prophet Jeremiah:

“Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way I mark out for you, and you will prosper.”

His words take me back to the Rule of St Benedict. He begins his rule by saying:

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

We all know that listening is central to our faith. We also know how that in the hubbub of challenges and anxieties that make up daily life we can easily miss that gentle voice of God calling us. St Benedict and Jeremiah both call us to take the time to tune the ear of our hearts to resonate with that gentle call.

Lent is certainly a good time to practice this listening, but there’s more to it than that. The listening that they require is a life changing experience. It starts with the attentive listening with the ear of our heart and moves on to action that affects every part of our life.

St Benedict carries on saying that having listened to the master’s instructions we are to “faithfully put into practice” what we hear.

Jeremiah’s call to listen and follow makes the same point. The listening we are called to is to is to shape how we live. The way we treat one another, the way we work, the way we treat our tools and utensils are all to be formed by this attentive listening to God in every circumstance.

As we move through Lent what are you being called to faithfully put into practice?