Category: Prophetic voices

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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?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prophetic voices Saints Scripture

St Joseph

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Today is the feast of St Joseph. On the surface he seems a shadowy figure. A background figure in the gospel who supports Mary and the child Jesus and brings stability and respectability to an otherwise 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 not of a shadowy figure, but of a man of great faith, courage, humility and trust. He follows in the line of Abraham and Moses who left everything to follow God into the unknown.

When we think of the blessing of welcoming, we think in positive terms. St Joseph shows us that we’re sometimes called to welcome circumstances that are difficult or challenging. Drawing on the faith of his ancestors when his life and expectations are completely turned upside down St Joseph is able to put himself in God’s hands, trusting that God will lead and guide him. 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 seemingly insurmountable challenges our world faces today, both at home and abroad. As we see lives disrupted and communities destroyed by war St Joseph becomes a valuable role model.

He reminds us that however dark and uncertain our lives, we are called to put ourselves into the hands of God who will lead us through the darkness into the light of his love.

What gives you the courage to trust yourself to God today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Prayer Prophetic voices Scripture

Christ on the margins

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This week I’m reflecting on the blessing of welcoming. I’m aware of how often we’re called to recognise Christ by welcoming what we consider marginal. We see that in today’s gospel. It’s a man who is outcast, ignored and undervalued who recognises and proclaims Christ to his people.

He is the last person anyone would have expected to speak and reflect theologically. We see this in the response of his neighbours, who no longer recognise him, and in the Pharisees who refuse to accept someone so marginal can presume to teach them anything about God.

The man doesn’t crumble under their badgering questions, instead he faces them confidently, reflecting on his experience with Jesus in the light of his Jewish faith, saying to them:

“We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but God does listen to people who are devout and do his will. Ever since the world began it is unheard-of for anyone to open the eyes of someone who was born blind: if this man were not from God he couldn’t do a thing.”

As the man moves from claiming that he only knows Jesus’ name to proclaiming and worshipping him as Christ he welcomes him with a truly open heart. It may be that his marginal position helped him to recognise Jesus as the Christ, and give him the freedom to worship him.

This gospel challenges me to be attentive to those parts of myself that I push aside, allowing them to point me towards Christ in ways that I might not expect or be entirely comfortable with.

It also challenges me to be attentive to the people we marginalise today, leaving me with an uncomfortable question, would we respond any better than the Pharisees should any of them proclaim Christ to us?

How is Christ calling you welcome the marginal in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Prophetic voices Scripture

The gift of mercy

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The gift of mercy is part of the blessing of gospel living that is especially important today. In our public spaces we see situations where no apology is acceptable. There is no way back from a mistake, no make a fresh start or second chance.

Alongside that there are people who seem immune to any sort of sanctions, however they act they never have to face the consequences. Both signal a devaluing of this essential quality of gospel living.

In that situation we’re called to pay even more attention to them. They offer us both challenge and hope Its challenge is in its call to admit our faults & failing, to confess that we all need mercy in our lives. We both stand in need of God’s mercy and are called to be merciful towards others.

Another challenge of mercy is that it can only come as a gift, we can’t demand it, earn it or get it for ourselves. The most we can do is ask for it when we recognise our need strive to be open to receive it. Mercy also offers us hope. In today’s first reading the prophet Micah writes:

“What god can compare with you: taking fault away, pardoning crime, not cherishing anger for ever but delighting in showing mercy?”

His words remind us, not only that God knows our faults and is willing to be merciful, but that the mercy is offered freely and generously, with delight. The source of God’s mercy towards us is love, the love that holds us in being, the love at the heart of the gospel.

Where are you being offered God’s mercy this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Living fearlessly

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I’ve been slow to write a reflection today. That’s partly a reaction to the world situation. We woke up this morning to a world even more immersed chaos that was yesterday. It made my plan to spend the second week of Lent focusing on the blessing of gospel living seem at best irrelevant. As I watch conflict and chaos spread across the world it’s almost impossible to discover any blessing in life.

This is the natural response in such frightening and unsettled times. We tend to turn in on ourselves, seeking protection and turning away from hope. In such situations it quickly becomes hard to notice the blessing that God continues to lavish on us even in the hardest of times.

In that state of mind this line in our Lauds Canticle from the prophet Isaiah leapt out at me:

“Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name you are mine. Should you pass through the sea I will be with you; or through rivers, they will not swallow you up.”

This wasn’t written to people living safe and stable lives. It was written to a people in exile who had lost their families, their livelihoods, their culture, even their faith.

This caused me to think again about gospel living. If Isaiah’s words could be a blessing for people in exile they can be a blessing for us in our challenging circumstances today. The blessing of living for today is that however dark and frightening our times, however overwhelming our circumstances we are held in the heart of the loving God who will never leave us.

As we begin the second week of Lent do you need to feel that you are held in God’s heart?

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

Practicing Love

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We always start Lent full of hopes and plans. We plan our Lent practices with care, giving serious thought to what we will do or give up. We do this with the best intentions, looking for what will draw us closer to God in this special time.

We have high hopes for what these practices will accomplish in our spiritual lives. These practices give us a sense of purpose and focus that we desperately need in the midst of life’s that can be very distracting and dissipating.

Yet for all their value it can sometimes feel that these practices can become distractions themselves. We can become more focused on completing the practices than on their ultimate purpose. Today’s 1st reading is a call to look beyond the outward signs of our Lent practices to their ultimate purpose.

The prophet Isaiah writes:

“Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me – it is the Lord who speaks – to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke, to clothe the those you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin? Then will your light shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed over.”

His words remind us that our Lent practices are not only for our own personal benefit. This is especially true in these challenging and hard times. They are to change our hearts so much that they also alter our behaviour. Whatever they are they should lead us to reach out to those in need.

They should soften our hearts so that we feel our neighbours’ pain. They should lead us to be kinder, more compassionate, encouraging and supportive. They should lead us to lighten the burdens of those we encounter in whatever way we can.

How are your Lent practices enabling you to help those around you?