Category: Prophetic voices

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture Uncategorized

Making a choice

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Lent is a call to refocus our attention on the really important things in life. It acknowledges that the stresses and strains we face every day can draws away from our true purpose. We can get so caught up in these that we forget the truly important things, and turned towards things that are not good for us. In today’s first reading God calls Moses to give the people a choice that will call them back to their true purpose:

“I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists…”

His words are just as relevant for us, especially in Lent. All our Lent practices aim to bring us back to what is truly life giving. They remind us that the only truly life-giving choice is to turn to God, the source of all life so that we can live in God’s presence and shape our life by God’s love. The gift of life however does not come automatically.

As Moses points out we have to actively choose what is life-giving. On the surface that seems easy, but it is not always that straightforward. Often, at the outset at least the life denying choice appears easier or more comfortable, while the life-giving choice can feel harder and more challenging.

Our Lent practices help us discern what is truly life giving. They can help us decide what we have to let go of so that the things that are truly life giving can find the space to flourish and grow.

How are your Lent practices helping you to choose life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Prayer Prophetic voices Scripture Uncategorized

Ash Wednesday – Turning back to God

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Ash Wednesday always feels like a wake up call. It reminds us of how far we have slipped in our intention to live as people of God, how far we have moved from the values of the Kingdom that we’re called to make a reality. Watching all that is going on in our world today, that wake-up call seems even more urgent than usual. It makes the words of the Prophet Joel that we heard at Mass seem particularly relevant.

“Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning. Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again, for God is all tenderness and compassion…”

His words seem to sum up both what we are going through and what we need to do to about it. Our world once again seems full of suffering. Everywhere we look we discover the heartbreak that is always part of war.

The suffering already seems endless and insurmountable. We can very quickly begin to feel hopeless, numbed by the pain and unable to act.

In these circumstances it seems to me that our first and most important step is to turn back to God with our broken hearts and broken lives, seeking compassion and forgiveness for ourselves and for one another.

Maybe then, knowing ourselves ourselves the recipients of God’s healing compassion we will be able to find ways of sharing that compassionate love with all who are broken hearted today.

As we start our journey through Lent what heartbreak are you being called to bring into the compassionate love of God?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Shedding light

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Living in challenging and frightening times it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. So much in our societies seem broken that fixing them seems beyond us. This can lead us into despair and hopelessness. We can be tempted to give, feeling that there’s nothing we can do to fix things.

Today’s gospel calls us to take a different view. Jesus reminds us that we have already received his light. This offers real consolation in these dark times. However, Jesus doesn’t only console us he challenges us saying:

“No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of all people, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.”

His challenge is clear, his light is not just a consoling individual gift, it is a gift we are called to use and share. It’s not something to keep safe and hidden, but something we are to hold aloft to help push back the darkness that threatens to engulf our world.

Those are fine words, but it can be hard to know how to put them into practice. In the first reading Isaiah gives us some very clear and direct guidance about that, saying:

“If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word, if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness, and your shadows become like noon.”

His words give make it very clear, we bring Christ’s light to the world by the way we treat others. We do it by showing kindness and compassion, by helping and supporting where we can. It’s a call to look out for those little acts and encounters that can brighten people’s days and lighten their burdens as they lived through challenging times.

Where is Christ inviting you to become the light of the world today?

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Baptism Beatitudes Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Ecumenism Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Called to be one.

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A post from the archives for the week of prayer for Christian Unity. In his letter to the Colossians St Paul writes:

“Clothe yourselves in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and in humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must do the same. Over all these, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body.”

His words are an inspiration and a challenge. They show us the best that the Christian community can be, and they remind us of how often we fall short of that ideal within and between our denominations.

This has particular resonance as I reflect on our ecumenical journey. We all stand in need of forgiveness, having misjudged and misinterpreted the insights, gifts and intentions of other denominations. At other times we have all been able to take the risk of reaching out towards other Christians in ways that have brought healing and moved us closer to unity than we could ever have dreamt of.

Many of our denominations and churches are dealing with internal situations that take most of their energy and resources. That is understandable and necessary, but it can make ecumenism feel like its on the backburner.

My hope is that we have learned to love and respect each other enough be able to bear with one another in compassion, generosity and gentleness in a way that allows us the freedom to take the space to deal with internal issues without losing sight of the ground we have gained. Then, when the time is right we will be ready and able to take the next steps in our ecumenical journey together.

In this week of prayer for Christian Unity where are you inspired to be generous and compassionate?

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Baptism Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel John the Baptist Lectio Divina Prayer Prophetic voices Saints Scripture

Light of the Nations

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Today’s readings are about call and response. Isaiah and St Paul reflect on their call to take the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth. In the gospel John recognises Jesus in the crowd and proclaims him as the Messiah. Reflecting on their accounts inevitably draws us back to reflect on our own call:

“I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah, St Paul and St John all heard and responded to some version of this call. Their responses may have looked different on the surface, and led them in apparently different directions. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because they lived in different times, faced different situations and had different personalities and skills. This meant that they each had to spend time reflecting on what it meant for them to become “the light to the nations” in their particular situations.

Through baptism we are also called by God to be “a light to the nations”. While the heart of that call is the same as the one heard by Isaiah, St Paul and St John the practicalities of what it will look like in the particular challenges we face today are different. So today’s readings are a call to discern how to I can best bring the light of Christ love to people today in ways that will lighten their burdens and offer consolation.

How are you being called to bring the light of Christ’s love to the people around you today?

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

Waiting and hoping

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Something from the archives for the 6 day of Christmas. So many of the characters in the nativity are outsiders. This is a story that unfolds first in the lives of the marginalised, they are the ones who first recognise and proclaim the Messiah.

Today’s gospel focuses on one of those characters, the prophetess Anna. An older woman, long widowed she choses to live out her days in the Temple, praying and fasting. I can imagine that she’d have appeared at best a little unusual, as older women who defy norms so often do.

Yet, regardless of the opinions of others, she had a clear idea of what she was called to do. She was called to a life of waiting and watching for the coming of the Messiah. In doing that she was living out the call of her people who had been waiting and hoping for this through centuries when hope seemed impossible.

No one knew what the Messiah would look like, but no one, including Anna, would have expected him to appear as a vulnerable baby reliant on others for every need. Her life of faithful prayer and her life on the margins prepared her to recognise the Messiah, opening her heart to see beyond surface appearance.

Having recognised the Messiah her next step becomes clear:

“She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.”

This is not news she is to keep to herself, instead she is called to proclaim his presence to all those who had been waiting and hoping for the coming of the Messiah.

Where are you being called to proclaim Christ’s presence this Christmastide?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Liturgy O Adonai O Antiphons Prophetic voices Scripture

O Adonai. Encountering the living God.

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Some thoughts from the archives for O Adonai. This evening at Vespers we’ll sing the second of the O antiphons, O Adonai, O Lord God.

“O Lord God, leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai: come to redeem us with outstretched arm.”

It takes us back to one of the passages of Scripture that touches me most deeply, Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush. Moses is engaged in the most ordinary of daily activities, looking after his father-in-law’s herds. Then God breaks into his life in its ordinariness, messiness and uncertainty in a completely unexpected way.

Curiosity compels Moses to turn aside when he sees the bush aflame, and he is drawn into an encounter with God which is challenging and life changing beyond anything he could have imagined.

In the uncertain times we face yet again this antiphon has a very particular message. It tells us that the God of love who came to Moses and the burning bush can also break into the ordinariness and uncertainty of our daily lives and set us aflame. Facing hard and challenging times it’s good to remember that the God of love who reached out to Moses because of the cries suffering people also hears our cries and comes to redeem us.

As we move through Advent where do you need the redeeming touch of God in your life?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel John the Baptist Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Saints Scripture

Gaudete Sunday

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Today we’re celebrating Gaudete Sunday, a time to pause and remember that even in dark and uncertain times there is cause for joy and hope.

In these challenging and uncertain times there is plenty that would oppress us. Today’s readings remind us never to give up hope however dismal things might seem. Isaiah writes that even the dry, barren wilderness of the desert can blossom into new life.

St James calls us to be patient because the Lord we are waiting for will come, however unlikely that may appear. Neither of them deny the challenges that we face, or the costliness of hope. Instead they tell us to look for and keep alive those glimmers of hope that are buried in the midst of the challenges.

John the Baptist exemplifies that hope, sending disciples to Jesus to ask:

“Are you the one who is to come, or have we to wait for someone else?”

Even in the bleakness of his prison cell he is still seeking, still hoping, still looking for the Messiah he proclaimed with such conviction. It is the Lord’s faithfulness that enables us in our turn to strive to be faithful to God.

It is God’s faithfulness that makes it possible for us to trust, hope and keep seeking God’s presence even in the most challenging of circumstances.

What gives you the courage to keep hoping today?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Saints

Light in deep darkness.

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Advent is the coldest, darkest, lowest time of the year. That time when we are most aware of our fragility and vulnerability, when it can be easy to lose sight of the Lord’s radiance. It’s the season when it seems most tempting to give in to despair and hopelessness as everything around us seems dark, cold and colourless. It’s a time when we need to be reminded that the light of the Lord’s love has not disappeared from our lives.

Today we’re celebrating the feast of St Lucy. This morning we sang a hymn written by one of our sisters that captures both the darkness and the vulnerability of Advent and the hope that St Lucy points us towards. A young woman martyred for her faith, St Lucy reminds us that, however dark our world might seem, the light has not been wiped out of our lives, instead it is planted deep within us waiting for the right time to burst forth into new life. This morning we sang:

Deep in the darkness seeds of light are sown,
The joyous Light the dark has never known;
Beneath the ground the living waters sing,
And secret streams new life, new gladness bring:
Before the seas were shaped the Fountain played,
And Light shone out before the stars were made.

The words of the hymn offer us hope. They remind me that however dark life might seem there are seeds of light hidden in the darkness, waiting, germinating, preparing to put out shoots when the time is right. As we approach the shortest day, the lowest point of the year I am grateful for St Lucy’s gentle light reminding us to look towards the Lord’s radiance and directing us to new life and new hope.

What seeds of light are sown through your darkness this Advent?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Scripture

A place to rest

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Rest can be in very short supply as we try to juggle the realities of complex and challenging, lives. That’s especially true at this time of year with all its commitments, expectations and anxieties. So these words from today’s gospel really resonated with me:

“Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

It’s one of those passages I can never hear enough. With the best will the world, however much I reflect on it, I will invariably forget it again as I rush from pillar to post with my mind full of all the tasks I have to complete. So today I’m especially grateful for Psalm 102 which reinforced the gospel message:

“The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.”

Its words point me back to the gospel where Jesus offers me a different way of being, inviting me to allow him to show me his gentleness. He offers to teach me to be as gentle towards myself as he is. His offer of rest from my burdens stands regardless of whether or not the burdens I carry are trivial or essential, self-imposed or passed on by others.

It seems to me that in these challenging times we need this message of gentleness and compassion more than ever. The harder times are, the heavier our burdens the more we need a safe place to rest, a place where burdens can be acknowledged and handed over, a place where we can be held and loved.

Where are you aware of Christ offering you a safe place to rest today?