Category: Resurrection

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

Good News for dark times

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Mark’s account of the resurrection is quite stark; it’s always left me feeling uneasy. There’s little joy of celebration in it, rather it seems full of doubt and recrimination.

With very few details he describes Jesus’ appearance first to Mary Magdalene who rushed to tell the disciples only to be disbelieved. Later, the disciples who encountered Jesus on their way to Emmaus bring the same news and are also met with incredulity.

The response is understandable, these first disciples don’t have our gift of hindsight or two thousand years of belief and theology to fall back on. Even with all Jesus told them before his death, the idea of resurrection would have seemed completely incredible.

When Jesus does appear to to eleven he berated them for their incredulity and then immediately sends them out to proclaim the good news to the world, saying to them:

“Go out to the whole world; proclaim the good news to all creation.”

Mark’s account challenges us to look honestly at the doubts we harbour about resurrection. He compels us to look at those dark corners of our lives and our world that feel beyond redemption, those places that we suspect new life will never reach, never transform.

He calls us to allow the light of the risen Christ to shine on those dark corners, offering the possibility of new life. Even in the presence of those dark corners of doubt he challenges us to proclaim the Good News to the world in whatever way we can.

How is the risen Christ challenging you to share the Good News of resurrection today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture Uncategorized

The gift of peace

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Listening to today’s gospel I’m struck by the alarm and fright that the disciples feel when the risen Christ appears among them I sympathise with their feelings.

Unlike us, they don’t have the experience of hindsight, tradition and faith telling them that the resurrection is already a reality. I’m touched by Jesus’ response to their reactions. His first greeting to them is:

“Peace be with you.”

From that moment, for the rest of his time with them his concern is to calm and reassure them, explaining how the Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets refer to him and opening their hearts to understand his teaching.

There’s much in life today that can leave us fearful. The wars that are threatening our world order, the growing uncertainty in areas that we thought were certain can all engender fear even before we begin to think about more personal situations.

Our fear can leave us feeling just as locked in as the disciples were in those first few days after the resurrection. We think of Eastertide as a time of rejoicing, that can leave us feeling guilty if our response is less than joyful.

The Easter Gospels remind us that Jesus doesn’t criticise his disciples for their fearful response to his appearance. Instead he calms their fears, reassures them and sets them free to embrace the new life of resurrection. Whatever we face he offers us that same reassurance and freedom.

Where do you need the risen Christ to reassure you and calm your fears 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 Discernment Easter Sunday Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Space for Christ

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By Easter Tuesday the mixture of adrenalin and energy that carried me through the Easter Vigil is waning, and I start to feel the need to slow things down. It’s rightly an energetic season, full of rejoicing, celebration and proclamation. While that delights me, I’m also aware that I need space in the midst of it all to pause and reflect.

In Christmastide we have the example of Virgin Mary taking space to ponder the events in her heart. She reminds us that we too need time to reflect on our encounters with God. We need a similar model in Eastertide, someone who will remind us to slow down, to allow the momentous event that is resurrection to really sink in.

Listening to today’s gospel, the appearance to Mary Magdalene, I noticed a stillness in the account that I’ve missed on other occasions. After her journey through the dark and the rush to find the disciples Mary is left alone. She stops and is still, waiting in her grief for something she can’t possibly understand. It is in this moment of stillness that she encounters the risen Christ. It brings to mind part of my favourite hymn:

“She awaits a new creation in the shadow of the tomb. Hope and trust and expectation, from it will a vision come.”

Pondering this I realise that I too need a still, quiet moment to encounter the risen Christ as she did in the garden, remaining alone and quiet in his presence, allowing the new creation to take root in my heart.

Where are you finding space to encounter the risen Christ in the depth of your heart?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Easter Sunday Easter Vigil Eastertide Good Shepherd Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Called And Named

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

BACKGROUND READING JOHN 20: 1-18
AND JOHN 10 1-6

Mary’s story is about being lost and found. She met Jesus when she was completely lost. “Possessed by evil spirits” she was wandering the countryside, too disturbed to be still.

When she heard Jesus teaching by the lake, a wave of peace washed over her. he became his follower. She sat at his feet with the other disciples, listening, learning and being changed by his words.

The crucifixion was another overwhelming loss. She tried to get the disciples to come and anoint Jesus’ body, but found them too devasted and scared to leave their rooms.

She gathered the other women to help her instead. When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and a young man waiting inside. They dropped everything and ran away.

Mary went back to the other disciples, telling them that, on top of everything else, Jesus’ body had been taken. Peter and John ran with her to the tomb to see for themselves. She arrived after they left, and stood weeping by the empty tomb, overwhelmed again by the loss.

Initially mistaking him for the gardener she recognised Jesus when he called her by name. It’s a moment that takes her back to the first story she heard him tell, the good shepherd:

“The good shepherd had called my name, and I knew his voice with every fibre of my being.”

In our lost times we too need to hear the risen Christ, calling us home to live in the light of his love.

Where do you hear the risen Christ calling you to live in his love this Easter morning?

You can hear Mary’s story here:

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Resurrection Scripture Uncategorized

Invitations and conversations.

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As I’ve listened to the Sunday Gospels over the past few weeks I’ve been struck by the themes of revelation and recognition that have gone hand-in-hand. As the stories of the Samaritan woman, and the blind man unfolded it seemed to me that this process has come about through challenging and honest conversations between Jesus and those he encounters. Those conversations required deep thought, honest reflection and an openness to change.

This week, as we encounter Martha grieving for her brother, that pattern continues. Martha, a follower of Jesus already, is clearly a woman of faith, used to the theological reflection and conversation.

She is capable of standing her ground with Jesus, and even of questioning him. She is also capable of allowing his response to transform her whole life. It is through their hard, challenging conversation that Jesus is both revealed and recognised as Christ:

“I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though the day they will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

Central as this revelation is it is not enough by itself, and he requires a response from Martha, asking her:

“Do you believe this?”

The recognition of her response completes the revelation as she proclaims:

“Yes Lord… I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one who was to come into this world.”


I’m left wondering about the implications of this for our own conversations with Jesus. If we are to come to the life changing recognition that Jesus is the Christ we too have to risk engaging in challenging conversations with him, acknowledging our uncertainties and allowing his revelation to transform our lives.

Where is Christ calling you into conversation with him this Lent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Saints Scripture

Seeing the Lord

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Today we are celebrating the feast of St Mary Magdalene, one of the first witnesses to the resurrection, who was sent to tell the disciples that Christ had risen. It’s sometimes easier to say who she wasn’t than who she actually was.

Despite being portrayed through the centuries as the archetypal penitent woman, she’s not the woman taken in adultery. Nor is she the woman who poured oil on the feet of Jesus, anointing him for his burial.

Jesus cast out seven devils from her. So she is a woman marked by the pain of severe mental anguish. It may have been crushing anxiety, debilitating fear, depression or a myriad of other conditions that sap the joy and hope out of life.

Freed of her demons she follows Jesus, supporting him and the other disciples from her own resources. She stayed with him until the very end, standing at the cross with the other women when the rest of the disciples fled. She follows him, even after death, to see where his body has been laid.

Even when he is laid in the tomb her desire to be close to him draws her back to his tomb in the dark of the early morning. It is there, as she stands weeping, that the risen Christ appears to her, and commissions her to proclaim the good news of his resurrection to the other disciples, telling them:

“I have seen the Lord…”

Where is Christ inviting you to seek and proclaim his presence in your life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Communion Corpus Christi Divine Office Gospel Liturgy Prayer Resurrection Scripture

In the presence of Christ

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As we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi I’m reflecting on the nature of Eucharist. The Scripture that comes to mind is the Emmaus story. Although it’s not part of the feast’s liturgy it seems to me to capture something of its essence.

It acknowledges the despair and hopelessness of the disciples as they trudged home disappointed and unsettled by all that has happened. We can identify so strongly with those feelings in our own lives that we almost feel the weight of it all as they pour out their story to Jesus. They remind me that Eucharist offers us an opportunity to bring our brokenness, hurt and disappointment into the presence of Christ.

Jesus responds to their despair by taking them through the Scriptures already know, reminding them of the passages that speak about the Messiah. As he does this their hearts are ignited, and through their sadness they glimpse something so good that they don’t want to let it go, so they invite him to stay with them. Full recognition only dawns as they sit down to eat together and:

“He took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened, and the recognised him…”

It seems to me that the essence of the Eucharist is an invitation rediscover the reality of Christ’s presence in every part of our lives, in our liturgies, in our communities, in all our relationships and activities.

As we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi where do you recognise the reality of Christ’s presence in your life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Focussed on Christ

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Today’s gospel brings us to the end of John’s gospel. It covers the very end of Jesus’ conversation with Peter. Once again I find myself touched by Peter’s bluntness. Even in the middle of his intense and intimate conversation with Jesus Peter is distracted enough to wonder about the fate of the beloved disciple. He asks Jesus:

“What about him, Lord?”

I too can be easily distracted even in my most prayerful moments. So Peter’s distraction and his honesty about it are consoling. They make me realise how commonplace distraction in prayer his. His honesty in speaking to Jesus about it are a reminder that we can be open with Jesus when we too are distracted. Jesus’ response brings Peter back, firmly and lovingly from his distraction. He draws him back to the focus of their conversation, saying to him:

“If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.”

Sometimes allowing distractions to flourish in our minds and hearts can blunt the urgency or challenge of Jesus’ call. If we feel challenged, we can shift some of our discomfort by focussing on other things or other people. This last part of Jesus’ conversation with Peter calls us to reflect on that. It calls us to notice our distractions and to bring them to Jesus. Then he can help us to lay them aside so that we, like Peter can give ourselves wholly to our encounter with him.

As we move towards Pentecost where is Christ challenging you to give your full attention to following him?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

Surrendering control.

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Today’s gospel revisits full of challenge and hope. It revisits Peter’s conversation with Jesus after the resurrection it takes place on a beach, after Peter has had a long and frustrating night’s fishing. An apparent stranger on the beach calls to them to try again. The result is that they end up with a record haul of fish, recognising that the stranger is in fact the risen Christ, who invites them to a breakfast that he himself has cooked.

Today’s gospel focuses on the private conversation that Peter and Jesus have after the meal. Having invited Peter to declare his love and commissioning him to “feed my sheep” Jesus takes the conversation in a new direction. He says to Peter:

“I tell you most solemnly, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.”

There is a real challenge in these words for Peter and for us. It’s a reminder that when we commit ourselves to following Christ we surrender control of our lives.

We make that commitment freely and as open heartedly as we can. We might have hopes and dreams of where that will lead us. But the reality is that we can’t know or control what it will actually mean. When Jesus invites us to:

“Follow me.”

he challenges us to step out into the unknown, trusting ourselves to his grace. Moving towards Pentecost it’s worth reflecting on what it means to surrender control to Christ in this way.

Where is the risen Christ challenging you to surrender control of your life to him this Eastertide?