Category: Rule of St Benedict

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Rule of St Benedict Scripture

Stepping into obedience.

OBEDIENCE

Photo by Andreea Pop on unsplash.com

Obedience is one of the foundation stones of Christian life. There is never a time when it is not relevant. We are always called to listen and respond to the word God speaks to our hearts.

This is true in every aspect of our lives yet, I’m a little surprised to find myself writing about it in Eastertide. Central as it is it’s we are more likely to connect it to Lent or Advent than to Eastertide.

It’s possible that we mistakenly connect Eastertide with more positive ideas. Joy, awe, praise, thankfulness more readily come to mind in this season. None of these are easy, but, on a surface level at least, they feel a little more comfortable than obedience.

Yet, in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Peter puts obedience at the heart of the Easter message. When he is challenged by the Sanhedrin about why he has disobeyed them he replies:

“Obedience to God comes before obedience to humans…”

His words are an inspiration and a challenge. Obedience is hard work, though it doesn’t require that we risk our lives as those first disciples did. It will challenge us to put ourselves aside in real and costly ways. It requires a constant attentiveness to God’s word and to the needs of our times. It constantly calls us to discern where we hear the voice of God and to act on it regardless of personal preferences.

Where is the risen Christ calling you to take obedience seriously this Eastertide?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Resurrection Rule of St Benedict Scripture

United Heart and Soul.

Photo by Robert Bye on unsplash.com
 

COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY is at the heart of the gospel, and of what it is to be human. We are created to be in relationship with one another, with creation and with God. We can live individualistic and isolated lives, but we thrive best when we live in relationship with others.

It’s hardly surprising then that the resurrection calls Jesus’s followers together after they were scattered. It’s from this regrouping that the early church is born. Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the ideal at the heart of this new community:

“The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for their own use anything that they had, as everything they owned was held in common.”

This ideal still lies at the heart of the Church. It underpins the life of our parishes, and is at the heart our concern for the excluded and the marginalised. It’s was the basis of the life lived by the desert Fathers and Mothers.

It was taken up by the early monastic communities and is one of the main foundations of Benedictine life today. As a Benedictine it’s a principle that’s close to my heart.

Yet, however much we value the principle we often fall short of the ideal. St Benedict gives us a very clear idea of why that is:

“They must compete with one another in obedience. They should not pursue what they judge advantageous for themselves, but rather what benefits others. They must show selfless love to the community.”

Living in community is hard work. It demands that we put love at the heart of our lives in very real and concrete ways every day. It calls us to accept people as they are and to put their needs before our own regardless of whether we agree with them or like them.

Where is the risen Christ calling you to build community this Eastertide?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prayer Resurrection Rule of St Benedict Scripture

An Eastertide Vocabulary.

Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on unsplash.com

One of the most helpful books I’ve read is “Amazing Grace, a vocabulary of faith.” By Kathleen Norris. She describes it as “an exploration and record of some of the words in the Christian lexicon that most trouble and attract me.”

The book reminded me of an important Benedictine principle, that words matter. They shape us, form us, challenge us and help us grow.

Last year I made a Lent lexicon. This year I’m aiming to make an Eastertide one. I’ve chosen words that attract and sometimes scare me. They also both shape and challenge my experience of Eastertide.

I’m including words that are particularly connected to Eastertide, and words that, though they’re connected to other seasons might have a different resonance in this Eastertide.

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

Celebrating St Benedict

Photo by Andre Hunter on unsplash.com

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?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Rule of St Benedict Scripture

Attentive to forgiveness

Photo by Eduardo Goody on unsplash.com

Today’s readings call us to be attentive to our relationships. The first reading, from the book of Daniel, call us to reflect on our relationship with God. It encourages us to be attentive to our need of God, and especially to our need for God’s mercy and compassion.

The people, having wandered far from God have realised their need of God, and return to God aware that all they have to offer is their humility and neediness. He writes:

“And now we put our whole heart into following you, into fearing you and seeking your face once more. Do not disappoint us; treat us gently, as you yourself are gentle and very merciful.”

The gospel calls us to be attentive to our relationships with one another. We soon recognise that our relationships with one another are often broken. Whatever our best intentions we end up wounding each other in a myriad of ways throughout the day. We have a real interest in Peter’s question about the limits of forgiveness.

If we’re honest, like Peter, we’d like a limit put on that forgiveness. We’d like to know there’s a point at which we can close the door on a troublesome situation. But Jesus’ response extends the limits of forgiveness, saying:

“‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.”

He goes on to tell a story that highlights the ways we might subvert the challenging work of forgiveness. He ends by calling us to learn to forgive as God does, from the depths of our hearts:

“Forgive your sister or brother from your heart.”

The blessing of attentiveness invites & challenges us to recreate our relationships in ways that reflect the love and compassion that God lavishes on us.

Where is Christ calling you to be attentive to your relationships this Lent?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

A gospel blessing.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on unsplash.com

Love is at the very heart of the blessing of gospel living. It can be easy to see this love as an ideal, a valuable principle that we acknowledge then leave on a shelf as we go about the important daily business of living. If that is how we understand love it is unlikely to be a blessing to us or to others.

For love to be a blessing it has to be both the valuable and beautiful principle, and a practical reality in our daily lives. Jesus makes that clear to his disciples in today’s gospel. Turning all our expectations on their heads he says:

“Anyone who wants to be great amongst you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

His words make it clear that love of gospel living has to affect how we treat others. In chapter 4 of the Rule on the tools of good works St Benedict makes the same point. He reminds us “never do to another what you do not want done to yourself.”

Together the gospel and the Rule bring the blessing of gospel living back to a very basic practice that we can live each day, to treat others as we would like to be treated.

I wonder how life might change if that became the guiding principle of all our interactions. While that might prove costly the blessing of gospel living offers the hope that it will also be a life enhancing experience.

Where are you being called to treat others as you would like to be treated this Lent?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Lectio Divina Lent Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

A habit of listening

Photo by Anastasiya Badun on unsplash.com

Nothing speaks to the hard work of BEGINNING as much as developing a new habit. In today’s first reading Jonah, a reluctant prophet is challenged to develop a new habit of obedience. God calls to him:

“Up!…Go to Ninevah, the great city and preach to them as I told you to”

Perhaps having learned from his earlier disagreement with God Jonah obeys swiftly and without argument or prevarication:

“Jonah set out and went to Ninevah in obedience to the word of the Lord.”

His response can make obedience seem easy, straightforward and simple, but it’s more complex than that. It takes me back to the Rule of St Benedict which calls us to “unhesitating obedience”. This is not a call to simply do what we are told, though it sometimes requires that.

Rather the call to obedience is a call to listen and respond to the call of God. It requires discernment, both to hear the call and discover the response we need to make. In the first instance the call to obedience is a call to listen. Then it is a call to respond to what we hear.

We’re called to develop a habit of listening, to attune ourselves to God’s presence in every situation so that we learn to recognise God’s voice in our lives. From this listening we will be able to discern the response we’re called to make. It’s a process that requires practice. We will make mistakes, getting it wrong, trusting in God’s mercy, and being willing to try again and change direction if necessary.


Where are you being called to begin to develop a habit of listening this Lent?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

A second chance

Photo by Thomas Scheiner on unsplash.com

In today’s gospel his disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. The words he taught them have become one of the best-known, most used, and most loved prayers in Christianity. We know it so well, saying it several times a day, sometime without a great deal of attention. As I reflected on it to date seemed to me a perfect vehicle for reflecting on the blessing of BEGINNING:

“Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. And do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one.”

There is a beginning in the call of today’s gospel to rediscover its many riches from its ordering of the universe to its trust in God’s mercy and love for us. Each day when we pray it offers us the chance to begin again by putting ourselves firmly in that loving and merciful presence. In his rules and Benedict says:

“The celebration of Lauds and Vespers must never pass without the superiors reciting the entire Lord’s prayer at the end for all to hear, because storms of contention are likely to spring up.”

His words remind me of how this prayer is constantly offering us the opportunity to begin again. It acknowledges that we will fail again and again, but it doesn’t give up on us. Instead, it reminds us of the loving mercy of God which is always offering us a new beginning.

The beginning it offers allows us the opportunity to reset our relationship with God and with one another. It doesn’t deny our failures to love God or each other. Instead it offers us, again and again, a second chance, an opportunity to do better next time.

Where is Christ offering you an opportunity to begin again this Lent?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Rule of St Benedict Scripture

A hard beginning.

Photo by Juli Kosolapova on unsplash.com

Inspired by Sister Laurentia John’s book: “The Way of Benedict: Eight Blessings for Lent.” I’ll be reflecting on a different blessing each week in Lent through the lens of the Scripture readings and of the Rule of St Benedict.

The first blessing is BEGINNING. Chaim Potok’s book “In the beginning”, opens with this phrase, “all beginnings are hard…” This is something I often choose to forget. I prefer to focus on the promise, hope and possibility that a new beginning offers us.

However much our beginnings overflow with possibility, and they are also hard. Beginnings don’t come with guarantees. Each beginning requires us to step out in trust into the unknown, that is challenging and unsettling.

This is highlighted by today’s gospel. We see Jesus stepping out into a new beginning. Immediately after his baptism when he is acknowledged by God as “beloved son” we’re told:

“Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

It’s hard to imagine a harder beginning than that. Part of me wants to shy away from it, to look for a gentler start to this journey that we are called to imitate.

Yet Jesus doesn’t shy away from this hard beginning. He faces the challenge of each temptation head-on. His courage and perseverance lead him through the temptations until we hear:

“Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.”

His example offers us hope. Whatever hard beginnings our own Lent brings, we can trust that we too will find blessings to sustain us on that journey.

What blessing do you most need to begin your journey this Lent?

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

Practicing Love

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on unsplash.com

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?