Category: Rule of St Benedict

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

A hard beginning.

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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?

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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?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy O Clavis David Rule of St Benedict

O Clavis David. Choosing freedom.

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Today at Vespers we’ll sing the 4th O antiphon, O Clavis David, O key of David”:

“O key of David, and ruler of the house of Israel: who open and none can close: close and none may open: come bring out of prison the captive who sits in darkness and the shadow of death.”

It speaks of a deep and powerful yearning for freedom that lives within all of us. We each long for freedom from all that would restrict our growth and development. We desire the freedom to become the people we are called to be, to nurture the talents we’ve each been given.

This yearning for freedom is deeply personal and individual, yet there is more to it that that. The past few years have taught us some hard lessons about freedom. The pandemic, the suffering of war, the economic crisis, the worsening ecological situation all point to the fact that this freedom we desire can’t only be a personal, individual freedom.

It has also to be a communal freedom, a freedom that is willing to sacrifice individual freedoms for the common good. It has to be a freedom that is willing to put the needs of others before our own.

In chapter 72 of the Rule St Benedict tells us that Christ brings us “all together” to everlasting life. It seems to me the same is true of the freedom Christ offers us, we accept it for each other as much as for ourselves.

What would enable you to accept the freedom Christ offers this Advent?

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#ConsecrateLife Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Psalms Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

Taste and See…

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Today we’re celebrating the dedication of our Oratory. I had intended to write a new post, but events overtook me. So I’m reposting this from the archives. The scripture reading at the vigil was from the first letter of St Peter:

“Be sure you are never spiteful, or deceitful, or hypocritical, or envious and critical of each other. You are new born, and, like babies, you should be hungry for nothing but milk – the spiritual honesty which will help you grow up to salvation – now that you have tasted the goodness of the Lord.”

Several things resonate with me in in. It’s reminder of how we are called to behave and to treat one another seems especially important just now. Living through stressful and challenging times can give us all a short fuse and doesn’t always bring out the best in us. St Peter reminds us that, whatever challenges and uncertainties we face we are called not to give into the temptation to spitefulness and criticism. The call is still to become more Christlike whatever we face.

He goes on to tell us that as we have tasted the goodness of the Lord already our desire and long should be for those things that will help us grow into our salvation. This brings to mind a favourite psalm, psalm 34, “taste and see that the Lord is good”, and I’m reminded to keep seeking the goodness of the Lord in whatever challenges and uncertainties life is currently throwing at us.

Where are you tasting the Lord’s goodness in the challenging times you have to face?

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#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Gospel Jubilee Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Rule of St Benedict Scripture

Forgiven and Forgiving.

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Today I’m reflecting on forgiveness. It’s central to our human experience. Both our need to be forgiven and our need to forgive are deeply rooted in the reality of our daily lives, in both big and small things. It’s impossible to live connected to other people without at some point needing to both forgive and be forgiven.

This reality is reflected all the way through Scripture. As we continue to celebrate the jubilee of consecrated life, I’m reflecting on these words from the Our Father:

“Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.”

These words are so familiar that we sometimes overlook their significance. Yet, they have the power bring the healing that can reset our broken relationships.

St Benedict recognises this when he says that the Our Father should be said by the superior at Lauds and Vespers “because thorns of contention are likely to spring up”. It allows us to acknowledge before God that, whatever our intentions, we will have been hurt by others in the course of the day, and we will have hurt them.

St Benedict wanted the community to be reminded regularly both of their need for forgiveness and their need to forgive others in the course of their daily life.

These two are intimately linked. We begin by acknowledging our own need for forgiveness. When we know ourselves held in the loving forgiveness of God then we are able to reach out and offer forgiveness to the people who have wounded us.

Where are you being called to offer and accept forgiveness today?

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#ConsecrateLife #SimplyJubilee Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Jubilee Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Rule of St Benedict Scripture

Accepting freedom

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Today I’m reflecting on freedom. The biblical concept of freedom goes beyond that our human understanding of freedom. It is rooted first of all in our position as children of God. It’s an invitation to become the person God’s calls us to be. It also carries a challenge.

In the course of life’s ups and downs we encounter much that draws us away from that freedom. Much as we desire it, we find ourselves making choices that limit and curtail it. The prophet Isaiah promises:

“He has sent me… to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison…”

Biblical freedom is communal as well as personal. One of the things I’ve learned in my time in the Monastery is that there is always a balancing act between individual freedoms and communal freedoms. No one is free to do exactly as they wish or need of the Rule at the expense of others. In chapter 72 Benedict says:

“No one is to pursue what the judge better for themselves, but instead what they judge better for someone else.”

Part of being free means that we have to choose to put aside some of our freedom for the good of others. In our individualistic times, with the concerns for personal freedoms and rights this can be a real challenge.

A jubilee calls us to revisit what it means to be free, to ask ourselves where we have set up barriers and limitations to this gift of freedom. It’s a time for asking what we have to let go of to allow ourselves to embrace in ways that are life-giving for us and for our communities.

What freedom is God inviting you to embrace today?

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

Challenged to hope.

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Today’s feast, St Hildegarde of Bingen, is giving me a helpful perspective on a challenging gospel. Jesus, perhaps fed up with a barrage of complaints, says to the people:

“‘What description can I find for this generation? What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market-place: ‘We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t cry.’”

His words challenge me to reflect on a very human tendency which we all recognize and fall into all to easily, grumbling. It can sometimes seem that whatever we have, even if we get exactly what we say we want, we are never content. We always hanker after something else.

His words take me back to the Rule of St Benedict. They almost perfectly illustrate one of the things he warns against at every opportunity. He repeatedly warns his community against “murmuring”, that low level discontent that can bubble destructively under the surface of our lives, sapping our appetite for real and constructive change.

St Hildegarde, a Benedictine nun, would have been familiar with the concept both from the Rule and from her own challenging experience of monastic life.

It’s easy to grumble in these challenging times when so much that we relied on seems to be broken or untrustworthy. This distracts us, helping us to avoid taking responsibility and appropriate action where we can. That’s never the call of the gospel.

Instead, Jesus’ words are a call to discernment. He calls us to look at where we fall into the temptation of grumbling instead of using our discontent to seek constructive solutions to our challenges.

Where is Christ challenging you to avoid grumbling today?

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

A whole hearted welcome

 
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It’s a very natural human tendency to judge both ourselves and others. In today’s gospel we see the guests making swift and sure judgements about who is most deserving of places of honour at the table. Jesus is quick to point out the dangers of this:

“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you may come and say ‘give up your place to this person.’”

Even with the best of intentions it’s very easy to cause more pain and discord by making wrong judgements. Reflecting on this has brought me back to two very basic Benedictine values, humility and hospitality. I think these can help us step back from the tendency to be judgemental.

Humility calls us to acknowledge that we are in no position to make judgements about how things should be arranged, or what others need or deserve. A humble attitude helps us to admit that we don’t know what is best for others and to be open to learning from them. However well intentioned our judgements can often cause hurt and distress.

Hospitality, the call to welcome everyone as we would Christ, offers us a way to avoid this. The first step in hospitality is to give another our whole attention, to allow them to tell us what they need, rather than assuming that we know. If we do that with open hearts, putting aside our own judgements, we will be able to discover what will make them feel truly welcome and accepted.

Where are you being called to put aside judgement today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Liturgy Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

With hearts made new.

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Today we’re celebrating feast of St Bernard Tolomei, the founder of the Olivetan congregation. He was a 13th century lawyer who, with a few friends, left the city to live as hermits in the hills outside of Siena. However, things did not turn out quite as they planned.

Having being led out into one of those “desert places” where God speaks to the heart, they were called back into the city to nurse the victims of the plague in 1349. It was there that St Bernard fell ill and died.

This morning at Lauds we sang this from the prophet Ezekiel:

“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

It seems to me to sum up both the essence of St Bernard’s life and of the call to contemplation that we all experience. Bernard was led to seek a life of contemplation and prayer. In turn his life of prayer softened the stoniness of his heart enabling him to leave his solitude to care for those in need.

His life suggests that there is no division between a contemplative life and one of active service, they are two parts of a whole. It is our time spent with God that enables and sustains our service to others. It is the love we discover in the heart of God that softens our stony hearts and enables us to love our sisters and brothers.

Where is God softening your heart today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Rule of St Benedict Saints Scripture

An open hearted welcome.

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Today we’re celebrating the feast of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, friends of the Lord, an important feast for Benedictines because of its link to hospitality. Luke tells us that Martha:

“Welcomed Jesus into her home.”

She offered him hospitality, a safe place to relax and have a meal with his friends in dangerous and uncertain times. However, John takes the hospitality she offers to a different level. He shows us a woman of faith, used to the theological reflection and conversation, and already a follower of Jesus.

Even as she grieves for her brother she is capable of questioning Jesus and 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 they die 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 don’t think it would have been possible for Martha reach this recognition if she had only welcomed Jesus into her home. To recognise him as the Christ she must also have opened her heart to him.

By welcoming him into the very centre of her being she was able to allow him to transform her whole life. We too are called to offer the risen Christ hospitality in the depths of our heart, allowing him to enter and transform our lives with light, love and hope

How might inviting Christ into your heart change your life?