Category: Scripture

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Good Shepherd Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Psalms Resurrection Scripture

Into new life.

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The Eastertide readings call us into the new life in the risen Christ. They open us to new horizons and possibilities. This call is especially clear in today’s readings. In the 1st reading Peter shows us how it stretches and challenges our boundaries as he explains his vision:

“I had scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way as it came on us at the beginning, and I remembered that the Lord had said, “John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” I realised then that God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?“

This encountered changed his worldview, showing him that the good news of the gospel was to be made available to everyone. It leaves no room for outsiders, because it welcomes everyone in. The responsorial psalm speaks to another element of this truth. It reminds us that, however challenging we might find that call we long for it to be a reality from the depths of our hearts:

“Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God.”

We can try to fill that yearning with money, possessions, career or success. For a while we can feel fulfilled and satisfied by those things, but soon we realise that it’s not enough. Underneath the apparent satisfaction we become aware of a niggling feeling we want something more regardless of how well we are meeting the goals we set for ourselves.

In the gospel Jesus, the Good Shepherd shows us what we need to do to fill that gap:

“I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.”

He promises that if we listen to his voice, and follow him, our yearnings will be satisfied and we will discover the fullness of new life in his presence.

Where is the risen Christ inviting you to follow him into new life this Eastertide?

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Shaped by and for Love.

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Today is both Good Shepherd Sunday and vocations Sunday. The Gospel with it’s call to listen makes the link between the two very clear:

“Jesus said “the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and the follow me…They will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.’”

It takes me back to the heart of Benedictine spirituality and so of my vocation, the call to

“Listen with the ear of your heart”.

There’s no shortage of voices trying to attract our attention in today’s world. We’re exposed to a constant cacophony of voices drawing us in opposing directions. It can be confusing, unnerving and debilitating.

In the midst of all those voices there’s another one, gentle and persistent that calls to us. It’s the voice of the Good Shepherd reminding us that we are made for love, and are held in being by love. It’s a voice that calls us back to our true selves.

It tells us that however uncertain or chaotic our times the love of Christ will never let us go. The Good Shepherd calls us to allow his voice to silence the confusion of the myriad voices around us and to focus on the one really matters, the one that can lead us to a life shaped by and for love.

Where is the Good Shepherd calling you to respond to his love today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Prophetic voices Resurrection Saints Scripture

Staying with Christ.

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We can easily forget or brush aside the real challenge at the heart of the gospel. Centuries of familiarity and tradition have removed most of the shock that Jesus’ first followers would have felt when they heard his words. Today’s gospel brings us back to just how shocking his teaching was, and still is if we allow ourselves to really hear it. In today’s gospel Jesus has challenged his listeners so much that they say to themselves:

“This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?”

At that point many of them left and stopped following him. Faced with their departure Jesus does nothing to tone his message down. In his conversation with his disciples he even seems to increase the challenge asking them:

“What about you, do you want to go away too?”

He gives the Twelve complete freedom to walk away like the others. Having learned something of his teaching, each of them has to face and answer his question for themselves. It’s the same question that each of us has to face and answer.

Simon Peter’s answer sums up the situation for all of us. Turning the question round he says:

“Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe, we know you are the Holy One of God.”

His response brings us to the heart of our faith. Once we’ve recognised Jesus as the “holy one of God” however challenging it is to walk with him it becomes inconceivable to walk away from him.

What helps you to stay with Christ in this challenging Eastertide?

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Bearing the light of the risen Christ.

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Today’s first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles recounts the conversion of St Paul. I’m reflecting on Ananias, the Christian from Damascus who was told in a vision to seek out Saul of Tarsus to restore his sight. The instruction was clearly a shock to Ananias who, already knowing of Saul’s reputation, protested:

“Lord, several people have told me about this man and all the harm he has been doing to your saints in Jerusalem. He has only come here because he holds a warrant from the chief priest to arrest everybody who invokes your name.”

We’ve just heard how resolute and thorough Saul was in persecuting Christians. I imagine his name is enough to strike terror into the heart of these new Christians who are still struggling to come to terms with the resurrection. In such a time Ananias’ action would have seemed at best foolhardy if not downright reckless. Yet, despite his reservations, he accepts God’s call. He goes to Saul and says to him:

‘Brother Saul, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on your way here so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’

The result is that Saul has his sight restored and, filled with the Holy Spirit, is baptised.

Ananais’ action requires courage and faith. Ananias reminds me that we too are called to be courageous in sharing our faith. We’re called to carry the love of the risen Christ to those who need it. The risen Christ calls us to share the light of his love in the darkness of our challenging times.

Often I think that call comes in a myriad of small, seemingly insignificant encounters through the day. It’s in those little things that offer a glimmer of brightness in a challenging day… a smile to a passing stranger, the offer of a seat on a bus, holding open a door for someone struggling with bags or pushchairs…A endless list of small kindnesses…


Where is the risen Christ calling you to bring his light to those around you today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

The Bread of Life.

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Today’s gospel, following on from the feeding of the 5000, focuses on the reality of our physical needs and points us beyond them. It seems to me that this speaks to the heart of our reality. As humans we have real, physical needs that can’t be pushed aside if we are to flourish. Jesus, moved by their plight, has met the physical needs of the tired and hungry crowd in the feeding of the 5000.

After he has moved on and they continue to follow him he challenges them to examine their motivation. He reminds them that they are more than physical beings, and that simply meeting their physical needs will never satisfy them completely. Tempting as that path is, it will always leave them unsatisfied. He says to them:

‘I am the bread of life. Those who comes to me will never be hungry; those who believes in me will never thirst.’

In offering them himself, the Bread of Life, he reminds them, and us, of a bigger reality and invites them to embrace it. He makes it clear that these spiritual needs, which we can be inclined to ignore, are as real and as essential as any physical need. He encourages us, to acknowledge the reality of our spiritual needs and desires, and to take them as seriously.

This calls for a balance that we don’t find easy. Having a natural tendency to over overbalance in one direction or the other Jesus calls us back to a life giving balance that we can only achieve by focussing on him.

Where is Christ offering to nourish you this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Lectio Divina Resurrection Saints Scripture

Glimpsing the glory of God

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I love a happy ending whether it’s in a book or a film. I don’t mind if the characters go through all sorts challenges as the story unfolds, but by the end of the story I want everything neatly and happily resolved. This is a basic human desire that’s fuelled by our media.

In many ways it is tempting to see Easter as a “happy ending” for Christians. There’s just enough of a grain of truth in that to make it believable. But today’s first reading, the martyrdom of St Stephen calls us to look beyond that. I’m reflecting on this from today’s first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles:

“Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God…”

This wasn’t a “happy ending” in any human sense. It happened as Stephen faced a violent death. It reminds me that the Christian story that culminates in the resurrection is about about new life and hope. In one sense that is the ultimate “happy ending” although in our limited, human understanding it will not always look like that.

The resurrection speaks of a much deeper and truer reality, an ultimately “happy ending” that is beyond human imaginings. The resurrection is a constant reminder of God’s continuing and everlasting love for us even in the situations that seem most hopeless.

It’s an invitation to respond to that love and to allow it to shape everything about us, a call to constantly embrace new life and hope. Then, like Stephen, whatever sufferings we face, we will glimpse the glory of God.

Where are you finding glimpses of God’s glory this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

Motivation and invitation

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Today I’m reflecting on the aftermath of the feeding of the five thousand. It’s hardly surprising that after the miracle people feel compelled to find out more about Jesus, and the crowds went looking for him and, not finding him:

“They got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus.”

As becomes clear when they eventually catch up with him, they don’t really know who or what they are looking for. But already something is drawing them to him. Maybe it’s curiosity, like the curiosity that drew Moses to the Burning Bush.

Maybe, as Jesus later challenges them, it’s because he fed them. It’s easy to be judgemental about that, but in times when people are struggling to feed themselves and their families it’s understandable, and we’d all do it.

Jesus’ response to them is very direct. He says to them:

“I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.”

He recognises that their motives are mixed and challenges them to reflect on that. Then he accepts where they are and invites them to move beyond that to a new understanding:

“Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.”

His words are an invitation to them, and us, to recognise our mixed motives and then move beyond them to a deeper understand of who Jesus is. His invitation offers us the opportunity to enter into a deeper & more meaningful relationship with him.

In challenging us to examine our motives he invites us to embrace the new life of resurrection and the hope it offers for our challenging times.

How is Christ inviting you to a deeper relationship this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Saints Scripture Uncategorized

Renewed in love.

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I find it really helpful that we hear the Easter gospels repeatedly during Eastertide. They all hold too much wisdom for just one reflection. Today we’re revisiting Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on the beach and I’m reflecting on Jesus’s conversation with Peter.

It’s the first time they’ve spoken since Peter’s denial of Jesus in Holy Week. I can imagine that Peter felt the full weight of that as he walked along the beach with Jesus after the meal. Jesus doesn’t revisit Peter’s betrayal. He offers him a way forward into renewed and healed relationship. He says to Peter:

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”

When Peter replies “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus accepts that with no questioning or recrimination based on his earlier betrayal. Instead he offers them a commission:

‘Feed my lambs.’

Yet he repeats the question twice more until Peter, getting upset, repeats his affirmation again:

“Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

We have no idea why Jesus repeats his question, but I assume that it’s to reassure Peter. I can’t imagine that the risen Christ needed the reassurance. Jesus allows Peter the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Jesus three times and then to be commissioned by him three times.

This doesn’t undo his denial, but it balances it it in a way that I imagine Peter will find helpful to remember in his darker moments. We too need the opportunity to reset & renew our relationship with Christ from time to time.

As we move through Eastertide where is the risen Christ inviting you to a renewed relationship?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Saints Scripture

Discovering Christ

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Today we’re celebrating the feast of Sts Philip & James. Philip is looking for certainty and security. He has his expectations of the coming of the Messiah, and is looking for them to be fulfilled. Jesus’ comment to Thomas, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life … If you know me, you know my Father too.” isn’t quite enough for Philip. It doesn’t answer his uncertainties and he has the courage to step up and ask for what he needs:

“Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.”

I have a lot of sympathy with Philip, following Jesus led the disciples on a bumpy and uncertain path that was never what they expected. In response Jesus offers him a challenge:

“Have I been with you all this time Philip, and still you do not know me? To have seen me is to have seen the Father.”

His reply doesn’t dismiss Philip’s longing, instead he calls him to a deeper level of awareness and attentiveness. Jesus challenges Philip to pay attention with his whole being, to give himself completely to being in Jesus’ presence.

It’s a challenge for us too. Like Philip we can be so distracted by our expectations that we feel to notice that what we are seeking is already in front of us. We also have to turn away from our image of how we think things should be to focus on the present moment, where we will discover Christ is with us.

Where is Christ calling you to discover his presence in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

Working with Christ

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Reflecting on John’s account of the miracle of the loaves and fishes I’m struck by how Jesus involves the disciples in what he plans to do. I’m sure Philip thought it was crazy to be expected to feed such a large crowd.

Andrew was uncomfortably aware that the five loaves and two fish were not going to go very far with such a crowd. Yet, having trusted Jesus and followed his instructions they witnessed the miracle of everyone getting what they needed:

“Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted.”

Jesus didn’t need to involve his disciples in this. As is so often the case in John’s Gospel Jesus knows exactly what he’s going to do. Instead he chooses to invite them to work with him to meet the needs of the people, regardless of their lack of understanding.

He shows them, and us, a model of discipleship based on collaboration and sharing. He wants his kingdom to be a collaborative one where people share their gifts and talents freely with others. He wants no one to be without, and no one to be overburdened by having to meet every need by themselves.

In our own challenging and often brutal times he invites us to work with him and with those around us to continue building his kingdom today. He challenges us to use our limited and often meagre resources so that no one is left without the basic necessities of life.

Where is the risen Christ calling you to work collaboratively with him today?