Category: Scripture

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

In the joy of God’s presence

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Some thoughts from the archives for the feast of the Visitation. As we celebrate this lovely feast I’m being drawn to these words from the prophet Zephaniah:

“The Lord your God is in your midst… He will exalt with joy over you, he will renew you by his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.”

I was a little surprised that these were the words that drew me. The quickest of glances at the daily news brings a sharp reminder that whatever direction we look in there is little to inspire joy or hope. So I turned to the gospel. The beautiful encounter of Elizabeth and Mary as they delighted in the discovery of God’s presence deep within them echoed Zephaniah’s words.

Their joy and delight were real and transforming, yet that did not mean their circumstances were easy, comfortable or safe. They both knew suffering, individually and as part of a persecuted community. They both had lives that could be precarious, uncertain and even dangerous. Yet, they could still recognise and respond to the transforming, renewing love of God.

It seems to me that to respond to God’s love in uncertain times is both an act of courage and of faith. Even if we can’t feel it, or see it, God’s love is with us, renewing us whatever we face. Even when joy and hope seem impossible God rejoices in each one of us.

Where is God asking you to allow yourself to be renewed by God’s love today?

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

Discovering joy

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The Eastertide gospels are very dynamic and active as the disciples struggle to come to terms with all that has happened. The gospels are full of movement, running, traveling, fishing, hiding. With Ascension the mood changes, it’s a quieter, more reflective time.

Jesus, who has been with the disciples in a new and very concrete way since the resurrection, has returned to the Father. This means the disciples have to adjust to another leaving, another loss and another new reality. They have to take time to reflect on all they have experienced, and they have to wait for whatever the Spirit will bring.

In this time we revisit the farewell discourses, reminding ourselves of the things Jesus has promised us. Today’s gospel acknowledges the suffering of life, the sorrow and the pain we all face. But it doesn’t stop there, having acknowledged the pain Jesus reveals another level of reality. He says to them:

“I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you.”

He reminds them that no amount of suffering can destroy the joy he offers or take it away. As I look around our world today, at the wars and conflicts, the poverty, inequality and exclusion that cause so much suffering it’s hard to find sources of joy.

Yet it’s in these challenging time that Jesus promises us his joy. This time allows us the opportunity to reflect, and to acknowledge our suffering, and to open our hearts to the joy he promises.

Where are you being called to take time discover joy this Eastertide?

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Ascension Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Living up to Christ’s standards.

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Ascension is one of the feasts I find most difficult for a variety of reasons. It’s very easy to see it as otherworldly, focussed more on eternity than on the nitty-gritty of human life. It also has an element of letting go. Once again, we see Jesus leaving the disciples to face an unknown and uncertain future. This compels us to recognise the reality of our own uncertain and unknown future.

In my struggles to ground the feast in the reality of daily life I looked at the Scripture readings. I found two things that helped me. The first was from Matthew’s Gospel. He tells us that when the disciples saw Jesus:

“They fell down before him, though some hesitated.”

So it seems like some of those first disciples were were ambivalent about what was going on. I find consolation in that, and in Jesus’ response to it. He doesn’t criticise them or turn them away. Instead he sends them out with their ambivalence and uncertainty to spread the Good News of salvation.

The second helpful thing was in last night’s vigil reading from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

“Be humble, gentle and patient always. Show your love by being helpful to one another. Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives, by the peace that binds you together.”

His words call us to strive to live up to the standard God sets not in terms of a future heavenly kingdom, but in very practical ways that we can all practice. If we can find ways of being kind and helpful to those around us we will be able to make the Good News of the kingdom a reality in our lives and the lives of those we encounter.

Where is Christ calling you to live up to his standards in your daily life?

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Ascension Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Resurrection Scripture

Discovering truth.

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In the lead up to Ascension Jesus is preparing his disciples for change. Once again they face a departure that will require them to let go of everything they thought they understood. Jesus says to them:

“I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes you will be led to the complete truth…”

His words touch on something that we both desire and fear, the complete truth. We are surrounded by voices telling us they have the truth that we need. In today’s “post-truth” world it can be especially challenging to discern the truth. We know our need for truth in order to be able to live well and with integrity, yet we struggle to know where we should turn to find it.

Jesus answers that for us, telling us he will send the Spirit of truth who will lead us this truth that we can rely on and trust. But to discover it we need to be open to and prepared. The truth that the Spirit brings us will not necessarily appear obviously and easily. It will require us to be attentive to all that is going on in our lives and our times.

We need to be prepared to do the hard work of listening and discerning its presence in the midst of the myriad of voices that make up our daily lives. To do that we have to be prepared to let go of everything we thought we understood in order to be open to the new possibilities the Spirit brings.

As we move towards Ascension what opens your heart to the coming of the Spirit of truth into your life?

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

Into the unknown.

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Today we’re celebrating the feast of St Augustine of Canterbury who, somewhat reluctantly, was sent by St Gregory the Great to bring the Gospel to the English. I’ve been reflecting on this from today’s gospel:

“I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals.”

It makes me realise just how vulnerable we become when we respond to Christ’s call to follow him. I imagine that St Augustine felt the full weight of that vulnerability when he accepted the task Gregory set him.

Travelling to a foreign land, which in itself was risky, dealing with unknown customs and practices and uncertain of his reception I wonder if he felt a bit like those lambs surrounded by wolves that Jesus talks about.

Following Christ means that we, like St Augustine, are called to step out into the unknown. We too live in increasingly challenging, dangerous and uncertain times. Hardships such as war, hunger, homelessness and climate change are now affecting daily life for many people.

So we have to face our vulnerability again in a new way, accepting that much of what happens in our lives is beyond our control. It can very easily leave us feeling like “lambs among wolves”.

We can find props to help us avoid that vulnerability, but that is not the call of Christ. Instead, Christ calls us to leave behind those props that would distract us and to follow him once more into unknown territory with “no purse, no haversack, no sandals.”


Where is Christ calling you out into the unknown today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

An open heart.

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Today’s first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, introduces Lydia, a devout business woman from Thyatira. She is in the purple dye trade, which was very much at the luxury end of the clothing market of the day. She’s a skilled, successful woman, capable of running her business and household.

This gives us an interesting and valuable insight into the lives of women at the time which deepens our understanding of the people who made up the early Church. But, fascinating as that is, it’s not the most interesting, important or exciting thing Luke tells us about Lydia. He writes:

“The Lord opened her heart…”

The interesting thing about Lydia is that the Lord spoke directly to her heart and changed her life forever. Building on the devout faith she already had Christ opens her heart to a new and deeper reality, a faith based on the good news of resurrection.

We don’t know all the details of how that change played out through the rest of her life. We only see it’s beginnings in the fact that she and her household were baptised and in her compelling Paul and Barnabas to come and stay with her.

Her story fills me with hope. She teaches me that, if we allow him the opportunity, the risen Christ can open our hearts to the new life his resurrection offers. If we allow him into our hearts he can change the daily reality of our lives just as much as he changed Lydia’s.

Where are you being open your heart to the risen Christ this Eastertide?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

For the healing of the nations

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Today I’ve turned my attention to the book of Revelation. It’s far from being my favourite Biblical text. I generally find it an uphill struggle. Yet even as I wrestle with it I have to admit that it contains some hidden gems that offer me hope and inspiration. I’m reflecting on this from yesterdays’ Office of Readings:

“On each side of the river there was a tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once every month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.”

These words carry a promise and a hope that is desperately needed today. Our world is deeply broken and fractured disputes and conflicts. The resulting violence has huge costs for ordinary people, destroying lives and communities, undermining human dignity and efforts to flourish and grow. It’s hard to imagine a time that needs the healing the text offers more than our own.

It can be tempting to assume that the writer of Revelation wrote these words of hope at time when life was, calm, peaceful and straightforward for his community. That’s not the case. He was writing to a community facing great suffering and persecution. In such times he could encourage his community to find hope in the promise of the risen Christ however desperate their circumstances were.

This adds a new layer of hope to his words. However broken and fractured our world is, and whatever we face as a result his words offer us hope. They promise that the risen Christ is there offering our fractured nations hope and healing.

Where do you see signs of the hope and healing the risen Christ is offering us this Eastertide?

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

Chosen to bear fruit.

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“You did not choose me: no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last…”

We live surrounded by choices that often require a lot of time, thought and effort. This can give us a sense of control, but if I’m honest it can also feel overwhelming and limiting. As is so often the case Jesus’ words draw me to a deeper reality that is both truer and more liberating. Going to the heart of our Christian vocation they recall the words of psalmist quoted by St Benedict:

“Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?”

I find these gospel words both hopeful and humbling. They remind me that my role is to listen and respond. They call me back to humility, telling me that control is not in my hands, but in the hands of Christ. They fill me with hope as they tell me I am already chosen, Christ has already chosen me, and each one of us, and is waiting with love for us to respond to his call to life.

How are you listening and responding to the call of Christ in your life today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

Abiding in the love of Christ.

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Today I’m reflecting on this from St John’s gospel:

“Remain in my love… I have told you this so that so that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. “

It touches on the deepest desires of our hearts, to know ourselves loved. We can easily finish the concept of love. We can use it lightly to talk about favourite foods or activities. Or we can sentimentalise it, focussing only on the positive feelings that feeling loved arouses. Those feelings are important and essential for all of us, but the love Jesus offers is something much deeper than that.

His love offers us the deep assurance we seek, promising to accept us as we are, with all our faults and failings.  Yet, Jesus offers an invitation and challenge beyond that. This love is willing to put itself aside. Jesus illustrates that in his total self giving, putting himself aside for love of us.

He invites us into this love, calling us to live as he does. He challenges us to live in a way that calls us to put ourselves aside for the Good of others. It’s a call St Benedict echoes, telling the community to choose what is better for others rather than ourselves.

It’s a call we can live in both big and small ways. It can mean anything from supporting someone through a crisis to greeting a passer by with a smile when we don’t feel like it. It is in practising this self giving love where we can that we will discover the joy Jesus promises.

Where are you called to abide in the love of Christ today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Eastertide Gospel Lectio Divina Resurrection Scripture

At home in Christ

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Each time we revisit today’s gospel I discover something new in it. Sometimes the “new” message is something that has touch my heart in the past that I need to be reminded of again. Other times I’m struck by something that seems so completely new that it’s as if it’s only just been added to the text as I read it. Today I’m reflecting on these words, which seem completely new to me. Jesus says to his disciples:

“Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.”

His words touch a deep yearning within us. We all have an inbuilt yearning for home. We all need a safe place where we can be accepted and nurtured, a place where we feel that we can belong, flourish and grow. That yearning seems especially sharp in times like these when so much that we assumed was solid has turned out to be fragile and uncertain.

The more aware we are of life’s challenges and fragility the more we recognise our need for a safe place. As the circumstances of the past few years erode our sense of safety and security Jesus’ words become a beacon of light, offering us love and hope. However fragile and uncertain our circumstances we can still find a safe place in him, a place where we can be held nurtured, grow and bear fruit.

How are you finding your way home to the heart of Christ this Eastertide?