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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Called by faith

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As I reflect on Jesus’ encounter with the woman with the haemorrahage Brene Browns’ description of courage as “putting our vulnerability on the line” comes to mind. In her determination to get close to Jesus the woman overrides all the taboos of her condition and reaches out to touch Jesus, convinced that he can bring her healing. When he notices her touch and she has to reveal herself she does so in fear and trembling:

“The woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her.”

She crosses the boundary of all the norms that would make her invisible, allowing herself to become visible in his presence. Jesus sees her as she truly is. He sees her fear and her vulnerability. He notices her courage and her faith, and in the light of his love she is transformed.

Both her fear and her courage resonate with me in our own challenging times. When life is harsh and frightening we are tempted to deny our vulnerabilities, suppressing or ignoring them. It seems to me the gospels suggest a different route.

The call of the gospel is to put that vulnerability on the line, to admit it freely and allow it to be seen, to have the courage to admit our need and to ask for help. If we can do that then maybe, with the woman we’ll be able to hear and respond to Jesus’ promise:

“My daughter, your faith has restored you to health; go in peace.”

Where is Christ calling you to let your vulnerability be seen today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prayer Scripture Uncategorized

Time for prayer.

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Today’s gospel is all about service. It opens with Jesus leaving the synagogue going immediately to Simon’s house where he cures Simon’s mother-in-law. Immediately she gets up and begins to serve them. The evening sees Jesus serving again, as crowds of people come to him seeking healing. It must have been a long and tiring day, and all of us know that feeling. The next morning Mark tells us:

“Long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.”

We tend to read this as a break in the pattern of service, Jesus taking time out to pray in order to return to serving refreshed and renewed. On one level that is is true, but the Gospels often have layers of truth. On another level I would suggest that Jesus’ act of taking time to be alone in God’s presence is also an act of service.

It is an act of self-care which allows him to draw the strength from God that he needs to carry on. It’s also an act of service to others, a reminder that part of what it is to be human is to need time to rest and recharge.

When the needs of the people we serve seem to be overwhelming we can feel pressured to keep going regardless of our own needs. Jesus doesn’t wait until every need is met, every person healed, every situation resolved before he takes the time he needs. It seems to me that he doesn’t expect us to do that either and that there is both an invitation and a challenge in that.

Where is Jesus inviting you to take time to pray in the midst of your serving others?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Christmastide Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

Glimmers of light

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The last day of the year is an opportunity to look back over the past year before we move forward into the unknown territory of the new year. It’s a time for discerning what we need to take forward with us and what we need to leave behind.

Looking back 2024 it seems as if the world stage has been overwhelmed by challenge, uncertainty and anxiety. We’ve lurched from crisis to crisis and we know we are facing an uncertain and vulnerable future as we move into the new year.

In such circumstances it’s very tempting to be gloomy, it can feel hard, and even dangerous, to hope in such situations. As I reflected on this I’ve been struck by today’s gospel. Writing from his own challenging and uncertain times John reminds us of the source of our hope:

“The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

His words take me back to the the heart of Christmas, Christ’s coming with light and truth into the messiness of our world. Even in these dark and uncertain times the light of Christ shines in the darkness, offering us hope and inviting us to trust.

If I look back honestly at this challenging year I find that there are glimmers of light in the midst of the challenges. This presents a new challenge, to actively seek the glimmers of grace and truth that Christ brings however unlikely the circumstances may seem.

As we prepare to enter a new year what gives you the courage to seek the glimmers of Christ’s presence in your life?

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Advent Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

The promise of peace

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Today I’m focussing on the promise of peace that Advent brings us. This promise is laid out in the vision Isaiah shares in the 1st reading:

“He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples; these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war.”

Although we always long for peace these words have particular resonance today when the threat and horror of war is both real and close.

Peace comes as a gift and a grace, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do to prepare for it and nurture it. Anyone involved in conflict resolution will testify that peace requires work and is hard won.

If we long for the peace Isaiah speaks of we have to be prepared to have a hard look at ourselves. We need to acknowledge our fears and prejudices. We need to be prepared to put ourselves aside, to let go of some dearly held understandings. We need to be prepared to trust people who may have given us good reason to be suspicious. We need to be willing to compromise, to listen and to allow ourselves to be changed by what we hear.

Follow the Star suggests that Advent calls us to seek peace through service and humility. It calls us to look at how we shape our lives and our interactions in ways that help to build and share peace with others. It brings to mind St Benedict’s instruction to organise things in the community so that “no one is disturbed in the house of God.”

Where is Christ calling you to seek and nurture peace in your life this Advent?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

Endurance and Courage

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Today’s gospel is such an uncomfortable read that my heart sank a little when I first picked it up. Jesus warns his disciples to expect persecution, imprisonment and betrayal because they have chosen to follow him. While we all know this is part of the cost discipleship we are all too willing to push it to the back of our minds. This is something none of us want to experience, and we prefer to concentrate on the positive, focusing our attention on God’s love, and on the promise of new life.

At first glance it could seem like today’s gospel negates that promise, but that is not what Jesus is saying. He is taking a very realistic and direct view of life, which we all know involves suffering, pain, betrayal and persecution. He tells us that suffering can’t be avoided or run from:

“You will be hated by all people on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.”

In hard, challenging times we need the realistic hope he offers more than ever. Not the false hope that we can avoid suffering by choosing to follow him, but the real promise that whatever we suffer he will be there with us, supporting us, giving us the courage to endure and the the wisdom and strength we need to live in difficult times.

What hope is Christ offering you in the difficulties you face today?

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Baptism Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Discernment Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

The call of the King

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The feast of Christ the King can be challenging. We know that the kingdom Jesus promises is based on a different value system to our human institutions. Yet this feast can bring to mind those human institutions, secular and religious, that have both used and abused power. In our times, when institutions and authorities are often viewed with suspicion, it carries particular challenges. This makes it an uncomfortable celebration and we can be tempted to walk away from it or underplay it.

I find that the parts of our Christian heritage that are most uncomfortable are the ones that need the most attention. If I can face the discomfort, and look beyond the surface they often yield a rich and unexpected harvest. Today I’ve gone back to the Baptismal call that anoints each of us as priest, prophet and king, called to unite with Christ in making his kingdom a reality:

God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.”

This puts the whole notion of kingship into a new context, pointing to me back to the example of Jesus in the gospels. It is a kingship based on service, love, compassion and kindness. There is no arrogance or judgement in it. This is a kingship that we can all share in by serving others with love and compassion wherever we can.

As we celebrate the feast of Christ the King where are you being invited to live out your baptismal call today?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture Uncategorized

The signs of the times.

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I always find the more apocalyptic scriptures unsettling and disturbing. The imagery in today’s gospel of darkening sun and falling stars seems more designed to cause anxiety than anything else. It’s more likely to distract me than to help me discover the presence of God. Yet that is not why Jesus uses it in his conversation with his disciples. He’s pointing out these signs not to frighten them, but so that they can avoid being distracted and led astray.

He can’t give them the certainty they crave by telling them the date or time of the second coming, but he can give them a new awareness. He’s seeking to help them discern the signs of the time, to see beyond the drama and the turmoil to the hope he promises. He says to them:

“Take the fig tree as a parable: as soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that he is near, at the very gates.”

His words are a call to pay attention and prepare for the coming of Christ they’re also a call to discernment. They have a particular resonance in our challenging and unsettling times, when we can too easily fall into anxiety and hopelessness about so many areas of life and of the world. He calls us to stay focussed on him and his promise whatever is going on. As we come to the end of the Church’s year Jesus is calling us to be alert and ready for the signs of his presence with us whatever we are living through.

As we approach the last week of the liturgical year where is Christ calling you to be attentive to his presence?

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Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Prayer Scripture Uncategorized

Out of our comfort zones

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Our times seem to be getting ever more challenging and disturbing. In such times it’s always tempting to close in on ourselves. Our instinct is to do whatever we can to protect ourselves and our loved ones. We have less energy to care about the needs of others, or to reach out to them. We can become less open, more suspicious of those we perceive as outsiders. All of this is a perfectly natural human response when life is hard. Yet, as I reflected on today’s readings I was struck by how they call us to a completely different way of being.

In the first reading Elijah travels to Sidon which is in the grip of a serious drought. He meets a widow gathering some sticks and asks her for something to eat and drink. The woman has very little left, only enough for one last meal for herself and her son. Yet, she doesn’t turn him away, instead she shares the little she and her son have with Elijah, trusting the promise that he has made her:

“Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied, before the day when the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.”’

Her generosity is echoed by the story of the poor widow that Jesus tells in the gospel. As he watches her put all she has to live on into the Temple treasury he says to hid disciples:

‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’

The courageous actions of these two widows are a reminder that when life gets hard we are called, not to retreat from one another, but to reach out to others. We are called to override our instincts and to reach out to the stranger, to welcome the other, to share from our resources however limited they might be.

Where is Christ challenging you to risk sharing in these challenging times?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Monastic Life Prayer Rule of St Benedict Scripture Uncategorized

The goodness of the Lord.

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Today, as we’re celebrating the dedication of our Oratory I’m reposting this from our 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 these challenging times?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture Uncategorized

Challenged to love.

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Today I’m reflecting on the conversation between Jesus and one of the Scribes in the gospel. It’s not clear if the scribe is trying to catch Jesus out on this occasion, or if he is genuinely seeking understanding. Either way, Jesus decides to take the question at face value, treating it a genuine request for greater understanding. Having being asked by the scribe about the first of the commandments he replied:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart…You must love your neighbour as yourself.”

It takes us back to the heart of the gospel and reminds us that love is the core of our faith. Today I’m also struck by the way Jesus demonstrates that love in his conversation with the scribe. Jesus puts aside the fact that the question comes from a group that often disagreed with even condemned him. It would have been so easy to respond with a put down or a sharp retort. Instead Jesus responds with love to the scribe’s question, answering sincerely and respectfully, and ending the conversation by saying:

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

It seems to me that this is a valuable example for us today. Our challenging times make it very easy to hear a criticism in every question and to respond with defensiveness or even aggression until the situation spirals downwards and relationships falter. Jesus shows us another way to respond. I can’t help wondering how our public and private conversations would be if we followed his example of responding with respect and love.

Where is Christ calling you to respond with love when your views are questioned?