{"id":3458,"date":"2024-12-13T18:54:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T18:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=3458"},"modified":"2024-12-13T18:54:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T18:54:45","slug":"and-light-shone-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2024\/12\/13\/and-light-shone-out\/benedictine-spirituality\/3458\/","title":{"rendered":"And light shone out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by Sam Goodgame on unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Advent is the coldest, darkest, lowest time of the year. That time when we are most aware of our fragility and vulnerability, when it can be easy to lose sight of the Lord\u2019s radiance.

It\u2019s the season when it seems most tempting to give in to despair and hopelessness as everything around us seems dark, cold and colourless. It\u2019s a time when we need to be reminded that the light of the Lord\u2019s love has not disappeared from our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we\u2019re celebrating the feast of St Lucy. This morning we we sang a hymn written by one of our sisters that captures both the darkness and the vulnerability of Advent and the hope that St Lucy points us towards.

A young woman martyred for her faith, St Lucy reminds us that, however dark our world might seem, the light has not been wiped out of our lives, instead it is planted deep within us waiting for the right time to burst forth into new life. This morning we sang:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep in the darkness seeds of light are sown,
The joyous Light the dark has never known;
Beneath the ground the living waters sing,
And secret streams new life, new gladness bring:
Before the seas were shaped the Fountain played,
And Light shone out before the stars were made.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words of the hymn offer us hope. They remind me that however dark life might seem there are seeds of light hidden in the darkness, waiting, germinating, preparing to put out shoots when the time is right.

As we approach the shortest day, the lowest point of the year I am grateful for St Lucy\u2019s gentle light reminding us to look towards the Lord\u2019s radiance and directing us to new life and new hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What seeds of light are sown through your darkness this Advent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advent is the coldest, darkest, lowest time of the year. That time when we are most aware of our fragility and vulnerability, when it can be easy to lose sight of the Lord\u2019s radiance. It\u2019s the season when it seems most tempting to give in to despair and hopelessness as everything around us seems dark, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274,222,494,461,271,537,245],"tags":[276,28,18,53,223,8,33,13,5,719,29,727,15,726,470,10,199],"class_list":["post-3458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-christ","category-divine-office","category-lectio-divina","category-liturgy","category-saints","tag-advent","tag-benedictine","tag-challenge","tag-christ","tag-christlike","tag-hope","tag-kingdom","tag-lectiodivina","tag-light","tag-lightindarkness","tag-love","tag-martyr","tag-newlife","tag-seedsoflight","tag-stlucy","tag-trust","tag-vulnerability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3466,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458\/revisions\/3466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}