{"id":4441,"date":"2026-02-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=4441"},"modified":"2026-02-14T15:37:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T15:37:50","slug":"visions-of-hope-and-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2026\/02\/15\/visions-of-hope-and-promise\/benedictine-spirituality\/4441\/","title":{"rendered":"Visions of hope and promise."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by Raimond Klavins on unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s readings are a reminder that our ways are not God\u2019s way. We can comfortably admit in conversation or prayer while protecting ourselves from just how disturbing and unsettling it can be. St Paul reminds the Corinthians of this, saying:

\u201cWe teach what Scripture calls: the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the human mind, all that God has prepared for those who love God.\u201d<\/em>

His image is full of hope and promise, it can give us courage in dark times. It can also disturb and unsettle us. It calls us to allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit in unexpected ways. We have to be prepared to go into places and situations that surprise or even disconcert us. It\u2019s a call to risk stepping into the unknown.

In the Gospel Jesus uses the commandments to deepen their understanding of what it means to be the people of God. The one that struck me most is the last one. He says to his disciples:

\u201cAll you need say is \u201cYes\u201d if you mean yes, \u201cNo\u201d if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one.\u201d<\/em>

It\u2019s such an obvious and straightforward statement. Yet in our times when promises are easily made and just as easily discarded they carry a powerful message. It\u2019s tempting to overpromise when we see people suffer, and it\u2019s tempting to believe those promises.

Jesus calls us away from the hype and the drama of all that. In return he offers us a greater vision, calling us to open our hearts to the presence of his kingdom in places where we might least expect it.

Where is Christ calling you to embrace the vision of the kingdom with a willing heart and ready spirit today?

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

Today\u2019s readings are a reminder that our ways are not God\u2019s way. We can comfortably admit in conversation or prayer while protecting ourselves from just how disturbing and unsettling it can be. St Paul reminds the Corinthians of this, saying: \u201cWe teach what Scripture calls: the things that no eye has seen and no ear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,494,239,271,246],"tags":[28,18,53,223,35,376,448,6,8,33,229,13,29,15,7,24,10],"class_list":["post-4441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-christ","category-gospel","category-lectio-divina","category-scripture","tag-benedictine","tag-challenge","tag-christ","tag-christlike","tag-corinthians","tag-disciples","tag-discipleship","tag-gospel","tag-hope","tag-kingdom","tag-kingdomvalues","tag-lectiodivina","tag-love","tag-newlife","tag-promise","tag-stpaul","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4441","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=4441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4447,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4441\/revisions\/4447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}