{"id":4468,"date":"2026-02-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=4468"},"modified":"2026-02-19T19:11:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T19:11:54","slug":"a-hard-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2026\/02\/22\/a-hard-beginning\/benedictine-spirituality\/4468\/","title":{"rendered":"A hard beginning."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-2048x1360.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sunday-1980x1315.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo by Juli Kosolapova on unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspired by Sister Laurentia John\u2019s book: \u201cThe Way of Benedict: Eight Blessings for Lent.\u201d I\u2019ll be reflecting on a different blessing each week in Lent through the lens of the Scripture readings and of the Rule of St Benedict.<br><br>The first blessing is BEGINNING. Chaim Potok\u2019s book \u201cIn the beginning\u201d, opens with this phrase, \u201call beginnings are hard\u2026\u201d This is something I often choose to forget. I prefer to focus on the promise, hope and possibility that a new beginning offers us.<br><br>However much our beginnings overflow with possibility, and they are also hard. Beginnings don\u2019t come with guarantees. Each beginning requires us to step out in trust into the unknown, that is challenging and unsettling. <br><br>This is highlighted by today\u2019s gospel. We see Jesus stepping out into a new beginning. Immediately after his baptism when he is acknowledged by God as \u201cbeloved son\u201d we\u2019re told: <br><br><em>\u201cJesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.\u201d<\/em><br><br>It\u2019s hard to imagine a harder beginning than that. Part of me wants to shy away from it, to look for a gentler start to this journey that we are called to imitate. <br><br>Yet Jesus doesn\u2019t shy away from this hard beginning. He faces the challenge of each temptation head-on. His courage and perseverance lead him through the temptations until we hear:<br><br><em>\u201cThen the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.\u201d<br><\/em><br> His example offers us hope. Whatever hard beginnings our own Lent brings, we can trust that we too will find blessings to sustain us on that journey.<br><br>What blessing do you most need to begin your journey this Lent?<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inspired by Sister Laurentia John\u2019s book: \u201cThe Way of Benedict: Eight Blessings for Lent.\u201d I\u2019ll be reflecting on a different blessing each week in Lent through the lens of the Scripture readings and of the Rule of St Benedict. The first blessing is BEGINNING. Chaim Potok\u2019s book \u201cIn the beginning\u201d, opens with this phrase, \u201call [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,494,356,544,461,239,271,492,246],"tags":[565,566,28,191,18,6,8,33,229,13,41,888,29,15,50,10,338],"class_list":["post-4468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-christ","category-cross","category-discernment","category-divine-office","category-gospel","category-lectio-divina","category-rule-of-st-benedict","category-scripture","tag-angels","tag-beginnings","tag-benedictine","tag-blessing","tag-challenge","tag-gospel","tag-hope","tag-kingdom","tag-kingdomvalues","tag-lectiodivina","tag-lent","tag-lent2026","tag-love","tag-newlife","tag-temptations","tag-trust","tag-wilderness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468","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=4468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4473,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468\/revisions\/4473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}