{"id":4513,"date":"2026-03-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=4513"},"modified":"2026-03-07T19:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:04:30","slug":"an-attentive-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2026\/03\/08\/an-attentive-heart\/benedictine-spirituality\/4513\/","title":{"rendered":"An attentive heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ben-wicks-r1VZp_Wl6_8-unsplash-1980x1320.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo Ben Wicks on unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This week I\u2019m reflecting on the blessing of attentiveness. We all recognise it as essential for a life centred on seeking God. Learning to live attentively can be difficult. We have to step back from the multitude of demands and distractions that we live among on a daily basis. <br><br>While, in the midst of a busy life, that can seem an attractive idea, the reality is much harder. When we step back from those external distractions we are swamped by a multitude of inner distractions that often prove much more challenging than the external ones could ever be.<br><br>Reflecting on all of this I especially struck by the response to today\u2019s psalm:<br><br><em>\u201cO that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts.\u201d<\/em><br><br>It\u2019s the first psalm verse that we sing on Ash Wednesday and sets the tone for all of Lent. It gives us the opportunity to acknowledge that time and experience have hardened our hearts. It invites us to begin to let that hardness crack and fall away by paying attention to where the voice of God might be speaking to us in our lives. <br><br>Of course, we can expect to discover that voice in our prayer. If we actively seek this blessing of attentiveness, giving all our attention to the tasks we are engaged in and to the people we meet we will also find that God speaks to us in every situation, in the midst of every task and in every encounter.<br><br>Where are you being invited to be attentive this Lent?<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week I\u2019m reflecting on the blessing of attentiveness. We all recognise it as essential for a life centred on seeking God. Learning to live attentively can be difficult. We have to step back from the multitude of demands and distractions that we live among on a daily basis. While, in the midst of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,239,271,336,537,246],"tags":[704,38,28,18,6,189,8,33,229,13,41,888,12,75,29,15,10],"class_list":["post-4513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-gospel","category-lectio-divina","category-lent","category-liturgy","category-scripture","tag-attention","tag-attentiveness","tag-benedictine","tag-challenge","tag-gospel","tag-heart","tag-hope","tag-kingdom","tag-kingdomvalues","tag-lectiodivina","tag-lent","tag-lent2026","tag-listen","tag-listeningheart","tag-love","tag-newlife","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513","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=4513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4518,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513\/revisions\/4518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}