{"id":4552,"date":"2026-03-25T11:12:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=4552"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:12:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:12:34","slug":"overshadowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2026\/03\/25\/overshadowing\/benedictine-spirituality\/4552\/","title":{"rendered":"Overshadowing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/alex-wigan-55NtMvzOsFQ-unsplash-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2972\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/alex-wigan-55NtMvzOsFQ-unsplash-1024x683-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/alex-wigan-55NtMvzOsFQ-unsplash-1024x683-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/alex-wigan-55NtMvzOsFQ-unsplash-1024x683-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo by Alex Wigan on unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Today celebrating the feast of the Annunciation I\u2019m struck by the mixture of calm, serenity, and chaos that it portrays. It\u2019s generally depicted in art and literature as a beautiful moment of calm encounter between Gabriel and Mary, between heaven and earth, leading to Mary\u2019s act of obedience. <br><br>That is certainly one aspect of the gospel, but as I reflected on it today I\u2019m very aware that there is also another side to it. The news the angel brings to Mary must have been both surprising and overwhelming to a young, unmarried woman who was not expecting to become pregnant.<br><br>It must have seemed to her that she was facing at best a challenge and at worst a disaster. Yet in the midst of the upheaval she was able to find a way through the chaos to say yes. I\u2019m especially struck by the angel\u2019s response when she asks, \u201cHow can this be?\u201d  He replies:<br><br><em>&#8220;The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you&#8230;&#8221;<\/em><br><br>His words take me back to the Spirit hovering over the waters at Creation drawing life out of chaos. That\u2019s a comforting image image in these times when so much of our world seems to teeter on the brink of chaos. <br><br>In our dark and frightening times this image offers hope and encouragement. I find it helpful to remember that however chaotic our situation the Spirit hovers, overshadowing us and promising new life.<br><br>Where do you need the Spirit\u2019s overshadowing in your life this Lent?<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today celebrating the feast of the Annunciation I\u2019m struck by the mixture of calm, serenity, and chaos that it portrays. It\u2019s generally depicted in art and literature as a beautiful moment of calm encounter between Gabriel and Mary, between heaven and earth, leading to Mary\u2019s act of obedience. That is certainly one aspect of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,494,461,239,271,336,537,335,246],"tags":[292,92,28,18,6,166,8,33,229,13,41,888,29,15,219,645,10,291],"class_list":["post-4552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-christ","category-divine-office","category-gospel","category-lectio-divina","category-lent","category-liturgy","category-prayer","category-scripture","tag-angelgabriel","tag-annunciation","tag-benedictine","tag-challenge","tag-gospel","tag-holyspirit","tag-hope","tag-kingdom","tag-kingdomvalues","tag-lectiodivina","tag-lent","tag-lent2026","tag-love","tag-newlife","tag-obedience","tag-overshadow","tag-trust","tag-virginmary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4552","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=4552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4570,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4552\/revisions\/4570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}