REJOICES I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul REJOICES in my God,for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation,he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity, like a bridegroom wearing his wreath,like a bride adorned in her jewels. In the three books which make up the writings ascribed to Isaiah …
Author Archives: Turvey Nuns
O Sapientia
17th DecemberO Sapientia Gen 49:2, 8-10Mat 1:1-17 O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care.Come and show your peoplethe way to salvation. O SAPIENTIA I cannot think unless I have been thought,Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken.I cannot teach except as I am taught,Or …
Advent Alphabet (Q)
QUICKLY I have always loved the urgency in Luke’s story of the Visitation; ‘Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country’. By all accounts Mary’s journey to Elizabeth won’t have been easy. That Mary loses no time in making her journey speaks of the power of …
Advent Alphabet (P)
PREPARE PREPARE in the desert a way for the Lord.Make a straight highway for our God across the desert. Isaiah imagines for the Israelites a joyous return from Exile where their fortunes are to radically changed. In order that they waste no time the prophet tells them to prepare a straight highway. They have waited …
Advent Alphabet (O)
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will OVERSHADOW you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. When the Moses and the Israelites wander in the wilderness they are re-assured by God’s presence, or glory, in the form of …
Advent Alphabet (N)
‘In the countryside close by there were shepherds out in the fields keeping guard over their sheep during the watches of the NIGHT.‘ Watching through the night is something which many of us will find ourselves doing at some point in our lives. We might be awaiting a birth or sitting at the bedside of …
Advent Alphabet (M)
MOUNTAIN Come, let us go up to theMOUNTAIN of the Lord,to the Temple of the God of Jacobthat he may teach us his waysso that we may walk in his paths… In the opening chapters of Isaiah we find ourselves invited to ‘go up to the mountain of the Lord’. Mountains for Isaiah are metaphors …
Advent Alphabet (L)
LOWLY In your midst I will leave a humble and LOWLY people, and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord. Israel’s story begins in obscurity, with no great fame or riches to guarantee its security or growth. Its faith is a tiny flame. Each step on the …
Advent Alphabet (K)
KINGDOM As you go, proclaim that theKINGDOM of heaven is close at hand.Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils Through the Old Testament texts which we hear in Advent our biblical imaginations are reminded of the major themes in the story of our salvation. We hear again the promise that …
Advent Alphabet (J)
JOY I’ve prayed the Psalter for almost thirty years. The poetry and the rhythm of our singing have the effect of, little by little, altering my inner landscape. Just about every human emotion is to be found in the Psalms. ‘Joy’ makes a frequent appearance along with ‘delight’ and ‘exultation’. The Books of Isaiah are …