John 15:9-17 No one has greater love than this,to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.You are my friendsif you do what I command you. Few of us will be called upon to lay down our lives for our friends. Though we probably all hope that if a big sacrifice of some sort is asked of us we …
Author Archives: Turvey Nuns
The English Martyrs
Matthew 10:17-20 At baptism when we were anointed with chrism these words were said: ‘God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As …
Saints Philip and James
John 14:6-14 ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’ If you Google this famous quotation you’ll get quite a few pictures of roads and paths. It is the easiest of the three concepts to illustrate. We know where we are with a clear path. When Jesus says he is the Way we have …
Thursday, Fifth Week of Easter
John 15:9-11 ‘If you keep my commandmentsyou will remain in my love,just as I have kept my Father’s commandmentsand remain in his love.I have told you thisso that my own joy may be in youand your joy be complete.’ By this stage in Eastertide we have heard a good deal of John’s Gospel. There are …
Wednesday, Fifth Week of Easter
John 15:1-8 I am the vine, you are the branches.Whoever remains in me, with me in him,bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. I chose today’s Gospel passage for my Solemn Profession in 2000. It weaves together several themes that can all be found in implicit and explicit form …
Tuesday, Fifth Week of Easter
John 14:27-31 ‘Peace I bequeath to you,my own peace I give you,a peace the world cannot give,this is my gift to you. ‘Oh, sister, it’s so peaceful here in the monastery.’ We hear this very often and, of course, there is a good deal of truth in this. We are a low stimulus environment, with …
St Catherine of Siena
Matthew 11:25-30 Today we celebrate the feast of St Catherine of Siena. You’ll see her depicted wearing the habit of a nun, but she was in fact a Third Order Dominican. She’s of particular note for her fearless resolve and ability to speak truth to power, and especially to Popes. The Church has recognized her …
Fifth Sunday of Easter
John 15:1-8 Every branch in me that bears no fruithe cuts away,and every branch that does bear fruithe prunes to make it bear even more.You are pruned already,by means of the word that I have spoken to you. It took me a while as a novice to learn the difference between cutting away and pruning. …
Saturday, Fourth Week of Easter
John 14:7-14 Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? We can perhaps quite easily put ourselves in Philip’s position and hear these words addressed to ourselves. If I think …
Friday, Fourth Week of Easter
John 14:1-6 Our experience of the pandemic brought the reality of death very close to us. We remember the heartbreaking stories of people dying alone and of families not being able to be at the hospital bedside of a loved one. The idea of someone dying alone is something which haunts and troubles us. It’s …