Deuteronomy 26:16-19Matthew 5:43-48 ‘The Lord your God commands you today to observe these laws and customs; you must keep them with all your heart and all your soul.‘ The Book of Deuteronomy is a favourite of mine. Commentators have drawn my attention to the number of times the ‘heart’ is mentioned. What Deuteronomy offers is …
Author Archives: Turvey Nuns
Friday in the First Week of Lent
Ezekiel 18:21-28Matthew 5:20-26 The picture that I have used today is of our chapel at Turvey. The place in front of the altar is of huge monastic significance. It is there that you stand as a postulant and ask to begin your monastic journey and then some months later you will stand there as you …
Thursday of the First Week of Lent
Esther 4:1-7Matt 7:7-12 ASKSEARCHKNOCK These are all aspects of our life of prayer. Asking God for our own needs and the needs of others is something we learn from an early age. It is, of course, not without its problems. We don’t always get what we ask for. Later in life we learn that our …
Wednesday in the First Week of Lent
Jonah 3:1-10Luke 11:29-32 ‘The people of Nineveh believed in God:they proclaimed a fast and put on sack cloth, from the greatest to the least.‘ I am very fond of the Book of Jonah. Jonah is a bit grumpy and doesn’t quite trust that his preaching mission will take off. But it does. There is no …
Tuesday in the First Week of Lent
Is 55:10-11Matthew 6:7-15 The words of the Our Father are so familiar to us. Sometimes they can lose their impact and we miss the fact that the prayer is revolutionary. We are praying that God’s kingdom might come. That’s every value turned on its head. No ifs, no buts. Are we ready for this? In …
Monday in the First Week of Lent
Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18Matthew 25:31-46 For I was hungry and you gave me food;I was thirsty and you gave me drink… There are times and seasons when the Scripture we hear is vivid and is played out right before our eyes. The desperate needs of the peoples of Ukraine, the plight of those caught in the …
First Sunday of Lent (A)
Genesis 2:7-9, 3:-17Matthew 4:1-11 For the first hearers of Matthew’s Gospel the scene of Jesus in the desert would have struck a familiar chord. In the preceding chapters they heard of the miraculous birth of Jesus, an attempt to kill him, the need to flee to Egypt and his passing through the waters of the …
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Isaiah 58:9-14 Luke 5:27-32 ‘The Lord will always guide you, giving you relief in desert places.He will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden,like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.‘ Today’s reading from Isaiah repeats some of yesterday’s text and it too ends on a hopeful note. …
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Isaiah 58:1-9Matthew 9:14-15 Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me – it is the Lord who speaks –to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke,to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke,to share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor,to clothe the man you see to be naked and not …
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Deuteronomy 30:15-20Luke 9:22-25 Choose life, then, so that you andyour descendants may live in the loveof the Lord your God, obeying his voice and clinging to him: for in this your life consists… Today’s reading from Deuteronomy offers us a mini framework for our Lenten path: choosing life,living in love,obeying his voice,clinging to him. Each …