Luke 15:1-32 We’ve become accustomed to hearing the three parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son together. Luke’s narrative skill invites us into each scene, and we almost have no choice but to respond. With each parable the invitation goes deeper. We know these stories so well. If you are …
Author Archives: Turvey Nuns
Twenty Third Sunday of the Ordinary Time
Luke 14:25-33 ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.‘ As Jesus journeys further towards Jerusalem his teaching on the demands of discipleship becomes more …
Twenty Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
Luke 14:1,7-14 ‘When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say, “Give up your place to this man.” And then, to your embarrassment, you would …
Feast of St Bartholomew
John 1:45-51 That we know almost nothing about St Bartholomew (Nathanael) is perhaps a little liberating. There is space for our imaginations to read between the lines in the very short text from John. There are four things that I glean from this text: Nathanael is not afraid to make his point, he responds to …
Twenty First Sunday of Ordinary Time
Luke 13:22-30 Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” These words from Luke often put me in mind of a fairly standard motif in …
St Bernard Tolomei
Genesis 12:1-4John 15:9-17 Here at Turvey we are celebrating the feast of St Bernard Tolomei, founder of the Olivetan Congregation. We know relatively little about him. Born in Siena in 1272, the son of a noble man, he was educated and trained to be a lawyer. In 1313, Bernard and two companions moved out to …
The Assumption
Revelation 11:19,12:1-6,10 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 Luke 1:39-56 The older I get the more time I seem to need to spend on paying attention to my body and making sensible choices. This is anything but self indulgent. When you live in community your own well-being is linked to the whole. There’s something of an implicit understanding that what …
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Luke 12:32-48 This lengthy Gospel text from St Luke could almost be a manifesto for monastic life. I hear in every paragraph strong resonances with the Rule of St Benedict. ‘Sell your possessions and give alms.’ As I prepared to enter the monastery I went through several phases of divesting myself of my ‘worldly goods’. …
Transfiguration
Above is the Canticle that we use for Vespers of the Transfiguration. It cleverly blends together a text from the New Testament and a text from the Old Testament. These texts are woven together seamlessly, with each shedding light on the other. The composite text captures something of the feast of the Transfiguration. We move …
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Luke 12:13-21 Scholars tell us that in the time of Jesus 90% of people relied on the agricultural economy for their survival. The well being of your family depended on the well being and right use of the land. Many were tenant farmers who lived with the pressure of the landowner’s expectation of the biggest …