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 …
Category Archives: Monastic
Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:1-2. 12-17Matthew 6:1-6 ‘Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –come back to me with all your heart,fasting, weeping, mourning.’Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn,turn to the Lord your God again,for he is all tenderness and compassion,slow to anger, rich in graciousness,and ready to relent.Who knows if he will not turn …
Candlemas
CANDLEMAS Luke 2:22-40 Throughout the liturgical year there are some hymns which seem to draw together all that I hold dear in biblical imagery and incarnational theology. Hail to the Lord who comes is one of those hymns. This hymn helps me make an immediate connection between the Gospel scene of the presentation and my …
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
John 2:1-11 Though our liturgical calendar tells us that we are now beginning the second week in Ordinary Time, there are remnants of Epiphany in our liturgy. The celebration of the coming of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus and the Wedding at Cana are all connected. They are all seen in Greek as Epiphanes ( …
Baptism of the Lord
Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-one;The river runs, the clouds are torn apart,The Father speaks, the Sprit and the SonReveal to us the single loving heartThat beats behind the being of all thingsAnd calls and keeps and kindles us to light.The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings‘You are belovèd, you are my delight!’ In …
Mary, the Mother of God
In the Desert Tradition, the men and women who fled to the physical margins of society, developed a very particular relationship with Scripture and particularly with Biblical characters. They were judged by the Master to have understood the Scriptures in so far as they embodied the virtues of the Biblical characters. This teaching came to …
Seventh Day within the Octave of Christmas
John 1:1-18 By the time we reach the Seventh day of the Christmas Octave my heart and my mind have been invited to move in so many different directions. It is quite a challenge. So today I value the familiarity of the Prologue of John’s Gospel. The rhythm and the repetition of the words still …
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Sixth Day within the Octave of Christmas
Luke 2:36-40 I have always loved the prophetess Anna. There is an air of mystery about her as I try to imagine what it would mean to never leave the Temple. Anna has a single focus: she’s there to serve God until her last breath. She stands in a tradition of men and women whose …
Feast of the Holy Family
Luke 2:41-52 There are a myriad of biblical threads which could be traced in today’s Liturgy of the Word: blessing, promise, mutual obedience in family life, faithfulness to the Law, joy and sorrow. Add to that the opening Collect and the other prayers of the Mass and the picture which emerges is something a little …
Christ is Here
Christ is here, Emmanuel!Majesty so mild:Wisdom dwells with grace and truth,Hidden in this child. Here is God’s eternal Son,Now to us made known,By the Spirit’s love conceived,Mary’s flesh his own. Born of God’s creative will,Christ is Light from Light,Come to rescue Adam’s sons,Waiting in the night. Father, Son and Spirit blest:Heav’n their glory sings,While the …