John 15:26-27,16:12-15 From the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday to the celebration of Pentecost, the Church has marked out a path for us to follow. We have walked in the wilderness with Israelites, fasted in the desert with Jesus, followed him as he taught and worked miracles, we have sat at the table in …
Category Archives: Monastic
Saturday, Seventh Week of Easter
John 21:20-25 ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.’ We have come to the final chapter of John’s Gospel and perhaps have a sense of having made a long and sometimes meandering journey through the themes of Light, Life, Love and …
Friday, Seventh Week of Easter
John 21:15-19 Our Gospel texts during Eastertide have laid before us many themes. They weave in and out of each other and form a kind of fabric. Amongst the many themes, these stand out for me: Love, Glory, Life, Believe in Jesus and Truth. Today it is Love that is to be our focus as …
Thursday, Seventh Week of Easter
John 17:20-26 Father, I want those you have given meto be with me where I am,so that they may always see the glory you have given mebecause you loved me before the foundation of the world. Often in liturgy we find ourselves holding several time frames at once. We have celebrated the Ascension and now …
Wednesday, Seventh week of Easter
John 17:11-19 They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. If we trace the use of the word ‘world’ through the New Testament we find that we are being asked to hold several concepts at once. In John’s Gospel …
Tuesday, Seventh Week of Easter
John 17:1-11 I have made your name knownto those you took from the world to give me.They were yours and you gave them to me,and they have kept your word. Today we hear again the opening verses of Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel. Each couple of sentences presents us with an idea which builds up …
Monday, Seventh Week of Easter
John 16:29-33 I am not alone,because the Father is with me.I have told you all thisso that you may find peace in me. How often have you prayed for someone that they may find peace? Perhaps someone might have to make a difficult decision or comes to terms with a difficult some difficult circumstances: we …
Seventh Sunday of Easter
John 17:11-19 ‘Consecrate them in the truth;your word is truth.As you sent me into the world,I have sent them into the world,and for their sake I consecrate myselfso that they too may be consecrated in truth.’ In recent months as the inquiry into the Post Office scandal has unfolded, I have thought a good deal …
Saturday, Sixth Week of Easter
John 16:23-28 I tell you most solemnly,anything you ask for from the Father he will grant in my name.Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete. In the Penny Catechism the treatment of prayer looks very straight forward: What is prayer?Prayer …
Friday, Sixth Week of Easter
John 16:20-23 You are sad now,but I shall see you again,and your hearts will be full of joy,and that joy no one shall take from you.When that day comes,you will not ask me any questions. When Jesus speaks to the disciples about ‘a joy that no one shall take’ from them, I wonder how they …