Mark 16: 15-20 Go out to the whole world;proclaim the Good News to all creation. Beginnings and endings matter a great deal in so many areas of our lives. In literature and theatre we are keenly aware of the power of the beginning and ending of a work. Some stories end with all the ends …
Category Archives: Monastic
Wednesday, Sixth Week of Easter
John 16:12-15 When the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth… When I was at Primary school I remember listening to the teacher as she sorted out a playground fight. Two 7 yr old boys were standing at the front of the class, eyes fixed on the the floor. ‘Now, who …
Tuesday, Sixth Week of Easter
John 16:5-11 I must tell you the truth:it is for your own good that I am goingbecause unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you. It’s fairly easy to put ourselves in the position of the disciples: the prospect of Jesus going is sad and the promise of the Advocate coming is very …
Monday, Sixth Week of Easter
John 15:26-16:4a You too shall be my witnesses,because you have been with me from the beginning. Growing up in the North East in the 70s and 80s I don’t think I ever heard the words ‘mission’ or ‘discipleship’ in relation to my own faith journey. Neither did I have any sense of having to ‘witness’ …
Sixth Sunday of Easter
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 …
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 …