YOUNGER A man had two sons. The YOUNGER said to his father, ‘Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.’ The hearers of Luke’s Gospel will have been familiar with the opening of this parable. In the literary conventions of the Old Testament, when a story starts with a …
Category Archives: Monastic
Lent Alphabet (X)
CHRIST JESUS Ιησούς Χριστός Make your own the mind of CHRIST JESUS: Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. There is a sense in which the whole of Lent is an opportunity to ‘make our own the mind of Christ Jesus.’ I hear in this …
Lent Alphabet (W)
WHEAT GRAIN Unless a WHEAT GRAIN falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. As we come to the final weeks of Lent we might feel that our hopes and plans haven’t quite come to fruition. The Liturgy can gently nudge and …
Lent Alphabet (V)
VIRTUE For I tell you, if your VIRTUE goes no deeper than that of the Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. When I learnt the Catechism at aged seven I really enjoyed the pages where the Theological and Cardinal Virtues were listed. It all looked very neat and tidy and I …
Lent Alphabet (U)
UNLEAVENED BREAD The Israelites pitched camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at the evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, UNLEAVENED BREAD and roasted ears of corn, that same day. One of the opportunities …
Lent Alphabet (T)
THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER They paid him THIRTY silver pieces, and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray him. The figure of Judas looms large in Holy Week. Those thirty pieces of silver are lodged in our collective imagination through art, poetry and hymnody. Stories of betrayal are always uncomfortable. Betrayal can …
Lent Alphabet (S)
SHAKEN TOGETHER Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back. I love this text. It opens up a whole world for me. I have spent …
Lent Alphabet (R)
REPENT The time has come and the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. REPENT, and believe the Good News. The evangelist Mark is the most concise of the Gospel writers. In just four verses Jesus is baptised, goes into the wilderness and then emerges to begin his public ministry. There is an air of …
Lent Alphabet (Q)
QUIVER He made my mouth like a sharp sword, he hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me into a sharpened arrow and concealed me in his QUIVER. During the course of Lent and Holy Week we read from the parts of Isaiah which are known as the Servant Songs. The identity …
Lent Alphabet (P)
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus to say, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the passover?’ ‘Go to so-and-so in the city’ he replied ‘and say to him, “The Master says: My time is near. It is at your house that …