John 14:15-21 At the heart of John’s Gospel we find the four inter-connecting themes of Light, Life, Love and Glory. Whenever we hear one, the other three are implicit. We can see these themes as keys which can help us to unlock the text. At this point in Eastertide we have covered a good deal …
Category Archives: Monastic
Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter
John 15:18-21 If you belonged to the world,the world would love you as its own;but because you do not belong to the world,because my choice withdrew you from the world,therefore the world hates you. These are not easy words from today’s Gospel. We naturally draw back from the word ‘hate’, especially in a Bible text. …
Friday, Fifth Week of Easter
John 15:12-17 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 …
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
Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28John 8:31-42 In much of John’s Gospel Jesus speaks to people who struggle to understand him. He speaks figuratively and his hearers assume he is being concrete. We, however, are so used to quotations from the Gospels and usually can grasp their meaning. ‘If you make my word your homeyou will …
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 …
Monday, Fifth Week of Easter
John 14:21-26 One of my favourite Psalms is 118/9. It’s very long and arranged as an acrostic. Some people find it a bit tedious as it is very repetitious and turns around a small list of words: law, word, will, statutes, commands, decrees and precepts. Every four lines uses at least one of these words. …
Fifth Sunday of Easter
John 14:1-12 We have heard today’s Gospel text over the course of the week in our weekday liturgy. So I come to the text with a little more familiarity than usual. The opening words set a tone of comfort: Do not let your hearts be troubled.Trust in God still, and trust in me.There are many …
Saturday, Fourth Week of Easter
John 14:7-14 Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? We can perhaps quite easily put ourselves in Philip’s position and hear these words addressed to ourselves. If I think …
Friday, Fourth Week of Easter
John 14:1-6 Our experience of the pandemic has brought the reality of death very close to us. We remember the heartbreaking stories of people dying alone and of families not being able to be at the hospital bedside of a loved one. In our culture the idea of someone dying alone is something which haunts …