LAMENTATIONS OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH Holy Saturday is often spoken about as a day of ‘emptiness and numbness’. On one level this is true, but since entering the monastery I have discovered another dimension. On a day when you could feel out of sorts and not quite know what to do the for best, the …
Category Archives: Monastic
Good Friday
Good Friday Hebrews 4:14-16,5:7-9 Every piece of text in the Good Friday liturgy is heavy with meaning. Pieces of scripture that I may have heard throughout the year have a whole new resonance today. I found it hard to pick just one text. I settled on the text from Hebrews. In a series of fairly …
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday John 13:1-15 Each year I am stuck by how much the liturgy invites us to engage our senses in Holy Week. We wave a palm branch, we hear the story of the anointing and can imagine the smell of the perfume filling the house, we picture the silver coins of betrayal and night …
Wednesday of Holy Week
Wednesday of Holy Week Matthew 26:14-25 Today we have Matthew’s telling of the Last Supper. Once again Judas is in full focus and his actions seem inevitable. Those thirty pieces of silver are lodged in our collective imagination through art, poetry and hymnody. You’ll even find a reminder of this in the Danish name for …
Tuesday of Holy Week
John 13:21-33,36-38 In today’s Gospel the mood intensifies. We can easily imagine the scene of Jesus sharing a meal with his disciples. When film producers portray this they build the drama with music and dramatic pauses. I always imagine it as a sultry night. Meals are intimate occasions. Friendships can be deepened and difficulties healed …
Monday of Holy Week
JOHN 12:1-11 The anointing at Bethany stops me in my tracks each year. For much of the liturgical year the lectionary leads us through the teaching and miracles of Jesus. From time to time we have a personal encounter: Zacchaeus, The Syro-Phoenecian woman, The Samaritan woman etc. Each encounter is life-changing. Today’s text from John …
Listening to the Silences: the Women of the Passion
On Saturday, in the Fifth Week of Lent, the Breviary reading for Office of Readings is from a sermon by Saint Gregory Nazianzen. We are invited to take part in the Passover in a personal way: If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you are crucified beside …
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Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-7 As we begin Holy Week the Church invites us on a journey. This week is like no other in the year. Spread before us in the liturgies each day is the story of our salvation. We are invited to find ourselves in the scriptural stories. The First Reading for today from Isaiah can …
Saturday, Fifth Week of Lent
Saturday Fifth Week of Lent Ezekiel 37:21-28 We’ve met the prophet Ezekiel already during Lent. Woven together with warnings and reminders of just how much Israel has strayed are some of the most memorable prophecies of hope in all of the prophetic literature. Today we hear a promise of gathering together and of unity. Israel …
Thursday, Fifth Week of Lent
Thursday Fifth Week of Lent John 8:52-59 ‘The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.’ Using the responsorial psalm verse as a repeated prayer or mantra can often be a very helpful way into the Liturgy of the Word. It’s especially helpful today as the theme of covenant links our readings. God’s faithfulness to us and …