Preferring Nothing to Christ

INHERITANCE

Living in a monastic community for the past thirty years I am very conscious of my monastic inheritance. This is very obviously visible in the material culture of the monastery, in its wall hangings, icons and vestments. The design of our oratory too speaks of our monastic and ecclesiological inheritance. Less obvious, but every bit as important, is the inheritance that is preserved in our monastic customs and the way in which we order our daily lives. It is a rich inheritance.

In 1 Peter we are reminded that through our new birth in Christ we are assured of our inheritance. This is not a tangible thing that we can pack and store, but the promise of eternal life. The inevitable suffering and trials of this life won’t alter or diminish our inheritance in any way. The challenge of this text is for us to live in such a way that we embody this promise.

Eastertide invites us to take time to contemplate our true identity in Christ and to give thanks for all that we have inherited.

How can you celebrate your inheritance this Eastertide?

(1 Peter 1:3-4, Second Sunday of Easter, A)

HEARTS

When Jesus speaks to the disciples and tells them that their ‘ hearts will be full of joy’, I wonder how they understood it. John sets this lengthy discourse around the table of their last meal together. They have already shared together the ‘bread of affliction’ and Jesus now asks them to imagine a time when their hearts will be full of joy. I imagine the disciples in a haze that night.

Often when people warn us that something it going to be really hard it can be difficult for us hear them. I have certainly imagined certain situations to be much worse than they actually were. It’s a lot more subtle when people talk to us about our hearts being filled with joy. Real joy is something very personal. Though I have chosen a picture today of a girl jumping, my own experience of joy is much quieter. It has something to do with integration, with all the parts of my life fitting together. It’s not the absence of suffering. It’s more a feeling that joy and suffering can stand side by side.

If Christ is our pattern for life, love and glory, then joy and sorrow will always be woven through this.

How do you hear Christ’s promise?

( John 16:2-23, Friday, Sixth Week of Eastertide)

GLORY

The opening of John’s Gospel weaves together in poetic prose the major theological themes that we will encounter in its pages: life, light, love and glory. It’s hard to explore one without exploring all three. Glory is perhaps the most difficult to quantify and understand.

For the Hebrew mind the word glory (kavod) has a range of meanings which include ‘importance’, ‘honour’ and ‘weight’. Related to kavod is another Hebrew word ‘shekinah’ which is a way of talking about the divine presence. Kavod and shekinah then are both ways of talking about the felt presence of a loving, saving and guiding God.

For the writer of John’s Gospel, God’s glory is seen very specifically when the Word becomes flesh. Every thought, word and action of Christ is a manifestation of God’s glory. This is why in John’s Gospel the moment of crucifixion is seen as a moment of triumph and glory.

In baptism we are sealed with Chrism and caught up in God’s glory too. What Christ prays to the Father in these words ‘so that they may always see the glory you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ‘ can be our prayer too. Eastertide gives us the opportunity to stay with these words.

How is God calling you to manifest his glory?

(John 17:20-26, Thursday, Eastertide, Week 7)

FILLED

When our parents and godparents presented us for Baptism they did so in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. As the water was poured over of heads and the chrism anointed our foreheads the Holy Spirit made a home in us. Nothing than change that.

In Ch 4 of Acts we are told that Peter and John are ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. This filling was not merely an emotional experience, it empowered them to proclaim the word of God boldly. Peter and John allowed the Spirit to guide them completely. When they spoke, it was in the Spirit that they spoke. When they healed it was in the Spirit that they healed.

In our own lives, this verse challenges us to ask if we are open to being filled and used by the Spirit. As a child I remember singing:

Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.

I had very little idea of what this would mean in my life. Now, more than forty five years later, I hope I remain as open and trusting as my young self.

Where in your life do you most need the power of the Holy Spirit?

(Acts 7:51-8:1, Sunday, Eastertide, Week 3)

Acts 2:14, 22-33 
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35

Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?

This is the second time that we hear the Emmaus story in the season of Eastertide. We heard it first on Wednesday in the Easter Octave. There is so much to ponder in this text that I sometimes wish that we could hear it several days in a row.

So many of the Gospel stories operate on several levels. The stories have their place in the overall structure of the Gospel and then when used in the liturgy another layer of meaning is added. When both or one of these layers of meaning touch our own story, a new level of meaning is opened up. I see this dynamic most clearly with the Emmaus story.

We’ve become accustomed to the journey metaphor being used in many areas of our lives. There is an implicit understanding that certain sorts of situations require a mental and physical journey. We have learnt the wisdom of the process of the journey being as important as arriving at the destination. The Emmaus story offers us an outer and an inner journey. When we hear the text we are invited to make both journeys too.

Denis McBride has deepened my understanding of the dynamic at work here. He sees many strands in the journey:

from without to within,
from confusion to understanding,
from death to life,
from hopelessness to hope,
from blindness to recognition,
from absence to presence,
from Jerusalem to Jerusalem,
from separation to community.

Read through the Gospel story. Where do you find yourself on this journey?

EMMAUS

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing the Emmaus story. I almost know the text by heart. I’m struck today as I sit to write this reflection just how healing a long walk with a friend can be. There is something about the rhythm of walking and being alongside another person that helps knots to unravel and allows a new perspective to open up.

As the disciples walk towards Emmaus, I imagine that they are experiencing a knot of grief and confusion as they try to hold together the events of the Upper Room, Gethsemane and Calvary. Scholars have speculated as to where Emmaus might be. In a sense it doesn’t really matter. The disciples set out on a physical journey and find through an encounter with a stranger that they have made a life-changing inner journey.

As the weeks of Eastertide unfold, we too are invited to be open to those moments when someone comes and walks alongside us. We are invited to be attentive to the times when by chance we are invited to share a meal with others. There will be times when our hearts too will burn.

How can you be open to encountering the risen Christ this Eastertide?

(Luke 24:13-35, Easter Wednesday)

DORCAS

Peter went back with them immediately, and on his arrival they took him to the upper room, where all the widows stood round him in tears, showing him tunics and other clothes DORCAS had made when she was with them.

Acts records just a handful of details about Dorcas. We have become accustomed to listening to the silences in our biblical texts. That she is named already marks her out as someone significant. To be remembered as one who ‘never tired of doing good or giving in charity’ is a significant accolade in the language of the Early Church. She has spent her life embodying Christ’s self-less service.

The detail of the widows showing Peter the clothes she had made always strikes me. We live in an age where handmade clothes are a rarity. As a monastic I have the privilege of every part of my habit being handmade, including my leather belt. It’s not just handmade, it’s made to measure. It’s likely that my tunic and scapular would only fit me. When I hear this story I am reminded of the care and attention that is needed when you make a garment for someone else.

Where is Christ calling you to show care and attention this Eastertide?

(Acts 9: 31-42, Saturday, Third Week of Eastertide)

COMMON

‘The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for his own use anything that he had, as everything they owned was held in COMMON.‘

This is a touchstone text for anyone who wants to explore living in community. Living in a way which expresses unity is something to which we can all aspire. There are of course many ways to do this. No one way perfectly embodies this text.

This vision of the early church is something which inspired St Benedict in the Sixth Century. Chapter 34 of his Rule is entitled ‘Distribution of Goods According to Need’. He quotes Acts 4 and makes the very important qualifier:

‘Whoever needs less should thank God and not be distressed, whoever needs more should feel humble because of his weakness, not self important because of the kindness shown him.’

Benedict understands human weakness and knows that ‘one size fits all’ will not work in monastic living. I take heart from this. Accepting where you fall on this spectrum is an important part of the inner journey in monastic life.

How does Luke’s vision inspire you today?

( Acts 4:32-37, Tuesday, Second Week of Eastertide)

BAPTISED

We see here the full fervour of the Early Church as, filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles proclaim an urgent message:

You must repent and everyone of you must be BAPTISED in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It’s easy for us to lose that sense of urgency in our own faith journeys. Listening to the Acts of the Apostles throughout Eastertide gives me the chance to reconnect with my ancestors in the faith. The choice to be baptised in the Early Church opened up a whole new world view. Jesus is Lord (kyrios) and not the emperor. Loyalty now is to the values of the Kingdom and not the Empire.

The majority of us will have been baptised as babies and so didn’t make that life changing choice ourselves. But what we do have now is the invitation to live that baptismal calling to the full. The life of faith is never static and what is means for each of us to share in Christ’s anointing as Priest, Prophet and King will grow and develop through our lives.

How does your baptism shape your life today? Are you living in the fullness of the Spirit’s power?

(Acts 2:36-41, Easter Tuesday)

EASTERTIDE ALPHABET (A)
AWE

‘Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.’

I am struck by how this text conveys a mix of emotions as it couples ‘awe and great joy’. Throughout the Biblical story of our salvation we meet those who have come close to the holiness of God and have experienced awe. There are dramatic moments on mountain tops, but also quiet moments when prayer has been answered.

The women have been reassured by an angel that there is no need for them to be afraid. Jesus has risen as he said he would. I imagine this news filling every fibre of their being. This a powerful moment of transformation as they move from sorrow to joy, from doubt to belief. The women, who had come to the tomb expecting to mourn, instead encountered the miraculous: an empty grave, a risen Saviour.

Moments of awe are part of our own faith journey’s too. The work of the Alistair Hardy Trust has shown that 75% of people claim to have had some form of spiritual experience, often in childhood and often related to nature. There’s something about the nature of childhood that makes us open to these moments of awe, these touches of God.

Has anything over the past few months filled you with awe and great joy?

(Matt 28:8-15, Easter Monday)