Bethlehem Abbey

The Fifth Afflictive Thought – Dejection

It might be fair to say that, in these very testing times when people are beset with worry, anxiety and despair even, when isolation is increasing our feeling of disconnectedness, and we are only too aware that the important personal relationships that we need to live our daily lives are withdrawn…

Meditation of St Bernard of Clairvaux on the Name of Mary

‘And the Virgin’s name was Mary.’ Let us now say a few words about this name, which means ‘star of the sea’, and is so becoming to the Virgin Mother. Surely she is very fittingly likened to a star. The star sends forth its rays without harm to itself…

Mark 2:18-28 – Old and New

Jesus, in today’s lectio passage, challenges our reception and interpretation of regulations. We might very well recall a maxim used by St Gregory the Great in this, and quoted by the Cistercian fathers: Observance without rigidity, and compassion without relaxation. If regulations are found to be unyielding, monolithic and impersonal they will…

The Fourth Afflictive Thought – Anger

We move now to a thought which constitutes the first afflictive thought of the mind. Anger is an affliction which seems today to be evermore present in our society as a default position for many people and groups. It is a thought which betrays a deeper dissatisfaction and lack of peace…

The Jesus Prayer

One of the most effective tools for helping the work of ceaseless prayer to take place in one’s heart is the prayer which we know as the Jesus Prayer or the prayer of the invocation of the Holy Name. It is a prayer tool which has been venerated in the practice of…

Mark 2:13-17 – Call

One of the defining elements of the gospel narratives is Jesus’ relationship with his disciples – and it begins in the various ‘calls’ which he issues. The call of Levi – whom we know more commonly as Matthew, the tax collector – is no different. It has all of Mark’s breathless brevity…

Living With Values

The Rule of St Benedict and the way of life which grows within and out of the Benedictine-Cistercian way is a rich font of wisdom, not only for monks and nuns of that tradition but for anyone who seriously seeks God and a life lived in service of others…

Mark 2:1-12 – Paralysis

For most of us paralysis is not an experience with which we can readily identify. Perhaps we have occasions – or it is the service we render – when we have to care for someone who lives with a paralysis which is bodily, which inhibits, which is partial or almost complete…

The Third Afflictive Thought – Things

We live in a society and at a time when we are obsessed with acquiring things, and the constant acquisition of things has become ridiculously easy. Our lives very often become a cluttered reality, and when the clutter becomes too much, it suffocates us and replaces those things that we should really be seeking…

Ceaseless Prayer

Is it possible to pray without ceasing, as St Paul tells the believers in Thessalonica in his first letter to them (IThess. 5:17)? Christ himself teaches that it is possible and commends it to his followers (Luke 18:1). Certainly, to grow so that we are always turned towards God….