Bethlehem Abbey

Vocation – One with the Church

From the very beginning of her existence the Church has always sought to identify, with joy, the specific services which brothers and sisters give, for building up the Church herself and for preaching the Good New, witnessing to Jesus Christ, in the world. Of course, this is the fundamental expression…

Mark 5:1-20 – The Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac (Part 2) – Deliverance

In the last lectio divina encounter we meditated on the destructive force of the evil one as Mark sees him possessing this man who lives among the tombs. Jesus goes to meet the man, and the forces which possess him, and they come to him, ready for the encounter. We remember that this type of possession and affliction is a living death in many ways, and Mark emphasizes this for us, depicting this man living in a tomb-scape, a limbo, among the tombs but not yet in one, walking with death as a constant companion and yet ready to break free into life.

Sunday 7th June – Retreat Sunday – The Most Holy Trinity

This solemnity falls on our Retreat Sunday – why not make it a day of quiet and prayer in which you can live your membership of our Cistercian family.

The Holy Rule: Introducing St Benedict

Before we can embark on any kind of reading of the Rule of St Benedict, it behoves us to say something about the man who is its author. In one way, that should not prove very difficult – there is but one work that purports to be an account of his life…

Mark 5:1-20 – The Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac (Part 1)

For those of you who have been following this lectio you will know that we have just spent an explosive time with Jesus and his disciples in a boat in the middle of a storm. In the eye of that tempest the disciples learned something more about who Jesus is, and he showed himself master even of the elements – truly the Lord of creation. Now we accompany Christ and his followers into another storm, and no less frightening. In fact, in all the gospels this story has to be counted as one of the most harrowing that we read.

Pentecost – Spirit, Birth and Life

In keeping the feast of Pentecost we are caught up into the always-life giving presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Traditionally, we celebrate the birth of the Church on this day, as the Spirit fills the place where the apostles, Mary, the mother of God, and other disciples are gathered, and…

Vocation – One with Christ

There is only one Christ in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead and indeed the fullness of humanity. Christ is the complete summation of all vocations because he lives the perfect relationship with the Father in the Holy Spirit, and the Father’s relationship with Christ in the Spirit is complete…

Invoking Mary – The Litany of Loreto

Recourse to Mary through the centuries began in the post-apostolic age. The most ancient prayer which we know – the Sub Tuum Praesidium – seeks refuge under Mary’s protection. Over time, as devotion to God’s Mother – the Church confirmed her as Theotokos, God Bearer, Mother of God, at the Council of Ephesus in 431Continue reading “Invoking Mary – The Litany of Loreto”

25th May – The Venerable Bede, Historiographer

Today is the feast of that great historian and historiographer, The Venerable Bede. He was the outstanding ecclesiastical author of his time. He wrote commentaries on Scripture; an ecclesiastical history of the English people, which is a unique and irreplaceable resource for much of early English history; and the first martyrology (collection of saints’ lives) to be compiled on historical principles.

Mark 4:35-41 – The Calming of the Storm

After the interlude of parables concerning the kingdom of God, Mark pitches us back into the action as suddenly as the storm which he now narrates.

It’s evening, a busy day of preaching and teaching has come to an end for the Master and his disciples and the crowds who have hung on his every word and deed. But the evening of the day is not yet a time for rest. On the contrary, Mark shows us that a different sort of encounter, and revelation, and realisation, all unlooked for, is about to unfold.