Much happens in the course of these few verses to give us food for lectio over the coming week. In a sense, that is precisely the effect of Sacred Scripture on us, and perhaps even the intention, unwittingly, of the author – rather than read in order to get to the end…
Tag Archives: 21-30
The Second Sunday in Paschaltide – The Divine Mercy
Although John Paul II instituted this feast, uniting it with the Sunday after Easter so as to make the immediate connection between the saving action of the Cross and Resurrection, the place of the revelation of God as Mercy is as old as Sacred Scripture. It is, after all, a name which God gives…
The Practice of Making Retreat
Strange as it may seem, each year a monastic community must make its own community retreat. The question arises, then – what is the purpose of a retreat when one already lives a life very much cut off from the usual hurly-burly of society? In fact, the question of the retreat…
Mark 3:1-6 – Withered
Once again, Mark demonstrates his keen eye for humanity brought low. Jesus not only heals – he has the capacity to draw men and women from the fringes, where they have driven, and place them back in their rightful place within their own community. Not for the first time, Jesus works…
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and we are only too aware that the important personal relationships that we need to live our daily lives are withdrawn…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…
Bethlehem Abbey Cistercian Family 