Prayer
Reflections from some of the nuns
September 12, 2015
Obedience
Perhaps obedience is not a word that sits easily with us today yet it is one of the three vows taken by the Benedictine monk. The word obedience is first mentioned at the beginning of the prologue to the Rule of St Benedict and...
September 12, 2015
I have Come that you may have Life – Part 2
God says today I offer life and death, then choose life, choose life entirely. Give your self unconditionally to the abundant and generous life gifted you.
September 12, 2015
I have Come that you may have Life – Part 1
With such generosity does Jesus utter these words! I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full. I for you in abundance...
September 12, 2015
Keep Death Daily before our Eyes
St Benedict instructs us to keep death daily before our eyes. Is this a morbid thing? No, not at all. St Benedict puts this instruction in Chapter 4 of his Rule which he entitles 'The tools for good works'.
September 12, 2015
Each Day is a new Beginning
I heard a story about a small pelican community on the west coast of the US. Since the turn of the last century these pelicans had been feeding on the waste from a fish processing factory which was left on the wharf, a rich diet of bone and entrail.
September 12, 2015
This being Human is a Guest House
Lectio this morning was an invitation to consider the lilies that neither toil nor spin. Those lilies are not managers or achievers or worriers. They are not motivated by anxiety or fear.
September 12, 2015
The Presence of God
The beginning of Chapter 4 of the Rule of St Benedict, entitled Tools for Good Works, begins with: ‘Firstly, love the Lord God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and all your strength, and love your neighbour as yourself’.
September 12, 2015
An Invitation to Life
Hospitality is an invitation to life. It is warm, nourishing, kindly and friendly. The wonderful poet Hafiz speaks of this invitation.
September 12, 2015
Awakening to Beauty
"We believe the presence of God is everywhere..." (RB 19:1) This amazing and surprising first line of Chapter 19 of the Rule of St Benedict calls me daily and hourly to awaken to the life within and the life around me...
September 12, 2015
Walk Slowly, Bow Often
A few years ago in a teaching of our abbess Mother Mary I was introduced to two exceptionally evocative words - visio divina –a variation on the Benedictine prayer practice of lectio divina or holy reading.
