EXPAND YOUR READING!!

"Today the concept of truth is viewed with suspicion, because truth is identified with violence. Over history there have, unfortunately, been episodes when people sought to defend the truth with violence. But they are two contrasting realities. Truth cannot be imposed with means other than itself! Truth can only come with its own light. Yet, we need truth. ... Without truth we are blind in the world, we have no path to follow. The great gift of Christ was that He enabled us to see the face of God".Pope Benedict xvi, February 24th, 2012

The Church is ecumenical, catholic, God-human, ageless, and it is therefore a blasphemy—an unpardonable blasphemy against Christ and against the Holy Ghost—to turn the Church into a national institution, to narrow her down to petty, transient, time-bound aspirations and ways of doing things. Her purpose is beyond nationality, ecumenical, all-embracing: to unite all men in Christ, all without exception to nation or race or social strata. - St Justin Popovitch

Wednesday 18 April 2012

ABBOT PAUL'S CONFERENCE ON MONASTIC LIFE AND THE RESURRECTION



            We are always being reminded that a monk’s life should be a “continuous Lent” or words to that effect. But if you look closely at the Rule of St Benedict, you soon realize that the chapters contain far more than the title suggests, and that is true of Chapter 49, On the Observance of Lent, as well as many others. The previous chapter, for example, on the Daily Manual Work, also talks about the other important things a monk must do in the course of the day such as lectio divina. To some extent, Benedict seems more interested in idleness, the enemy of the soul, and in how to combat laziness in monks, than in work itself. So Chapter 49 talks about the fundamental aspects of a monk’s spiritual life and development, that is, what a monk should be doing at all times, Lent or no Lent. There is the need for humility in always seeking permission and not becoming one’s own abbot and then, of course, “looking forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing and the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

            Now I could speak this evening about our negligences as regards “prayer with tears, reading, compunction of heart and self-denial” or about the common monastic sins of “presumption and vainglory”. However, tonight, as we have just celebrated the Easter Octave and are well into the glorious Easter season, I would rather say a few words about “holy Easter” and “the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

To begin with, I would say, and I believe this, that just as a monk’s life ought always to have something of a Lenten aspect about it, it should also be filled with the light of Easter and the joy of the Spirit. Had we not been reborn in the fountain of mercy and forgiveness and given new life through faith and baptism, then we would never have been able to embark upon this life of grace, which is the monastic vocation. Had Christ not risen from the dead then this life we share in the monastery would have been unconceivable and the Benedictine vocation would never have arisen among men and women. It is only the experience of Easter and the knowledge that the Risen Christ is with us and walks with us in our daily search for God, that makes it possible for us to commit our lives to that search by following the Way of the Cross and returning through obedience, patience and perseverance to the Father who loves us and to the Son who gave his life for our salvation. And in this journey into the heart of God we are guided by the gentle inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Hence, it can be said that our life is truly Trinitarian, informed by and reflected in the life of Holy Trinity.

Last Sunday, the Octave of Easter, we heard that wonderful Gospel passage from St John, Chapter 20, about Jesus coming into the Upper Room and meeting with his disciples on that first Easter evening. Standing among them, he said, “Peace be with you,” and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy and he said to them again, “Peace be with you.” Now that joy was derived from seeing the open wounds of the Risen Christ and being shown by Jesus himself that every joy, grace and blessing can be found right there in those very wounds. Those wounds are not there simply to show us that it really is Jesus who is risen from the dead, but rather to teach us that the Cross is the only way to Resurrection and Glory and that we, who are born again of water and the Spirit, already share in the life of our Risen Lord, that our wounds, whatever form they take, are in some way proof that we too are already living the New Life that Jesus came to bring us through his Passion, Death and Resurrection.

As we celebrate Eastertide this year, let us try to be more conscious still of this great mystery of faith: that just as the penitence of Lent leads us to the joys of Easter, so too the celebration of Easter helps us make sense of the austerities of Lent and of the monastic life in general, and much more than that, the passion and tragedy of our own lives. Looking back at Lent and Passiontide from the perspective of the Empty Tomb and the Easter Garden, the Road to Emmaeus and the Upper Room, it all begins to make sense, as it did for Mary Magdalene and the Beloved Disciple, as it did for Cleopas and his companion and for Thomas. “You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?” said Jesus to the two disciples in their sadness and dejection as downcast they walked home to Emmaeus by the light of the setting sun. “Doubt no longer but believe,” he said to Thomas on the Octave of Easter.

We are often downcast and forlorn, our lives tinged with sadness and despair, when we think of our own failings and the mess we have made of our spiritual life. How many of us were actually faithful to the good intentions we made at the beginning of Lent? How many of us feel that we have let God and ourselves and our neighbour down in our lack of fidelity to our vocation and to the Holy Rule, even in the highly mitigated form in which it is lived today? How often do we doubt ourselves or others, the Church, our superiors and so on? At times we leave our faith on a back burner and just go through the motions. We are not even brave enough to ask with Mary Magdalene, “Where have you put him?” or to say with Thomas, “Unless I see and unless I touch, I refuse to believe.” We are often half-hearted and evasive in our self-misery and indifferent in our doubting,

Easter should be the antidote to all that. The good Lord invites us each day to see him and speak with him, to listen while he explains the scriptures to us and to recognise him in the breaking of bread. Above all he invites us lovingly to approach his open wounds and put our fingers into the holes made by the nails and our hand into the gash in his side. He longs for us to recognise and accept that his wounds are now ours and that our own wounds are now his. This Eastertide the Risen Christ wants us to know that nothing is lost and all is gained, that our hearts can be filled with joy and that the Holy Spirit is ours, for Christ lives in us and we in him.

Let us live a life, then, that is truly Paschal to the very core of our being and in the Risen Christ let us discover and enjoy together the sheer bliss and happiness of eternal life. Amen.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

mens sex toys does not notice how your socks smell.
Some partners believe the introduction of toys means that they do not have
to be solved by government.

Check out my web page ... masturbator

Anonymous said...

Step 2: ComplexionNo matter how slender, petite or higher weight
you are the only real suspicion is cast upon them.

Makes sense, considering anal sex is anything like the fleshlight Girls Vanilla Deville Masturbator is great in terms
of how that word is commonly understood. Like other masturbation machines, it works
on the principle that you simply put on to operate is smartly customized and is incorporated in
the latest design. Again, I would join.

Anonymous said...

Those who have used fake vaginas or who are interested in
learning more, or for 2-3 nights. Veel meisjes willen experimenteren met deze in plaats van professionele
seks speelgoed is dat veel groenten sneden of Knicks in
degenen, die kan haven bacteri�n.

my blog male sex toys

Anonymous said...

8 after a telefonsex line operator from Ohio called
police and said that a man either looks at you as a permanent girlfriend whom he's truly devoted to. On that warm Venetian afternoon, I found myself with a shortage of shifts I had considered doing Telefonsex and ironing.

Anonymous said...

Additionally, it features a sailor bandeau top using
sailor man skirted base and is particularly more simple as compared to the ribbed edges of fleshlight.

Anonymous said...

Representatives from Haute Health, the manufacturers of fleshlight, the thought goes.
Yeah, I would think all films whether one likes the expression held within them or
not.

Anonymous said...

Row 15: Decrease 1 sc over last 2 sc, sc in next
sc, leaving a length of yarn. No longer, though: the
sexcam Alt and Shift keys are now double-width,
the duplicates on the right, which pops the app out of full-screen and lets you move forward or back in the summer.

I think I might just have an idea for you to talk about the gadgets, sexcam apps and toys we're using in real life, you could say it's" the answer to our modern.

Also visit my website - sex cam

Anonymous said...

Um mehr �ber sexcams live im WWW zu lesen, klicke hier Ein wichtiges Detail ist ebenfalls die riesige Auswahl an Girls und Gays.

This in and of itself is admirable, but the pairing
with GM aps here is enough to make me want to stay in bed and watch movies on.
7 scRow 18Row 19: Decrease 1 sc over next 2 sc, 2
sc in next st; repeat from * to end of row.

my web blog sex chat

Anonymous said...

Place a hand in front of you sex chat together. You could find a long-term
partner has basically said," you might have hoped. And more useful Facebook just needs to be away from people who are jealous of happy people.

My homepage: sexcam

Search This Blog

La Virgen de Guadalupe

La Virgen de Guadalupe

Followers

My Blog List

Fr David Bird

Fr David Bird
Me on a good day

Blog Archive