Spirituality Theatre Philosophy Theology
At the start of this month I began reading ‘Babel: an arcane history’ by R.F. Kuang. This book is a fictional history set in Oxford in the early 19th century. It follows the story of a young Chinese orphan, later known as Robin Swift, who is adopted by a linguistic professor who works for Babel: […]
Suscipiendus autem in oratorio coram omnibus promittat de stabilitate sua et conversatione morum suorum et oboedientia. Upon admission, in the oratory, before all, he is to make a promise to stability, conversion (of behaviour/morals/life) and obedience, For me the Rule of St. Benedict is a guiding document for the balanced life of discipleship, whether you […]
With several in charge, no one will have the opportunity to become proud. Is it democracy? All commentaries on this chapter begin by stating the obvious tension found here in the Rule… I will do the same. It’s pretty clear that St. Benedict does not see the benefits of a prior/provost in the monastery and […]
Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam; et non confundas me ab expectatione mea. Receive me, O Lord, according to your word, and I shall live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. I started this blog at the end of 2013 as a learning project. I had no plans of what […]
Suitable clothing shall be given the monks… Are you seriously going to wear that? Well it was bound to happen, wasn’t it? Sooner or later the conversation would come up about… Vestments. I have run a session on Holy Communion for two of our church’s home groups. The first part of these sessions look at […]
Without the abbot’s permission a monk may not receive from or give to anyone… What is community? For Ash Wednesday this year I was away on holiday with some of my dearest friends. We go away for February half term to the Lake District each year and this year it happened to coincide with the […]
A brother guilty of a graver fault is to be excluded from the common table and the oratory Who is excommunication for? Dealing with excommunication in a culture like ours is difficult to understand. The last two weeks reflections have been an exploration of the need for context; the first week, the context for St. […]
Neither Lauds nor Vespers is to end without the Lord’s Prayer, said aloud by the superior, in a voice all may hear because of the thorns of scandal always springing – so the brothers, remembering their pledge in the prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” may purge themselves. […]
Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam; et non confundas me ab expectatione mea. Receive me, O Lord, according to your word, and I shall live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. Since training for ordained ministry at Cranmer Hall in Durham, I have felt a call to a form of monastic life. […]
When I put my head above the parapet earlier last year on the issue of Equal Marriage I did so because of a hunch. It wasn’t a fully formed argument nor was it clear but it was there. I am unsure where it exactly came from but it seemed to be a strange positioning against […]