As a Lay Benedictine Community, we are spending this Advent reflecting on what it means to truly care for humanity. We are reminded constantly that the call of Christ is not an abstract principle, nor a purely spiritual invitation. It is incarnational. It is grounded in the real people in front of us: our neighbours, our brothers and sisters in community, our fellow parishioners, and our wider communities. Caring for humanity means putting flesh on the Gospel, especially for

The image of the shepherd runs like a vein through Scripture: it shapes how God relates to a vulnerable people and how people are called to relate to one another. Sometimes we stand in the safety of the flock; sometimes we take up the staff. The question isn’t merely symbolic, it is practical, moral, and spiritual. Where we find ourselves at any moment will shape how we listen, act, and love. Photo by Pawan Sharma on Unsplash Biblical Foundation The Bible uses shepherding to

Where and what is Europe? Israel and Australia have contended in Eurovision, so geography cannot be the main factor. England left the European Union, but did not leave Europe. Where can we find the commonality, the glue that defines Europe and holds it together? The nearest I ever came to an answer to this question was during a visit to a medieval church in Slovakia. There the walls were adorned with ancient frescoes, biblical scenes and familiar saints. It could easily have

As I am writing this in July 2025, England is between heat waves. We have already had two heat waves this year and the third is just about to start. Did St Benedict have anything to say about heat waves? The answer to that - surprisingly - is yes. Unlike England, Italy in St Benedict’s time could get very hot in the summer. Monks had to go about their daily business in the summer heat. For some, it was not a problem, but if monks were out in the fields attending to crops, per

The European project has, and will continue to have, a significant part to play in our lives. Though most people would consider it has some benefit, even those who voted to leave the EU, it is probable that many also think it is becoming a super state and an intolerant one at that. Though it would never be said openly by most politicians, the Catholic Church is regarded as an enemy at worst and perhaps an outdated influence at best. The Church’s teaching on the nobility of t

St. Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480-ca 547), is considered the father of “western monasticism” and the author of the “The Rule,” a simple set...

I remember as a young adult being amazed by my first encounters with St Benedict and the Rule he wrote. I was visiting Worth Abbey in...

It is an honour to be invited to contribute to the blog for this week celebrating the impact and legacy of St Benedict patron of Europe....

I was intrigued when it was suggested that I might write a blog post on a quote from Pope Paul VI's Letter Pacis Nuntius : 'Benedict...

In September 2023, I attended the International Oblates Congress in Rome at Sant’ Anselmo. The week included a visit to the monastery at Subiaco and St Benedict’s cave, the ‘Sacro Speco’, which deeply affected me. Before leaving Subiaco, I purchased a copy of St Gregory the Great’s short biography of St Benedict. He recounts an early miracle from the time when Benedict, then a young man, fled Rome with his old nurse (who is unnamed). They stopped at Affile on their way and wh

Does St Benedict have a ‘word’ for us today? ‘Peace’ would certainly be one. War threatens the whole of Europe now, as the Cold War did in 1964 when Benedict was named Patron of Europe by Pope Paul VI. And as we know only too well, the threat of war is already a reality on the Eastern flank of our continent. St Benedict, pray for us and especially for Ukraine.But I would like to suggest another ‘word’ that Benedict might offer us: ‘Don’t listen!’ Yes, that’s right, ‘don’t lis

I seem to have reached an age where gathering with family and friends is prompted more often by funerals than weddings, baptisms, or any of life’s other milestone celebrations. One obvious difference between the funerals and the other celebrations is that the one we love is no longer there to share it with us, another is that, despite a belief in life eternal, it is often experienced as a part of ‘closure’ as much as a new beginning. Photo Credit: Panyawat Auitpol When asked

For the second year in a row, and more by accident than design, Lent began for us at Stanbrook Abbey in North Yorkshire. Celebrating Ash Wednesday and the first week of Lent at Stanbrook is quite different from the usual experience of starting Lent amidst the various competing and distracting demands of a typically busy work and family life. I was struck this year by the sheer excitement, promise and joy of Lent that one catches from the community, and its celebration of the

“As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.” 1 Corinthians 13 This seems a strange beginning for a blog on “Living hope.” Paradoxically for me love depends on faith and hope. Hope is the transmission of faith, an interaction. Often people have to rely on hope to see them through difficult circumstances. The Rule of St Benedict in Chapter 4 on Guidelines for Christian and Monastic Good Practice exhorts us v 74 “And fi

In this Jubilee Year as a pilgrim of hope, I sit and reflect on where I have come from and where I am going to on my journey through life. We are all on our own unique journeys as pilgrims of hope. Let me tell you about my journey. My whole life, you could say, has been a journey, but the latest chapter of this pilgrimage began when my wife and I decided to move to England and enrol our children in secondary education at St. Gregory’s Catholic College in Bath during August of

When Jerome invited me to write a blog on the theme of “Living Hope", I misread his email and thought that the theme was “Living in Hope". This phrase gelled with me because much of my Christian life has been lived in hope and, now that I am in my mid 70s, the “hope” part of it seems to become more relevant! But in reflecting on the term “Living Hope” as I should have been, I can see a link that might be worth exploring. I have also realised that the meaning can change if

I found myself responding to a friend not long ago saying ‘My life is full of church’. Even as I said it, I thought of how superficial it sounded. It is true that each day there is not only prayer but an activity, or several, related to church for me. But that makes it sound more like a job, a set of chores that must be done: a sermon to write, prayers to prepare, a social event to organise, a meeting to minute, a bereaved family to visit. Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

A few days ago, a friend recommended a video of Bishop Erik Varden, a Cistercian monk bishop, speaking about ‘Healing Wounds’ to the St. Paul’s Cathedral Community via YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RamOqLP5l5w). The video is an exploration of some of his ideas in his new book for Lent 2025 called ‘Healing Wounds’ which I suspect could be a wonderful companion for some of us in the coming Lenten season. Several things struck me as interesting in his talk, but I wa

Life in Bethlehem Today For us, our journey into the issues of Justice and Peace in the Holy Land started with a Holy Land Pilgrimage with Della’s 5th Gospel Retreat in May 2014. Meeting Palestinian Christians and hearing their first-hand accounts of living in the shadow and oppression of the Separation Wall. This was not the cosy Bethlehem of charming cribs, Christmas trees and piped carol music but the harsh reality of a world under military occupation – rather like that

Lourdes has been a place for pilgrimage since 1858 when Our Lady appeared on 18 occasions to a poor 14-year-old girl called Bernadette...