Benedict for all

Benedict was born the son of a Roman noble in Nursia in central Italy, around the year 480. A late tradition says he had a twin sister named Scholastica.

     We know very little about Benedict’s life. As a young man he was sent to study in Rome, but was soon appalled by the corruption in society and withdrew to live as a hermit for three years at Subiaco, though he was accompanied by his old nurse who acted as a servant. When a local abbot died, its community begged him to come and help them. He agreed. His holiness and simplicity soon attracted a wider circle of disciples, and he began to establish small monasteries in the neighbourhood.

      Around the year 525, a disaffected faction tried to poison him. Legend says that Benedict blessed the cup and thereby foiled the plan. In fact, numerous other miracles were attributed to him during his lifetime. Benedict then moved to Monte Cassino with a band of loyal monks and, in all, founded 13 monasteries.

      Benedict spent the remainder of his life creating a plan or ‘rule’ for an ideal monastery. This deceptively simple document became known as the ‘Rule of Saint Benedict’. It continues to be a driving force behind religious life today, and even for some principled corpor ations and businesses.

      The Rule of St Benedict was based on his own experience of fallible people striving to live out the gospel. In fact, he never intended to found an order but his Rule was so good that it was disseminated and widely followed, becoming the model for virtually all contemplative forms of western monasticism until the twentieth century. For that reason among many others, he is regarded as the patron saint of Europe.

      By the start of the Middle Ages, the rule of St Benedict had inspired the largest order of monks and nuns—the Benedictines. A great many other orders were inspired by them, such as the Cistercians and Trappists. The majority of all religious houses today follow a form of Benedict’s rule.

      Benedict died at Monte Cassino in about the year 550. 

Eternal God,
who made Benedict a wise master
in the school of your service
and a guide to many called into community
 to follow the rule of Christ:
grant that we may put your love before all else
and seek with joy the way of your commandments;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

When I say, "I am a Christian" by Carol Wimmer

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I’m not shouting, “I’ve been saved!”
I’m whispering, “I get lost!
That’s why I chose this way”.

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I don’t speak with human pride
I’m confessing that I stumble -
Needing God to be my guide

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I’m not trying to be strong
I’m professing that I’m weak
And pray for strength to carry on.

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I’m not bragging of success
I’m admitting that I’ve failed
And cannot ever pay the debt.

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I don’t think I know it all
I submit to my confusion
Asking humbly to be taught.

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I’m not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are all too visible
But God believes I’m worth it.

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache,
Which is why I seek His name.

When I say, “I am a Christian”

I do not wish to judge
I have no authority...
I only know I’m loved

There's something fishy here

Have you noticed how some cars have a fish symbol on their boot? It’s usually a stylised double arc. Sometimes it contains letters. Either way, it’s an ancient, secret way of identifying oneself as a Christian.

   

    The Christian Church suffered dreadful persecution during its earliest years, particularly from the Roman authorities but also from synagogues and local warlords. When persecuted, Christian believers would need to demonstrate their faith in ways that were subtle yet unmistakeable. So they developed a simple code.

      An acrostic is a word made up of letters that stand for a message or slogan. For example, ‘gay’ is a modern acrostic, the letters of which originally stood for ‘Good as you’. Early Christians devised an acrostic using a Greek word rather than English. The Greek word ‘Ichthus’ means ‘Fish’, but the component letters spell out a message, as ΙΧΘΥΣ, which is an acrostic for Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ", (Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr), which translates into English as "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour."

     Ancient accounts tell us know that early believers waiting, say,in a market queue would for example draw one arc of the simple fish outline in the dust. If the stranger drew the second arc, then both believers knew they were in good company. The ‘the sign of the fish’ as it became known, was therefore an indirect way of asking if the adjacent people were also Christians. A more direct verbal approach could cause a death sentence.

     The first appearances of the Ichthus symbol in Christian art and literature date to the second century AD. The symbol’s use among Christians became more popular by the late second century, and its use spread widely during the third and fourth centuries. (Other Christians drew a dove instead of a fish, to represent the Holy Spirit.)

      The association between Christians and a fish was probably encouraged because at least half of Jesus’ twelve disciples had been fishermen before following Jesus. Those who pursued this trade for a living included James and John (who were brothers), Peter and Andrew (also brothers), Thomas and Nathanael (see Matthew 4:21– 22, John 21:1–3, etc.). Indeed, five out of the first six disciples called to be special witnesses of our Lord’s ministry were fishermen. Also, it was Jesus Himself who told Peter and Andrew that instead of catching fish (‘Ichthus’) He would train them to ‘catch’ men (which alludes to the preaching of the gospel and the conversions it would bring, see Matthew 4:19, 13:47–48, Mark 1:17).

      Within a century after Jesus’ Ascension, simple fish symbols were used throughout the Roman Empire. Indeed, a Christian was far more likely to use a fish symbol than a cross to advertise their Christianity.

     The symbol was also used to mark a tomb or house. It also indicated a place used for clandestine worship: the early Christians met in each others’ homes for  their services but in secret. In an emergency, a fish drawn in the dust outside the door could be wiped away very fast.  

     Anyway, when you see a fish on a car, you know you are in safe company.

A soup-er story

I’ve just enjoyed a bowl of soup. It started with a few simple ingredients—an array of vegetables, different seasonings, water. But the final result was extremely tasty. Each element was discernible, and each complemented the others to perfection.

         The Church is a spiritual organisation made up of people. Whether coming together for divine worship or enjoyed each others’ company at social events, the people of the Church are the component parts of the whole. Each is unique in terms of their gifts and abilities, and God has called them together. It could not be a real Church if it was assembled in any other way.

Some soups taste bland because the cook has omitted one or more of the necessary ingredients. In much the same way, some Churches fail to function properly because something has been left out — perhaps the spirituality seems a little flat, maybe some aspects look underdeveloped or feel defective. Here the analogy breaks down a little, because every cook or chef is fallible whereas the God who creates a Church congregation by assembling groups of diverse people is utterly perfect.

      If God calls people together to form a Church and the resulting Church does not function correctly, the problem must lie with the people within the Church. Some are living lives that are not sanctified (they gossip, fail to read the Scriptures, attend sporadically, fail to give, refuse to submit to God).

      St Paul often talks in his letters about the Body of Christ (often abbreviated to ‘the Body’). The idea is simple: under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, people come together to form a spiritual entity. The Spirit Himself gives the people spiritual gifts and an array of attractive social traits to act as the ‘glue’ that promotes the cohesion of the group.

      The soup was good because each ingredient was chosen carefully and then blended with professionalism. In the same way, God is wanting to use us to create a different work of art, Church.

Pentecost poem

The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre —
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire.
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

 

Pentecost

Pentecost
Today we feel the wind beneath our wings
Today the hidden fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes a Tongue of Praise.

This is the feast of fire, air, and water
Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself awakens to her maker
And is translated out of death to birth.

The right words come today in their right order
And every word spells freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses every border
All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace;

Today the lost are found in His translation.
Whose mother-tongue is Love, in every nation.  

Malcolm Guite

Picturing the Holy Spirit

God the Holy Spirit has no physical form or appearance, so we cannot see him with our physical eyes. But we can see his influence at work, if we know how and where to look.

       Paintings and other artwork often show him as a dove. This choice of image reflects the occasion when Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan and anointed by the Spirit (Mark 1:10, Matthew 3:16, and Luke 3:22): Jesus looked into the sky and saw heaven open, and the Holy Spirit descending on him in the form of a dove. Following the story of Jesus baptism, in Christian art, the Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove.

     Other common Bible images for the Holy Spirit include:

• Fire, which explains why red is the correct liturgical colour for the festivals of the Spirit.
• Wind. In the Old Testament, the same Hebrew word Ruach can be translated by either ‘wind’ or ‘Spirit’.

As a sign of office, a bishop wears on his head a mitre. Its shape symbolises the tongues of fire that appeared on the heads of the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:3)