St Benedict thought that monks needed stability in
order to grow in holiness. If they were always chopping and changing and moving
around, they would eventually end up following their own desires and forgetting
why they had become monks at all.
In our world there are many different calls on our
attention, many different definitions of success, a lot of moving from place to
place. But the image the psalmist chooses for the blessed is a tree with deep
roots, which stands firm and draws its strength from living water. It is from
that firm foundation that it grows and prospers and bears good fruit.
When the storm comes it is anchored in its place,
and when the drought comes it is still fed by a dependable stream. But the
chaff which is lying on the ground is will be swept away by every gust of wind.
The blessed do not simply obey God’s law, but
delight in it. When we meditate on God’s word and centre our lives on it we
discover that it is like the fresh water that feeds the tree. To abide in God
is not a constraint or a punishment: it is our joy and our life.
May God teach us today to delight in his law.
Que Dieu nous apprenne
aujourd’hui à jouir de sa loi.
Philip
Milton
Collect
God of peace,
who gave such grace to your servant Edward King
that whomever he met he drew to Christ:
fill us, we pray, with tender sympathy and joyful
faith,
that we also may win others to know the love that
passes knowledge;
through him who is the shepherd and guardian of our souls,
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.
Amen
Description: Monument to Bishop Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln 1885 - 1910, bronze modelling by W.B.Richmond in 1913. Bishop King presides over the greater south transept below the Bishop's Eye.
Attribution: By Richard Croft, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
Attribution: By Richard Croft, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
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