Monastery of Our Lady and St. Bernard

Brownshill, Stroud GL6 8AL

Bernardine Cistercian Sisters

EASTERTIDE

“And the Sun had already risen, Alleluia!”

I HAVE RISEN AND I AM WITH YOU ONCE MORE.”

To believe means to abandon oneself to the truth of the living God, knowing and humbly recognising “how unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways.”
(Redemptoris Mater)

Easter is a time of hope; despite the darkness in ourselves and in the world around us there is a light breaking through, a light which tells us that however distant God may seem, Our Lord is in our midst, he calls us by name, he comes to us in the darkness on the lake and by the shore, and he walks with us in the evening opening to us the scriptures and breaking with us the Bread and Wine, his Body and Blood. Christmas and Easter come together.

And is it true and is it true,
That wonderful tale of old
That God became Man in Palestine,
And stays with us in Bread and Wine.
(Betjeman)

“Do not be afraid, it is I!”

Beyond obedience, its attention fixed
on the goal, freedom from fear.
Beyond fear, openness to life.
And beyond that, love.
(Markings Dag Hammerskold)

To know the “It is I”, and to have the courage to row towards the shore. To embrace life fully, with both arms wide open to receive and give love. But just as we don’t know where the Spirit will move so we don’t know when he is going to be there. We just keep rowing towards the shore without fear.