Every weekday (Monday-Saturday) in Lent, I shall be posting a single verse of scripture followed by a very short thought relating the verse to the context of our lives at the moment. I have decided to do this for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I find it personally hugely helpful to intensely reflect on a short portion of scripture, often a verse only, and consider deeply the meaning of that verse for me. This is of course a form of monastic sacred reading, lectio divina, where we ‘dwell’ with a phrase and ruminate on it for an extended period of time. Out of this period of reflection comes deep challenge, but also deep comfort. And so I thought I would offer it to others. It is of course dangerous to take only a verse or two of scripture out of context like this, but for the purposes of lectio divina, it can be a hugely transformative experience and in fact lead us to desire to know more of where that verse comes in the narrative of Holy Scripture and thus can lead to a deeper understanding of scripture for our faith.

Secondly, scripture has to compete with a lot of other words at the moment, and so a short snippet is likely to ‘stay rooted’ more easily than a lengthy passage.

Thirdly, this is part of my Lenten discipline: to offer to others some fruit of my own daily work.

My prayers and blessings for a transformative Lent

Fr Christopher