What frightens you?
When I was a child, I was frightened of the Cross.
The crucifix - that is, the image of the cross with the crucified Jesus - in the church I attended as a child, was a very powerful piece of art. I wish I could show you a picture of it. Made of bronze, it shows Our Lord with his head bowed in death. One other detail I can remember is that His right foot is bent round, so that the nail can pierce both His feet.*
As we prepare to celebrate the patronal feast day of St Benedict this Friday 21 March, I want to talk to you about an important principle found in the Rule of St Benedict, which has shaped Christian hospitality for centuries: the idea of welcoming the stranger.
I don’t know if you’ve seen any good films recently. I don’t go to the cinema very often, but there is a movie which has just been released which I simply must see, and that is A Complete Unknown, the biopic of the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, starring Timothée Chalamet.
This week’s theme for the school is Veritas - Truth, and we heard in this week's assembly, a reflection on this theme and its application to the Christian life.
All people who follow a religion believe that there is such a thing as an objective Truth. Christians believe that this Truth (with a capital T) has its identity in the person of Jesus Christ.
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Did you know that when cows stand up they get on their knees first?
There is an old folk tradition in this country which says that every Christmas night, all over the world the cattle in their barns kneel down in honour of the birth of Jesus, just as, tradition has it, the oxen did in Bethlehem on that first Christmas night over two thousand years ago.
You heard earlier about the Benedictine value of balance, and its importance in our lives. Whether or not we are Catholic, I think we can all agree that it is important to establish, and then maintain, balance in our lives.
I’m sure that you’re aware that here in the UK we will be having a General Election on the 4 July this year. This is an election to choose the government, that is the group of people who run the country for the next 5 years.
I want you to do something for me – everyone: students and adults. I want you to close your eyes and try to remember a time when you were angry. Can you remember what it was which made you feel angry? Can you recall how you felt? Did the experience maybe have a physical as well as an emotional effect on you: did you feel your pulse getting quicker? Did the blood rush to your face?
They say that great minds think alike, and while I’d be the last person to claim to have a great mind, I was fascinated by the words of Fr Alexander – who definitely does have a great mind - in our beginning of term Mass on Monday. If you remember, he spoke about the incredible Shroud of Turin and how it represents physical evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus as a historical event. I didn’t know what Fr Alexander was going to say on Monday, but when I heard his homily I realised that I had been thinking along similar lines to him in terms of what to say to you at the start of this term.