Holy Trinity Broadstairs

Dear Friends

Sometimes when I have been talking to someone about my study leave they have made a comment about enjoying my time off. Well, I can assure you that two weeks in a monastery have been anything but 'time off'! Each day is very much the same in shape beginning at 6.30am until Night Prayer at 8.30pm. The monks each have a late morning once a month and an occasional day off, otherwise their day is focused on prayer, study and reading, with the necessary domestic tasks fitted around that. I know it will have taken me some days to get fully into the routine but it was hard work and tiring. However it's also liberating, being freed from the usual round of busyness and social events; I don't think I have ever spent so much time in prayer! The monks were very generous, allowing me to enter fully into their life, including the cleaning, and to get a good insight into what it means to live the religious life. In March I will be visiting some other religious houses to compare them with the one I know well. The rule of St. Benedict is based on a rigorous aesthetic life which monks must follow if they are to attain true holiness. For its day it is a kind rule which cares for the needs of the weaker members of the community. For example monks who are sick or doing very heavy work might need extra meat, but the other monks must not envy them or think they are receiving special treatment. Visitors are to be greeted as if they are Christ and welcomed. And so on. Most of us leading a 'normal' secular life find it impossible to keep these high standards, although with a little imagination the underlying principles can be applied to our lives.

Do you have a rule of life? This can be very simple or more complex, but perhaps this Lent might be an opportunity for you to think about this, and consider whether or not you need to either form a rule for yourself, or to revise one you might have been following, but have lapsed.

Whilst you are doing this and enjoying the disciplines of Lent, Chris and I will be travelling in Uganda (28c on average) and discovering something of the life of ordinary people there, and how the church impacts on them. I will send a blog as often as I can which you can follow through the link of the website.

May God bless you this Lent as we prepare to celebrate the new life offered to us in Christ at Easter.

Fr. David