BOOK REVIEW : Praying the Psalms by Thomas Merton

Abbey of Gethsemani – August 1962 by Pimon Singhasin

Since starting at St Giles-in-the-Fields I think have said more psalms each day than ever before! The Book of Common Prayer is the basis for all the liturgy here. In it, all 150 psalms are said consecutively, with the Psalter dividing the text into sixty groups of Psalms to be said each day of the month at Morning and Evening Prayer.  When a month has thirty one days, the psalms set for the thirtieth day are repeated. 

‘Praying the Psalms’ is a short essay by the Catholic Priest and Trappist Monk Thomas Merton. In it he offers advice on how to gain a “lived sense” of the Psalms - something he says is vital if we are to truly pray with them. 

Sermon - Saints and Sinners: Revised and Edited

Icon by Olya Kravchenko (Ukrainian, 1985–)

Sermon given at the Choral Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook celebrating the Feast of All Saints on Thursday 3rd November 2022. A version of this sermon was also preached at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 30th October and St Sepulchure-without-Newgate on Tuesday 1st November 2022. (All Saints Day, Year C) based on readings from Ephesians 1.11-end and Luke 6.20-31.

Start:Stop - The Long Road to Damascus

The Conversion of Paul by Hyatt Moore

Hello, my name is Phillip Dawson, welcome to our Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture.

This week the church celebrates the conversion of St Paul. The feast, on 25th January, also marks the end of the Week of Prayer of Christian Unity.

The drama of Paul’s road to Damascus experience is told in Chapter 9 of Acts of the Apostles, but also in Paul’s own words in his letter to the Galatians - a letter he wrote to defend his mission to the gentiles, under attack from Christians from Jerusalem who wanted gentile converts to the faith to observe Jewish practices and laws. 

In the letter, Paul’s first hand account of his experience suggests that while his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was life-changing, the process of his conversion, which we celebrate this week, was only just beginning. 

Lent Quiet Hour - Week 1

Poems, prayers and readings for our Lent Quiet Hours in the week after Ash Wednesday.

Advent Quiet Hour - Week 2

St John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci

The season of Advent has been set aside as a time of preparation for Christmas since at least the last half of the sixth century. Advent comes from the Latin word adventus meaning “coming.” Advent begins the church year, starting four Sundays before Christmas. Advent is a time for self-examination and asking for forgiveness as the church prepares to celebrate the incarnation of God at Christmas. Take time out during your commute to work to spend a few moments in stillness and prayer during our Advent Quiet Hour on Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 8am-9am. The readings, prayers, poems and practices in this leaflet may be helpful. Please take this sheet away with you.

BOOK REVIEW - A Clergyman's Daughter by George Orwell

Written more like a screenplay than a novel, with five distinct acts and narration which ‘breaks the fourth wall,’ Orwell is said to have dismissed this early (1935) novel as “bollocks” – not a word that would be in the vocabulary of the titular anti-heroine, Dorothy Hare.

Les Cinq Vierges by Thomas Merton

Alla Nazimova performs the dance of the seven veils in Charles Bryant’s Beardsley-inspired Salomé (1923)

This month marks fifty years since the death of Thomas Merton who has been described as the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century. This poem - one of four written in French - appears to bring the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids into the twentieth century in more ways than one.

Start:Stop-The Stilling of the Storm

Sieger Koder - Stilling the Storm

Thank you for joining us for Start:Stop. This reflection will last around ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates. We begin with a short bible reading which can be found on page 8 of the New Testament section of the bibles.

New Seeds of Contemplation – Have they taken root?!

This is the transcript of my 30 minute talk on the “contemplative tradition” of Thomas Merton, delivered as part of a course at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction. My talk followed one given by another student, who spoke about Eckhart von Hochheim OP, commonly known as Meister Eckhart.