There are cracks everywhere: in the ceiling and the arches, in the earth, in the institutions, in the people.
And our response to these cracks: we keep Lent again. We tell each story as if for the first time. We count each encounter.
Listen with the ear of your heart: Benedict begins The Rule that way. It’s simple enough.
Jesus goes up a mountain. Heaven breaks through. There are cracks but they can be filled with light and glory: remember.
And then he comes down. It is not the end of the story. Even if it is a good reason for going up mountains it is not a good enough reason never to come down again.
At the bottom of the mountain, I am still drawn there, to another encounter. This one counts for me. The excluded child and family; feared and fearful. Both faith and doubt need help: both have their cracks. The listening one listens and another glory fills the fragile lives of that family.
The story does not end there. More cracks to come, and more glory. As the sun streamed into the Abbey church later many of the cracks were filled with warm coloured light from the windows. Jesus: everything he’s cracked up to be.
In our life and our believing
The love of God
JAL 17.03.2019
Ampleforth Abbey