Thought for the Day – 25 May
This St Bede, this is a life of total self-giving in love!
It sounds to our ears to be a boring, closed, narrow existence –
ever occupied with learning, writing and teaching.
Almost from the time of his entry to study in the monastery as a young child,
until he died, he managed to remain in his own monastery,
although eagerly sought by kings and other notables, even Pope Sergius
Only once did he leave for a few months in order to teach in the school
of the Archbishop of York.
And amazingly, here was a saint who worked no miracles,
saw no visions and found no new way to God BUT
he is one of the few saints honoured as such even during his lifetime.
His writings were filled with such faith and learning
that even while he was still alive, a Church council
ordered them to be read publicly in the churches.
And he said of his life,
“I have spent the whole of my life . . . devoting all of my pains to the study of the Scriptures and amid the observances of monastic discipline and the daily task of singing in church, it has ever been my delight to learn or teach or write.”
St Bede died in 735 praying his favourite prayer:
“Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit. As in the beginning, so now, and forever.”
We remember and honour him as a Doctor of the Church,
so many centuries have gone by, the world in which we live is such a different place and still he teaches us from his eternal monastery in heaven!
St Bede the Venerable, please pray for us!
AnaStpaul 