The Holy Work of Mother Bees
This short extract from my next writing project is appropriate for this evening. It comes in the midst of my discussing the connection within the Catholic tradition between God and nature:
“The Exsultet, sung in many churches at the Easter Vigil, captures something of the sense of creation being mysteriously close to God. The Exsultet is a long chant that rejoices in the victory of Easter and involves the blessing of the Paschal Candle, itself symbolic of the light of Christ. It’s full of majestic language about Christ’s resurrection and the overcoming of darkness by light. In the midst of this high theology, the chanter sings:
But now we know the praises of this pillar,
which glowing fire ignites for God’s honour,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees
to build a torch so precious.
The image of mother bees building the precious Paschal Candle with their wax immediately grounds the exalted language about God and redemption in the ordinary activity of insects. That’s what I love about Catholicism—we can’t even celebrate Easter without including the bees.”
So, if you’re attending the Easter Eve service tonight, take a moment to give thanks to Mother Bee.
Weekly Podcast
- Episode 14 - Inhabiting Paradoxes May 8, 2020In the final episode of Paradoxes in an Ancient Landscape, Mark considers what it means to inhabit paradoxes. Introducing the Welsh ideas of hiraeth (longing) and tangnefedd (peace), he identifies living within the paradoxes of our faith with the Sabbath rest where our hearts can settle and we discover our true home. --- Send in a voice message: https://podc […]
- Episode 13 - A Nuptial Faith May 6, 2020The paradoxes encountered on Cadair Idris offer a timely lesson about a central feature of the Christian faith: that God created seemingly opposing things--heaven and earth, sun and moon, land and water, man and woman--to share in a kind of nuptial unity. Paradoxes compel us to understanding difference in terms not of opposition but of marriage joined togeth […]
- Episode 12 - The Eucharist May 1, 2020As Mark returns home from Cadair Idris, he considers how all the wonders he had seen consisted of the most commonplace materials: water, earth, air, and fire. Natural wonders always consist of ordinary things and costs the earth nothing, unlike our own attempts a creating marvels. This episode concludes with a reflection on the Eucharist in which the wonder […]
- Episode 11 - The Commonplace April 29, 2020As Mark heads down Cadair Idris and back to civilization, he reflects on the ordinary and the commonplace. Despite our thirst for wonders and extraordinary experiences, it's actually in the everyday and commonplace that we grow and flourish. Christ's own life as an ordinary craftsman teaches us to be content with our commonplace lives and to embrac […]
- Episode 10 - Wonder April 24, 2020Mark finally makes it to the summit of Cadair Idris and takes in the amazing views all around them. Reflecting on the nature of wonder, he argues that our world needs to rediscover a "sense of wonder" in order to escape loneliness and our incessant need to tinker with creation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ma […]
- Episode 9 - Baptism April 22, 2020Mark uses the Norman font at Brecon Cathedral to discuss how the paradox of silence and words are resolved in baptism and how they have been related to the Incarnation of Christ. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 8 - Words April 17, 2020Cadair Idris is a mountain of myths and legends: the chair of the giant Idris Gawr and the hunting grounds of Gwyn ap Nudd's hounds. Mark considers how words inscribed into landscapes become explosive, shaping us in fundamental ways. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 7 – Silence April 15, 2020What’s more silent than a mountain on a still night? Mark ponders the silence he experienced as he sat by his tent in Cwm Cau on Cadair Idris and what it tells us about our own inner silence and the silence we know as God. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 6 - The Incarnation April 10, 2020Reflecting on the juxtaposition of thick-history situated within changeless landscapes, Mark discusses what the paradox of eternity and time tell us about Jesus Christ. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 5 - History April 8, 2020Mark recounts his walk from the Dysynni Valley where the layers of history stretching back to the Bronze Age hold important lessons about place, thick-time, and our care for the earth. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
Convivium 