Today, January 12, is the feast day of St. Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx. Aelred is close to our hearts. His birthplace is our birthplace. The community which evolved to be Lindisfarne began in Hexham, Northumberland in 1994 in the home of our good friends Stuart and Jenny Raistrick. Aelred’s heart is our heart — to be friends of God and friends to each other — to be Celi Dei. “Friends of God” was used of the early Irish and English saints, of Celtic spiritual renewal and of the later English mystics (The Cloud of Unknowing etc.). In Lindisfarne we seek to emulate that simple idea. This is the collect for St. Aelred’s day:
Almighty God,
who endowed Aelred the abbot
with the gift of Christian friendship
and the wisdom to lead others in the way of holiness;
grant to your people that same spirit of mutual affection
so that, in loving one another,
we may know the love of Christ
and rejoice in the eternal possession
of your supreme goodness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
+ Ab. Andrew
Almighty God,
who endowed Aelred the abbot
with the gift of Christian friendship
and the wisdom to lead others in the way of holiness;
grant to your people that same spirit of mutual affection
so that, in loving one another,
we may know the love of Christ
and rejoice in the eternal possession
of your supreme goodness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
+ Ab. Andrew