Pontifical Beda College

It has ever been my delight to learn or to teach or to write. (Bede the Venerable)

When Aaron Copland took a Shaker melody and made it part of his Appalachian Spring Suite, The Gift to be simple as the tune was originally known became Simple Gifts  - you may know it as the music for the popular hymn   Lord of the dance.
 
Bede was a learned man, wise in many areas of theology and science and yet, when he  looks back upon his life he reflects that, although he may not have travelled far or done anything memorable or (in his eyes) notable with his days, he did find a ‘delight’, an awareness of life which was deeper and more long lasting than any transient, passing, fleeting, pleasure.

We are not all called to the monastic vocation but surely we are all called to find delight in the relationships which support us, the tasks of everyday and the opportunities given to us every day to learn – to deepen our understanding of  ourselves, about others and ultimately about the purpose which God has for us in our particular place and time. May we rejoice in the simple gifts and in our turn be a bearer of those gifts to others, by whatever means we are able.
 
On behalf of the whole Beda Community I wish you most sincerely,  HAPPY FEAST !
                                           Father Philip

The Rector's May article for the Catholic Pictorial is here