Words on the Word

Erik Varden is a monk and bishop, born in Norway in 1974. In 2002, after ten years at the University of Cambridge, he joined Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Charnwood Forest. Pope Francis named him bishop of Trondheim in 2019.

Please find below a selection of homilies:

Bruckner There’s a sequence in the recording of Celibidache’s rehearsal for his 1992 performance of Bruckner’s Seventh with the Berlin Philharmonic in which the maestro three times shouts, ‘Viola!’ as if his life, no, as if the structure of the universe Read More
On Baptism – Conversation with Tibor Görföl
On Baptism – Conversation with Tibor Görföl
Last autumn I had a lengthy conversation with Dr Tibor Görföl from Communio on baptism. The text of our exchange is now being published in the various language editions of the journal. Below you can find it in English and Read More
Conversation with Ulises Rodríguez
Conversation with Ulises Rodríguez
Last summer I was interviewed by Ulises Rodríguez for his interesting, content-rich podcast La Encrucijada, which aims to be a place where philosophy, science and theology can meet. Our encounter, broadcast recently, touched on the following principal topics and questions:
What’s Read More
St Joseph
St Joseph
2 Sam 7.4-16 Your throne will be established for ever.
Rom 4.13-22 The promise depends on faith.
Mt 1.16-24 Joseph did what the angel of the Lord commanded.
God entrusted our Saviour to the care of St Joseph. St Joseph was no doubt an Read More
Desert Fathers 12
Desert Fathers 12
Below is the text of the twelfth episode in the series Desert Fathers in a Year. You can find it in video format here – a dedicated page – and pick it up in audio wherever you listen to podcasts. Read More
2. Sunday of Lent C
2. Sunday of Lent C
Gen 15.5-18: Terror seized him, great darkness.
Phil 3.17-4.1: Our homeland is in heaven. 
Luke 9.28-36: The aspect of his face was changed.
In the Gospel narrative, the transfiguration on the mountain represents an exception. We otherwise see Jesus from conception to death Read More
Sign of Jonah
Sign of Jonah
Luke 11.29-32: The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah.
What is the sign of Jonah? It refers to resurrection, of course. Jonah’s three days spent in the belly of the whale is a figure of Christ’s Read More
Desert Fathers 11
Desert Fathers 11
Below is the text of the eleventh episode in the series Desert Fathers in a Year. You can find it in video format here – a dedicated page – and pick it up in audio wherever you listen to podcasts. Read More