• Home
  • About
    • Monastic Life
    • Gallery
    • History
      • Holy Cross Abbey
      • Cistercian Order
      • Property and Battlefield
    • FAQs
    • Videos
  • Take Part
    • Pray with us
    • Visit
      • Service Times
      • Directions
    • Vocation
    • Lay Members
  • Vocation
  • Retreat House
    • Testimonials
  • Cemetery
    • Overview
    • Stones
    • Rules Overview
    • Pricing
  • Store
    • Gift Shop / Porter’s Cottage
    • Bakery Products
    • Webstore
  • Updates
    • News
    • Liturgy
    • Abbot’s Lectio Post
  • Contact

Holy Cross Abbey

901 Cool Spring Lane Berryville, Virginia 22611

Support Us
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Feast of Saint Luke

October 19, 2021 by Fr Joseph

Abiding inner peace is an apparently elusive state and, typically, whatever peace does momentarily settle in our unsettled hearts is all too easily disturbed by people and circumstances outside ourselves. Accordingly, when in a state of inner peace, we encounter someone who is aggressive, angry, or irritated, our peace which was perhaps radiating from us, does not survive the encounter and (contrary to Jesus’ injunction) does not return to us. Instead, the other’s negative and disturbed state of mind and heart invades our hearts and destroys our earlier inner peace. In this we are unlike Saint Paul whose inner peace remained undisturbed even by the malice of Alexander the coppersmith, or by those brothers who deserted him at the first hearing of his trial. He was able to respond in this way, not because he had developed a “thick skin” impervious to insult and hurt, but because he had reached that blessed state when (to use his own words) I no longer live but Christ lives in me. And it was his beloved Lord, whose presence completely filled his heart, that made Paul’s inner peace a permanent state. In us, by contrast, Christ is expected to find space within our cluttered and divided hearts in which we still seek peace and contentment in the passing things of this world—things that sometimes drive him from our hearts. May the holy physician, Saint Luke, thus intercede for us in our efforts towards that purity of heart in which Christ reigns as Lord and King and bestows that peace and joy that no one can take from us.

Share

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Documentary Trailer

Watch the full-length documentary on the videos page.

More Video

Support Us with a Donation

Contact Us

Newsletter Signup

Holy Cross Abbey

901 Cool Spring Lane
Berryville, Virginia 22611-2700
Phone: (540) 955-4383

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Quicklinks

  • Cemetery
  • Retreats
  • Directions
  • Links
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Get Involved

  • Pray with us
  • Visit
  • Vocation
  • Support Us

Copyright © Holy Cross Abbey - All Rights Reserved
Website Development and Management by MarketSpark
Maintenance Log -  Webmail -  Admin