Peter and John’s journey to Samaria and their praying for the bestowal of the Holy Spirit on those who had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus highlights one of two clear instances in the Book of Acts in which the effects of Baptism—that first sacrament we all received—don’t always follow the […]
Friday of the 5th Week of Easter
Memorial of the Cistercian Martyrs of Atlas: The unredeemed ego—also known as the false self—readily co‑opts even spiritual gifts and graces to prop up its fragile and ever‑anxious sense of identity. It treats gifts as possessions, using them to secure worth rather than to serve love. By contrast, the redeemed ego—the self whose true identity […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
In this wretched and toilsome life, it is essential that Martha be present in our house – that is to say, that our soul attend to physical activities. For as long as we have a need to eat and drink, we have a need to labor. As long as we are tempted by physical delights, […]
Wednesday of the 5th Week of Easter
All too often holiness is equated simply with overcoming vice and cultivating virtue. And although this is surely central and integral to holiness it is not all that holiness entails. In his image and analogy of the vine and the branches Jesus says that every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter
Although perhaps less common today, Lent has long been associated with giving things up and denying ourselves. Such self‑denial has been practiced either as reparation for sin or as a way of strengthening our weakened wills, freeing them from enslavement to inordinate desire and the pursuit of pleasure. And when Saint Benedict says that the […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
I have found him whom my soul loves: I grasp him and will not let him go. I embrace you, my Jesus, and experience the joy of my love. I encompass you, the treasure of my heart, from whom I have all that is mine. May my mind feel, I beg you, the power of […]
Fr. James’ Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday
12 April, 2026:–Second Sunday of Easter, Year A: Acts 2:42-47; 1Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 Thomas was willing to follow Jesus to Jerusalem to die with him (Jn 11:16). But at his arrest, Jesus said, “…let these men go.” Did Thomas realize then that Jesus was called to something unique, if unknown to Thomas; that it […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the Easter Vigil
We have spent these last six weeks of Lent in a spirit of repentance, sorrow, and lament for our many sins and failings. Indeed, these final days have focused especially on the great price that Christ lovingly paid for our sins and our salvation. Somewhat suddenly, then, on this holy night of the Lord’s rising, […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for Holy Thursday
The impassioned feelings and sometimes heated controversies surrounding the Novus Ordo and the Vetus Ordo of pre–Vatican II worship highlight the complex nature and sacred purpose of the Eucharist whose institution we celebrate this evening. The relatively simple and pared‑down Novus Ordo might even be considered elaborate when set beside the utter simplicity of that […]
Tuesday in Passiontide
The cry of Jesus on the cross—my God, my God, why have you forsaken me—seems to dispute Jesus’ claim (in today’s gospel) that the Father is always with him and has not left him alone. And while we can only speculate on the inner state of Jesus revealed by that heartfelt cry, it can serve […]