All Saints, 1 November, 2024: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a In listening to the Gospel it can be as important to note what is not said, as what is said. Jesus does not say, “Blessed are they who sing on pitch”; nor does he say, “Blessed are they who never arrive late […]
Thursday of the 30th Week of the Year
A casual reading of the gospels would suggest that all the Pharisees were opposed to Jesus and were intent upon killing him. And yet we know that this is not true: Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was a secret disciple of Jesus, and Gamaliel, another Pharisee, defended Jesus’ apostles before the Sanhedrin. So too, we have just […]
Thursday of the 27th Week
As Saint Paul reminds the Galatians, it is through faith that we receive the Spirt, while in relation to today’s gospel, faith assures us that if we ask we will receive, and if we knock the door will be opened. In a somewhat paradoxical fashion, faith is also what we exercise in asking for a […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
Not one who has begun, but one who shall persevere unto the end, they shall be saved. There are many who begin, few who persevere. Perseverance is the singular daughter of the high king, the goal of virtues and their consummation, repository of all good, a virtue without which no one shall see God, nor shall one […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 26th Sunday
26th SUN, YR B: Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 Hasn’t our social media allowed us to organize ourselves into like-minded tribes, affirming our comfort zone and excluding those who disagree with us? Are we that insecure in our beliefs and prejudices that we cannot tolerate differing opinions? John in today’s Gospel didn’t […]
Wednesday of the 25th Week of the Year
It is well to remember that monastic asceticism is less about denying oneself pleasure and embracing hardship, and more about reestablishing that original God-intended harmony between the body and the soul, and the spirit and the flesh. Our reading from Proverbs expresses this goal in terms of seeking neither poverty nor riches, but only the […]
24th Sunday of the Year
There are times in our lives when, with the best of intentions, we foolishly reassure a suffering friend that we understand his/her pain and misery even though we have had no similar experience. And when the cause of a friend’s suffering is extremely traumatic or bears no similarity to anything we have undergone, we have […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Exaltation of the Cross
14 September: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross: Numbers 21:4b-9; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17 The Son of Man is first mentioned in the Book of Daniel as a heavenly figure riding on the clouds to ascend further to the very throne of God. And Jesus explains himself to Nicodemus as the Son of Man. But […]
Thursday of the 23rd Week
Jesus’ quoting of the “Golden Rule” according to which we are to do to others as we would have them do to us, is usually the opposite of what we are inclined to do—that is, treat others as they treat us. Thus, a strike on the cheek, is reciprocated in kind, and a curse is […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
I am now able to see what I must seek for and receive before I may hope to attain to a higher and holier state. I do not wish to be suddenly on the heights, my desire is to advance by degrees. The impudence of the sinner displeases God as much as the modesty of […]