We celebrate the Trinity in the liturgy not as a recollection of some past event but as the matrix of all that we celebrate. This Solemnity reminds me that all our liturgical celebrations are not pageants evoking incidents past and gone but are encounters with the deepest realities, still unfolding, still defining our destinies. […]
Extraordinary Times
Although we have resumed liturgical “Ordinary Time” there is little ordinary about these times as we continue to remember and pray for all you our friends in the ongoing crisis relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many parishes in the diocese have begun offering public access to Sunday and Weekday Masses, the vulnerability of most […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
Through Christ [God] forgives everything, through the Spirit he charges us with nothing.… And so Christ is in a certain sense the mediator for justice, while the Spirit is the mediator for friendship. Christ mediates for truth, the Spirit for charity; Christ for forgiveness, the Spirit for safeguarding; Christ for mercy, the Spirit for perseverance; […]
Ninth Week of the Year
I suspect that we may all have either yielded to flattery or employed this, often, manipulative psychological tool for selfish ends. As one would expect, Jesus, neither yields to, nor resorts to, flattery in his dealings with others. The Pharisees and Herodians are certainly accurate when they say we know that you are a truthful […]
Saturday of the 7th Week of Easter
Although by nature some are more inquisitive, it is also true that inordinate curiosity can be indicative of the desire to distract oneself from the unpleasantness of one’s inner state. Not minding your own business but busying yourself with that of others can thus serve as a welcome distraction from the difficult interior work associated […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the Ascension
We have all had those sad and painful moments at airports, train stations, or before the car pulls out of the driveway carrying a loved one away from us. Saint Luke doesn’t make clear whether this apparent final parting of the Risen Christ from his gathered disciples was an occasion of sadness, perplexity, or dread. […]
Saturday, 6th Week of Easter
As Christians we can sometimes struggle to reconcile the true face of God revealed in Jesus Christ with many of the images created by the Old Testament scriptures. Certain understandings of Christ’s mediation between us and the Father, give the impression of Jesus being the kinder and more compassionate—indeed, at times pictured as holding back […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter
As we proceed through the Easter Season, the Holy Spirit emerges more and more in the readings, and the Gospels have returned to Saint John’s account of the Last Supper. It’s not that there are too few accounts of the Lord’s Resurrection; rather it’s the circular nature of the liturgy. I suspect that is foreign […]
Saturday of the 5th Week of Easter
The lives of the saints can sometimes be thought of, not only as holy, but also imbued with a clear sense and knowledge of God’s will and a fine attunement to the Spirit’s leading. Our first reading leaves us with a different picture: Paul’s decisions and movements in preaching the gospel seem almost haphazard. Firstly, […]
Saturday of the 4th Week of Easter
The spiritual masters warn us that overcoming some of the vices involves a twofold process—first the physical, tangible, and worldly, and second the spiritual expressions of the same vices. Thus, there can be physical gluttony for the delights of the palate and spiritual gluttony for the consolations of the soul. Jealousy is no exception, and […]