As we suspected, our fruitcakes in the Gift Shop are now ALL SOLD OUT. We apologize for those who may not be able to purchase a fruitcake this year. Please remember that our cakes are still available online at monasteryfruitcake.org—at least as of 12/21/22. Christmas Eve Vigils & Mass Saturday evening at 8.30 p.m. and […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A, 18 December, 2022: Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24 Is Advent the commemoration of events past, an exercise in nostalgia? Does Advent celebrate God’s salvific engagement in the messiness of being human or is it merely a distraction from our current problems, fears, doubts and questions? Or could […]
Thursday of the 3rd Week of Advent
Isaiah’s images of the barren, deserted, and childless wife, and the wife who has both a husband and children, can be understood as images reflecting the work of grace in the case of the former, and unaided human effort in the case of the latter. However, the now more numerous children of the formerly barren […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Advent
Second Sunday of Advent, Year A, 4 December, 2022: Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12 Certainly, Jesus is never afraid to confront bigotry and hypocrisy, nor does he avoid talking about judgment or the consequences of sin. But there is a palpable contrast between the teaching of Jesus and the fiery harangues of John […]
Feast of Saint Francis Xavier
Christ’s call to follow him implies walking behind him and tracing his footsteps—as it were. However, while this is surely true in the early stages of discipleship, a verse from our first reading suggests that this initial following becomes a “walking with” Jesus, rather than following on behind him. For in assuring us that our […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
As for me, as long as I look at myself, my eye is filled with bitterness. But if I look up and fix my eyes on the aid of the divine mercy, this happy vision of God soon tempers the bitter vision of myself, and I say to him: “I am disturbed within so I […]
Fr. James’ Homily for Christ the King
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, 20 November, 2022: 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 21:35-43 I offer you two images of Kingship found in today’s readings and pictured in this chapel. The first, from the Letter to the Colossians is depicted in the Madonna standing behind our choir. Here we […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 33rd Sunday
Thirty-third Sunday, Year C, 13 November, 2022: Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19 At the end of the Liturgical year, we celebrate cryptic gospels forecasting doom. To what does Jesus refer? The destruction of Jerusalem? The judgment of God? The advent of the Messianic age? The end of the world? By the time […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Mothers
My sweetest Jesus, revive my listless spirit in You now, in Your death restore to me a life lived for You alone. Grant me a way of life corresponding worthily to the price of Your blood. Grant me a spirit that savors You, senses that sense You, a soul that understands Your will, virtue that […]
Fr. James’ Homily for All Saints
ALL Saints, Monday 1 November, 2022: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a There is a perspective on the Beatitudes—being poor, mourning or hungering, experiencing persecution—that could seem depressing. And then how many people do we see in our society who are actually meek, merciful or clean of heart? They would not be […]