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 […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 30th Sunday
In listening to this morning’s gospel, we perhaps find ourselves spontaneously identifying with the Tax Collector, and not with the proud Pharisee. Objectively, of course, this would be to acknowledge the truth of our situation, whereas adopting the pompous attitude of the Pharisee would be delusional. However, it is probably closer to the truth to […]
Saint Teresa of Jesus
Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is an extreme version of our constant thwarting or quenching the Holy Spirit—something Saint Paul warned against. And whereas blaspheming against the Holy Spirit almost has to be conscious, our quenching or thwarting the Holy Spirit is often unconscious. Our struggle towards that seemingly elusive goal of continuous prayer, is […]
Wednesday of the 27th Week
Given his triple denial of Christ and his apparent moral cowardice—as exemplified in today’s first reading—Peter seems an unlikely candidate for sainthood. However, there is one thing that explains why he became Saint Peter: And that is that he was able to accept correction and reproof without making excuses for his behavior or trying to […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 27th Sunday
In contrast to Luke (in today’s gospel) Saint Matthew records Jesus saying that faith the size of a tiny mustard seed will move mountains—and not just a little mulberry tree! How tiny must our faith be, then, if even uprooting a mulberry tree and planting it in the sea is beyond us? Needless to say, […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
Let us, along with the disciples, now follow the Lord as he goes to the wedding. Then, as we see what he was going to do, we may believe along with them. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Being merciful, being extremely kind, she felt […]
Saint Jerome
According to Saint Jerome, ignorance of the scriptures, is ignorance of Christ. It is worth noting that he said ignorance of Christ and not ignorance of his teachings or philosophy. We need to remember this in our lectio divina and that the sacred text is the privileged medium through which Christ reveals himself to us. […]