There are some things about which we are uncertain whether God wills them or not, so we must not really want them or deeply reject them. … it is certainly here in the middle that the whole danger lies … we seduce ourselves by faithless flattering and coaxing in order to pretend that we are […]
Friday of the 21st Week
Unlike yesterday’s parable about the need to stay awake, all ten virgins (the wise and the foolish) do actually fall asleep. However, this is not what excludes the foolish ones from the wedding feast, but the fact that by not bringing extra oil they were not there to greet the arrival of the bridegroom. Perhaps […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Solemnity of Saint Bernard
Solemnity of Saint Bernard: Sirach 3:17-24; Ephesians 3:14-19; Matthew 11:25-30 I remember an academic guest speaker, when I was a novice, who dismissed Saint Bernard’s confessions of being a sinner as something a pious writer “had to say.” But I don’t think Bernard was putting on an act since he described himself as the […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Assumption
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10b; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56 Alphonsus Ligouri was not prone to moderate his baroque extravagance when writing about the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, when he considered the end of her earthly life, his opinion was sober. If the eternal Word of […]
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
I suspect that we have all experienced shame for some of the things we have done in our lives. Shame, like embarrassment, is to be distinguished from guilt or sorrow for sin. Shame is primarily self-focused, whereas guilt typically incorporates those we have sinned against. And although shame and embarrassment seem to be the opposite […]
A Reelection at Holy Cross Abbey
This morning, following a Holy Mass invoking the Holy Spirit, Abbot Joseph (having completed his first term of six years) was re-elected Abbot of Holy Cross Abbey, for a new six-year term. This grace-filled and peaceful event was presided over by Dom Vincent Rogers OCSO, abbot of Saint Joseph’s Abbey, and Father Immediate to our […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 19th Sunday
Nineteenth Sunday, Year C, 7 August, 2022: Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48 As Jesus invites us to change, watching for a future as yet undisclosed, he addresses us from a dynamic central to Judaism’s engagement with the living God. Stuck in a dead end—be it idolatry, bondage in Egypt, exile in Babylon, […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
Not only is Christ’s mercy celebrated, but his judgment as well, because even if he learned compassion from the things that he suffered so that he was merciful, he had also the power of judgment. In short, our God is a consuming fire. How can sinners not fear to come near? As sure as wax […]
Feast of the Transfiguration
Visions and other mystical phenomena are sometimes construed as proofs of holiness and being specially favored by God. Today’s feast gives us pause, however, when we consider Peter, James, and John at the time of their privileged witnessing of Christ’s transfiguration. Although much would change after the resurrection and the Pentecost event, these were still […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 17th Sunday
Christ breathing his last on the cross amid the jeers and cruel mocking of those who crucified him, epitomizes what seems to be the weakness and powerlessness of good in the face of the apparently overwhelming power of evil. Again and again in the long and violent history of humanity, evil tyrants, dictators, and corrupt […]