Sixteenth Sunday, Year C, 17 July, 2022: Genesis 18:1-10a; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42 Today’s succinct Gospel is richly detailed, details well worth exploring. Martha, who welcomes Jesus, is mentioned first so perhaps she is the head of this household. If she is prosperous enough to offer hospitality, she is not rich enough to […]
A Word from Saint Gertrude the Great
“O God of my life, I do not know how I may worthily praise you or with what I may reward you, my beloved, for all the good with which you have rewarded me. Consequently, I offer you in me, and me in you, my cherished Jesus, as a holocaust of praise to you. I […]
Independence Day 2022
In theory, theocracies should be the ideal way of ordering our political and societal lives. In reality, attempts at setting up a country or nation with God as its head fail, and often end up being oppressive, intolerant, and thereby seriously marring the true face of our loving God. Even God himself seems to have […]
Saturday of the 13th Week
Immersing ourselves in the superficial and passing things of this world has a way of coarsening the human spirit and rendering us spiritually deaf and thus incapable of hearing God’s voice. This is epitomized in Amos’ description of those who ask: When will the new moon be over, that we may sell our grain, and […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 14th Sunday
Fourteenth Sunday, Year C, 3 July, 2022: Isaiah 66:10-14c; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 I don’t think that anyone sitting here in choir is likely to say, “This Gospel doesn’t apply to me; this is addressed to people in the active ministry.” I imagine that we all realize that our way of proclaiming the […]
Saints Peter and Paul
The indispensability of grace and the insufficiency of the works of the law is a teaching that is virtually synonymous with Paul; and yet, in writing to Timothy, Paul sounds as though he is boasting and even being presumptuous: I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart of Jesus, 24 June, 2022: Ezekiel 14:11-16; Romans 5:5b-14; Luke 15:3-7 The heart is a potent symbol in the Scriptures and, far deeper than the sentimental imagery of advertising or greeting cards, is the gateway to deep communion with God. It is an image at the boundary between the contingent and the […]
Fr. James’ Homily for Trinity Sunday
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, 12 June, 2022: Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 Most of our Solemnities celebrate an event that reveals God’s active presence among us. How often do we sing in choir: “On this Christ is born…” or “…was baptized in the Jordan…” or “…transfigured on the holy mountain…” […]
Juniors’ Seminar 2022
In late April and early May our community had the privilege of hosting the annual Juniors’ Seminar—a monastic version of Summer School. Juniors’ is a term we reserve for monks and nuns who have made First Vows but have not yet taken Solemn Vows. Cistercian Fr. Michael Casey (of Tarrawara Abbey in Australia) was the […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C, 22 May, 2022: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-24, 22-23; John 14: 23-29 This brief passage from John’s Gospel is densely packed. Jesus speaks of his departing and returning; he also refers to the apostles’ sense of loss but that they should be glad for him. He tells them […]