In our monastic tradition, one of the marks of perfected love is to love all people equally. Thus, Saint Benedict warns the abbot against any form of favoritism—at least that based on more superficial and worldly criteria. God too, is sometimes described as not showing partiality, with Deuteronomy declaring that the Lord of lords, the […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
Truly, Lord, you are become our refuge; I have fled to you, teach me your will and make me do it. You have had compassion on the people that followed you into the wilderness. You have had pity and have provided food, lest they faint by the way. I have begun to follow you, my […]
Friday of the 1st Week of Lent
The conditions that God enunciates for the wicked person to live (and not die) seem rather exacting: turn away from the sins committed, keep all God’s statutes, and do what is right and just. And whereas this is a demanding requirement, it’s important that we not miss the point. The promise of “living” when these […]
Tuesday of the 1st Week of Lent
The ascetic practices enjoined upon us during this Lenten season can suggest that God takes pleasure in the discomfort and deprivation we experience thereby. Conversely, it could be thought that God resents our experiencing pleasure and freedom from suffering. This may, in turn, have us hesitant to pray for relief from suffering unless it is […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the First Sunday of Lent
First Sunday of Lent, Year B: Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 At the Jordan Jesus divested himself of everything to enter the river. He assumed a kinship with sinful humanity but rose from the waters to God’s voice calling him his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. That is […]
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Although Christ calls us out of sin, he initially meets us where we are—within our sinful state and not outside it. But as we hear in today’s gospel, this brought him into conflict with the Scribes and the Pharisees who condemned his eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Misguided humility and a fundamental […]
Ash Wednesday
Like the well-intentioned resolutions we make at the beginning of each year, Lenten resolutions can sometimes be abandoned long before Easter—this is especially true of the more interior ones, like those Saint Bernard labels the fasting of the eyes, ears, and tongue. Still, establishing some special Lenten practice (or resolution) is not without spiritual benefit, […]
Friday of the 5th Week
Since Saint John assures us that perfect love casts out fear, it is instructive that one of the first consequences of Eve and Adam’s disobedience is fear and the desire to hide from God. One presumes that prior to their disobedience, Eve and Adam did not fear God and lived in peaceful and trusting harmony […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
The Father has different arrangements for each. For we did not choose him but he chose us and appointed places for us; and in the place of each one’s appointment there he is too. Thus one repentant woman was allotted a place at the feet of the Lord Jesus, another—if she really is another—found fulfillment for her […]
Saturday of the 5th Week
As Saint Paul reminded the Corinthians, if I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. We honor Saint Paul Miki and his companion martyrs not because they suffered so much in bearing witness to Christ, but that […]