Holy Family, 27 December, 2020: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:22-40 The English painter, John Everett Millais exhibited a painting entitled Christ in the House of His Parents in 1850, the heyday of romanticism and the family ideal. The costumes and setting suggest an exotic location and a past time, but the figures […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
Although he came to us as a little child, what he brought is not little, what he conferred on us is not little. If you ask what he brought: first of all he brought mercy, according to which, as the Apostle testifies, he saved us. Nor does this benefit only those he found when he […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for Christmas Night
Recently, we have been hearing about discoveries of planets thought to be able to sustain life—even human life. These planets are thought to be located within the so-called “Goldilocks Zone” supporting an environment that is neither too warm nor too cold. Authentic Christian and monastic life also requires a “Goldilocks Zone”—one, however, that is not […]
Late Advent Blessing
After completing a six-month postulancy Br. Paul Smith had the joy of receiving the Cistercian Novice’s Habit—thereby beginning his formal canonical novitiate. The so-called “clothing of the novice” is a special event in the life of the monk (and of the community) as we each recall our own reception of the habit and renew our […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent
3rd Sunday of Advent, 13 December, 2020: Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28 John the Baptist has something very important to tell us about discipleship, about the spiritual life: he knows who he is not. Unfortunately we live in a world urging us to label ourselves, selling us ways to […]
Thursday of the 2nd Week of Advent
In an age when trees, woods, and forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate, the image of God planting cedars, acacias, myrtles, cypresses, and pines in the desert wasteland, is a rather timely and relevant one. God’s intervention is a reminder that the continuing damage being done to our environment is largely the result […]
Feastday of Saint Francis Xavier
The church has sometimes been criticized for adopting a “fortress mentality” in relation to the world and is, thereby, thought to undermine its positive influence and role in the world. Monastic enclosure sometimes receives a similar critique by those who believe that monks and nuns should be out evangelizing rather than taking refuge behind monastery […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
By the wonderful favor of God’s loving care, in this solitude of ours we have the peace of solitude and yet we do not lack the consolation and comfort of holy companionship. It is possible for each of us to sit alone and be silent, because we have no one to disturb us with interruptions, and yet it […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent
First Sunday of Advent: (Mark 13: 33-37) Be watchful and alert is the strident call on this First Sunday of Advent. As monks we are familiar with Saint Bernard’s “three comings” of Christ—his first, at his incarnation, his second, at the end of time, and this third and interim coming, by grace in the present […]
Friday of the 34th Week
REVELATION 2:1-7: Our reading from Revelation speaks of the dead being judged according their deeds. This raises the question: Which deeds? Our good deeds, or our bad ones? Does our eternal destiny depend on which we the most of—good or evil? If so, then are we not back to earning our way into heaven? An […]