The call of Judas highlights the great mystery of grace and its complex interaction with human free will. Judas was called to be an apostle and not a traitor—despite some claims to the contrary. But instead of ensuring a deeper union with Christ, it resulted in his treacherous betrayal. Might he perhaps have been spared […]

The “new wine” of the Cistercian Reform was wisely placed in the new wineskin of Cîteaux—the so-called “New Monastery.” However, eventually this new wineskin itself became old and subsequent reforms were needed to create new wineskins for new generations of monks and nuns fired by that same early spirit and vision. In our own lives, […]

As long as heaven consists of an infinite array of gifts, pleasures, and good things, then the entrance into heaven of someone who has a deathbed conversion will seem manifestly unjust to us who have labored long and hard on our Christian pilgrimage. However, if heaven is not about things but about God and entering […]

The other morning at vigils we heard of Saint Dominic’s longing to be scourged, cut into little pieces, and thus die for faith in Christ. I wonder if any one of us shares a similar longing—despite the great honor and privilege of dying for Christ. Nevertheless, this does not mean that we are incapable of […]