We heard in The Letter to the Hebrews: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. A body is not a just physical specimen. It results from a network of relationships, of behavior, perceptions and modes of living. A body mediates both contact with its environment and understanding of […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent
The Fathers of the Church frequently remind us that seemingly insignificant and curious details in biblical stories and texts are never insignificant but literally every word bears important truth and instruction for those willing to pray over the sacred texts. One of these seemingly insignificant details can be found in our first reading where Moses […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent
We may observe Lent with acts of penance and self-mortification, but that’s not what we celebrate. We celebrate Jesus’ transformative path through a self-sacrifice which is the revelation of his glory; and we celebrate our passage over that same path on which we embarked through our baptism. Today we consider this Transfiguration as found in […]
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Just as the sun that rises on the bad and on the good would cease being the sun if it didn’t shine on the bad and the good, so God (whose very being is Love) would cease being God if he stopped loving. And so Jesus’ call to be perfect just as [our] heavenly Father […]
Ash Wednesday
Colloquially, we sometimes speak of “dying for a cup of coffee” or “dying for a vacation.” Teresa of Avila had a similar longing, but it wasn’t for coffee, but a consuming desire to see God. As a child she briefly ran away from home with her brother hoping to go to the land of the […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 8th Sunday of the Year
Although a rotten tree may not be able to produce good fruit, we know that evil people can mimic goodness and kindness for their own selfish purposes. And so an apparent act of self-sacrificing kindness is undertaken in the service of ingratiating oneself with someone from whom one has something to gain. On the other […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers
But what good does it do to point out the dangers [of the devil] without pointing out also some consolation, some remedy that can be applied? The peril indeed is great, and grave is the struggle … Great, too, are the stakes, for we have frequent – no, continuous – fights against the tricks of […]
Saturday of the 5th Week of the Year
The sin of our first parents resulted in their expulsion from Eden and humanity’s tragic exile and alienation from God. It was to undo the disastrous effects of their disobedience that the Father sent his Son to redeem us. Today’s gospel gives a symbolic sign of this redemption. For in the feeding of the four […]
Wednesday of the 5th Week of the Year
In the light of our first reading we might ask: Which is the truer human freedom: Being able to do something you want to do, or (out of love) not doing something you would like to do? In our Christian tradition, true freedom is inseparable from love. Thus, just as true love is not possible […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the Fifth Sunday of the Year
Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular, have frequently been blamed for generating unnecessary, unhealthy, and morbid guilt in the hearts of its members thereby depriving them of simple joy in the good things of life. Peter’s encounter with Jesus (described in this morning’s gospel) would seem to lend support to this not uncommon perception […]