Despite what we read in the Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, from before the time of Jesus, adulterers were not stoned to death. The point is not whether to follow or ignore the command but how to arrive at the intention of God from the command put into words by Moses. Perhaps you’ve seen paintings […]
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Just as the trees growing alongside the river of the water of life provide both food and medicine, nourishment and healing, so the Eucharist which draws its life from the stream of living water flowing from the pierced side of Christ (as from the temple) is also both food and medicine, nourishment and healing. However, […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers
Anyone who wishes to come after me, through me, to me. After me because I am Truth, through me because I am the way, to me because I am the life. Any who wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Christ, the power of God […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Annunciation
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 […]