Servants and offering service do not, typically, conjure up thoughts of privilege or enjoyment. And yet, Jesus seems to align his own eternal happiness with girding himself and waiting upon those who have faithfully longed for his return and opened immediately to his knock. In this we encounter the Christian paradox whereby service and the […]
Friday of the 27th Week of the Year
Jesus is not typically associated with either/or thinking and black and white categories; but today is one instance when he does: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t say whoever is not for me is against me, but whoever is not with me […]
Friday of the 26th Week of the Year
Saints whose lives were filled with direct and frequent experiences of the divine, along with an abundance of supernatural encounters with angels and saints, can evoke a holy envy in those whose spiritual lives seem to be one long, obscure, and arid journey in the darkness. However, if this describes you, Jesus makes a point […]
Wednesday of the 26th Week of the Year
It’s interesting that in today’s gospel Jesus challenges two of three potential disciples to greater self-giving, while cautioning the third to curb his enthusiasm. In each case, Jesus was looking into each person’s heart and seeing what each person was as yet unable to see. In the first he saw the still untested zeal and […]
Friday of the 25th Week of the Year
Impermanence and change are the inevitable consequences of being bound by space and time. In our fallen state, birth must eventually surrender to death; times of joy and mirth must yield to those of mourning and sorrow; and progress and building up all too often precede disintegration, and collapse. Inner peace in the face of […]
Wednesday of the 25th Week of the Year
Jesus’ instruction that the apostles must shake the dust from [their] feet in response to those who don’t welcome their proclamation of the kingdom, highlights a twofold responsibility: On the part of those who hear the proclamation there is the responsibility to receive the good news and respond accordingly—or face the consequences. And for those […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 25th Sunday of the Year
We have perhaps all had the experience of wanting to open a long-awaited letter and yet hesitated for fear of what it might contain—not the good news we were hoping for but the bad news we dreaded. Similarly, in our interpersonal relationships there can be important questions we wish to ask a parent, spouse or […]
Old Dorm Progress
This week the renovation of the “old dorm” continued with some preliminary excavations to expose and then seal the foundations and lower walls which were allowing seepage into the basement. This important second phase of the renovation project will include installing more effective drainage for the rain run-off from the various roofs—run-off that has been […]
Feast of Saint Matthew
As monks trying to live in community we feel inspired by the psalmist’s assurance: How blessed it is when brothers live in unity, and yet wonder if this noble goal is attainable. Saint Paul gives us some encouragement with the crucial words: bearing with and striving. Advocating, as he does that we bear with one […]
Wednesday of the 24th Week of the Year
As monks our entire lives are oriented towards union with God and divinization. Divinization can sound esoteric and evoke images of ethereal beings no longer fully human. However, if becoming divine in and through Christ is what divinization entails, and if God is love, then Paul gives us a very good non-esoteric catalog of some […]