Some of my childhood memories include returning from a funeral or wedding that took place in a non-Catholic Church and hearing my parents comment on how empty the church felt because of the absence of the Blessed Sacrament. The great feast we celebrate today confirms that this feeling is more than just imagination and that […]
Friday of the 8th Week of the Year
Doing no more than is asked or required of you can sometimes be the virtuous thing to do. However, at other times it can betray a fundamentally selfish attitude ever on guard against being taken advantage of and thus refusing to go the extra mile. This self-protective stance that curbs generosity is perhaps well represented […]
Wednesday of the 8th Week of the Year
Bitter zeal and good zeal (as outlined by Saint Benedict) are often preceded by a third which, we might term “untested zeal.” James and John exemplify this zeal with their brash insistence that they were able to receive the baptism with which Jesus was to be baptized and drink the chalice he was to drink. […]
Thursday of the 7th Week in Ordinary Time
Dualism and the unfortunate splitting of the soul and the body can take two forms. Typically, dualism has pitted the soul against the body with the latter considered evil—along with all of physical reality. Contemporary culture, however, tends towards the opposite, with the body and all that is physical treated as ultimate goods and the […]
Blessing of the Bells
On Ascension Sunday morning the heavy rain stopped, opportunely, just ten minutes before we were to bless our new bells. They are the generous gift of Br. David Schlatter OFM and formed part of a larger set of bells used at 9/11 commemoration services. Although the bells have been in use since late January we […]
Brother Richard’s Clothing
The glorious feast of the Ascension was the happy occasion of our Brother Richard’s clothing in the Cistercian Habit. He joins Brothers Mark and John in the novitiate for two further years of preparation for first vows. The reception of the habit is usually a moment of special grace, not only for the novice, but […]
Wednesday of the 7th Week of Easter
There are occasions when, as monks, we look back nostalgically to earlier and seemingly holier and more ideal periods of monastic life in particular and the church in general. Saint Paul’s warning to the presbyters of Ephesus about savage wolves who will pervert the truth and who will come from among their own members […]
Abbot Joseph’s homily for the Ascension
Not too many miles from here, the Wright Brothers realized a long-cherished dream—that of taking flight and, however briefly, severing the heavy gravitational forces binding us to the earth. Space travel and the desire to explore distant galaxies is a further expression of this fundamental human longing to transcend the limits of earthly existence. Spiritually, […]
READINGS FOR FRIDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTER
Unacknowledged and unresolved inner conflicts have a way of spilling over into our interpersonal relationships and damaging them. The unfortunate Sosthenes experienced this firsthand as he was cruelly used by the crowd to vent their anger and frustration at Gallio’s refusal to deal with their case against Paul. This clear example of what psychologists call […]
ABBOT JOSEPH’S HOMILY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
If you’re familiar with the old farm buildings below our natural cemetery you will have seen the old Waterloo House falling into ruin. It was once a beautiful house and is probably not beyond restoration. However, if this were done the complex process would include removing much of the existing structure that has decayed beyond […]