The Good Shepherd who goes in search of the stray sheep while leaving the other ninety-nine in the desert is a good image for ourselves in seeking out and reclaiming aspects of our true identity lost or severely impaired by enslavement to sin. This is a difficult and painful process and we would prefer to […]

As we know, it is not only the Pharisees who are filled with plunder and evil; each one of us has to make this same painful discovery in the progress of our self-knowledge. Saint Teresa was no exception and her inward scrutiny of her heart and soul was especially thorough and unsparing. However, in the […]

Viewing a Wrentham documentary in the novitiate the other day, we heard Mother Maureen affirm that Cistercian life is one hundred percent community and one hundred percent solitude. This seemingly contradictory statement finds an echo in today’s gospel where we read of Jesus praying in solitude and the disciples were with him. Now, if we […]

As Christians striving to imitate the self-giving and self-sacrificing love of Christ, we forget that receiving help and allowing others to serve us is integral to being Christ’s disciples. Although Jesus insisted that he had come to serve and not to be served, there were occasions when he did allow others to minister to and […]

The old adage, actions speak louder than words lies at the heart of striving to set a good example for others to follow. However, good example will only be followed by those possessing a humble and sincere desire for the good. Those who have little or no love for what is good and virtuous will […]

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 […]

As we know, Saint Benedict disapproves rather strongly of what he terms “murmuring” in the monastery. Similarly, the grumbling of the Israelites in the desert, is not favorably received by the Lord. Grumbling or murmuring against God ceases for one of three reasons: The first and most obvious is when God is believed to have […]