Today’s readings (with their apocalyptic tone) can evoke feelings of anxiety and even dread amid the dire descriptions of the end of the world and what Daniel terms a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time. Indeed, these distressing features surrounding the Lord’s final return have been used by some to induce […]

Readings: Titus 1:1-9; Luke 17:1-6 The conclusion of this Gospel passage is genuinely Good News. Jesus plainly says that in our uncertainty, in our weakness we don’t need more faith. Our faith can be as small as a mustard seed; we just have to allow it to do what it can do. Think about that! […]

Readings: 1 Kings 17:10-16; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44 Jesus sat opposite the treasury and observed… I believe this is so characteristic of Jesus, who told us Behold the birds of the air, or Behold the flowers of the field. The more I ponder the Gospels, the more I feel that Jesus is someone who paid […]

Readings: Philippians 3:3-8a; Luke 15:1-10 In purely logical terms, Jesus’ parables can seem exaggerated. Would a shepherd really leave ninety-nine sheep just to look for one? Would a woman turn her house upside down to find one coin? Well, since the ninety-nine sheep would tend to stay together, or if I’m poor enough, every coin […]

Readings: Philippians 2:1-4; Luke 14:12-14 …when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled. the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Jesus continues to teach us with banquet imagery. Today’s teaching could certainly be […]

Today, 4 November, is the first Sunday of the Month and the monks will observe Eucharistic Adoration starting at 3:00 PM. Adoration will conclude after Vespers (5:30 PM) with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. All are invited to join us throughout the afternoon.

This Sunday, Daylight Savings time ends and we’ll have brighter mornings for a while. That means we turn back our clocks one hour. As it is, although we changed the Mass time to 10:00 AM some time ago, we still have people showing up for 11:00 AM Mass–or even 10:30 AM Mass! Be sure to […]

This week we celebrate the solemnity of All Saints on Thursday, 1 November. It is a non-work day for us and we follow the Sunday schedule, so Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 AM and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament will follow Vespers (5:30 PM). Friday is the annual Commemoration of All Souls. We […]

Readings: Ephesians 3:14-21; Luke 212:49-53 I have come to set the earth on fire…Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. The divisiveness described in today’s Gospel seems a very apt description of the current state of affairs. I look at the contradictory ways […]

Readings: Galatians 5:18-25; Luke 11:42-46 Dante called St. Luke’s the “Gospel of mercy.” However, were I one of the Pharisees or Scribes in today’s Gospel, I probably wouldn’t register “mercy” as Jesus levelled with me. It can be a relief to see Jesus express his anger, though that’s no justification for my own outbursts. What […]