Readings: Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13 By most any standard, Jesus is sending out the Twelve to preach repentance with scant resources. That’s quite a challenge. Have you noticed that this is only Chapter Six of Mark’s Gospel, which has sixteen chapters in all. Yes, we’re beyond the beginning, but we’re not even half […]

Readings: Hosea 11:1-4, 8c-9; Matthew 10:7-15 Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. I think monks and nuns can often labor under a burden of positive projection. Not from their own communities, of course, but from the neighbors and guests whom we serve–or just brush up against. We can be seen […]

Every now and again, either in our choir books or one of the mass sheets, the quality of the printing is less than perfect. This is partly because the page in question is sometimes a copy of a copy of a copy! And with each process of copying the quality slowly deteriorates until there is […]

Readings: Hosea 2:1b, 17c-18, 21-22; Matthew 9:18-26 A couple of Sundays ago, we heard St. Mark’s version of this episode. Today, St. Matthew concentrates the story (only 8 verses as opposed to Mark’s 22) but deflates the drama: the girl is already dead before the story begins. In either version, the faith of the father […]

The community will be celebrated at 10:00 AM rather than after Lauds (7:00 AM) because it is a major Solemnity and we observe the Sunday Schedule for a non-work day. Abbot Joseph will preside and preach at the Mass and Vespers (5:30 PM) will be followed by Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Readings: Amos 2:6-10, 13-16; Matthew 8:18-22 I find in interesting that I’ve never heard an American fundamentalist quote todays Gospel: that the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head. It’s as inconvenient to a suburban Christian life-style as what Jesus says about divorce. I could say much the same about Amos’ condemnation of […]

Readings: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43 Little Lamb, arise. This is what Jesus’ words, the Aramaic, Talitha koum, literally mean–a beautiful, gentle expression. Another beautiful quote, much less obvious, is Jesus question, Who has touched my clothes? How is that beautiful? It is addressed to a woman whose malady, the […]

Readings: 2 Kings 22:8-13, 23:3-5; Matthew 7:15-20 By their fruits you will know them. We continue to hear Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount and today’s warning about false prophets adds a nuance to the warning from a couple of days ago about our judging. That was not an invitation to passivity or […]

Readings: 2 Kings 17:5-8,13-15a, 18; Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus said to his disciples, “Stop judging so you will not be judged.” This is the teaching of Jesus that we all wrestle with, that none of us can master. I often celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation in any given week and whether it’s penitents coming to me, […]

In the world of cartoons things like vacuum cleaners are credited with a life of their own and endowed with the ability to choose their actions. Now apart from the fact that vacuum cleaners don’t have brains—even though some may be programmable—they are totally dependent on being connected to an electrical outlet capable of delivering […]