After several weeks of hard work the company carrying out the abatement and inner demolition work in our old dorm has completed its work. The completion of this first phase of the renovation project allows us a better sense of the space available and how this might suit our plans for the building. Our architect, […]
Reflection for the Thursday of the 22nd Week
Readings: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23; Luke 5:1-11 Do not be afraid…Many different episodes in St. Luke’s Gospel are punctuated by this admonition, Do not be afraid. As I looked over today’s readings, it struck me how long it took me to appreciate those words of Jesus. Today’s reading, describing the call of Peter, James and John […]
Reflection on Monday of the 22nd Week
Readings: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Luke 4:16-20 We spent a month of Sundays on Chapter Six of John’s Gospel, the Bread of Life discourse, which is also the inauguration of Jesus’ messianic ministry. Today’s Gospel is Luke’s version of Jesus launching that ministry. Each of the four Gospels tells the story with very different incidents but […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers for September
Faith is owed to God because he does not know how to deceive or how to be deceived. He is truth and wisdom. Truth does not deceive; wisdom is not deceived. Faith is demanded of us in two ways: first, in God’s Word to us; then in our words to him. We should have faith […]
DEPARTURE
After nearly two years of patient discernment and prayer our Brother Mark Amaral has come to the realization that he is not called to cloistered Cistercian life. His initial plans are to move to Massachusetts in order to be nearer his family. We are grateful for Mark’s time with us and trust that his stay […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 20th Sunday, Year B
Proverbs 9:3-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 This is the fourth Sunday in a row that we’ve been celebrating Chapter Six of John’s Gospel and we are at a breaking point. At first, the crowd he had miraculously fed with a few loaves and fishes were about to make Jesus their king. Now the same people […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers for August
O Blessed Virgin, regard with what prayers we could have conducted you–and followed you from afar–upon your assent to your Son. May we announce to the world, with the assent of your loving kindness, the grace you found with God, obtaining pardon for the guilty, healing for the sick, strength for the faint-hearted, consolation for […]
Reflection on the Gospel of the Seventeenth Thursday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 18:1-6; Matthew 13:47-53 “Do you understand these things?” They answered, “Yes.” Matthew’s point here is that unlike the crowds, Jesus’ disciples–that is, the true followers of Jesus–grasp the meaning of his parables. This may address a broader issue facing the early Church, rather than the Apostles before the Passion and Resurrection of the […]
Renovation underway
The building to the east of the Cool Spring House is one we call the “Old Dorm.” Its name derives from its original use as the primary dormitory for the monks during the early decades of Holy Cross Abbey. With the construction of two other dormitories the “Old Dorm” has, in recent years, become little […]
Reflection for the 16th Monday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Micah 6:1-4, 6-8; Matthew 12:38-43 Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.” I suspect that […]