Readings: Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-25 To my mind, a detail characterizing Saint Mark’s account of the temptation of Jesus is the lack of hunger. Jesus is full, specifically, full of the Holy Spirit who had just descended upon him at his Baptism and now drives him into the desert to confront Satan. […]

Mass with the blessing and distribution of ashes will be celebrated after Lauds on Wednesday. Lauds begins at 7:00 AM; Mass would begin at approximately 7:25 AM.

If anything of that heavenly light has shone on your eyes, be careful not to vaunt yourself on it as though you had escaped all the darkness of being blind. Do not let your speech make you into one of those who rebelled against the Light by claiming:  “Surely we are not blind!” What you […]

Readings: Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-13; Mark 1:29-39 Today’s Gospel provides a glimpse of Simon Peter’s family life. But it yields more questions than answers. Is Peter’s wife still alive or has her mother filled the gap in a widower’s home? Or had they moved in with the bride’s family when they married? […]

Readings: Genesis 12:1-4; Acts 4:32-35; Mark 10:17-30 What do we celebrate with today’s solemnity? Of course, we’re celebrating people, whether we mean the first three Abbots or all the monks who began life at Citeaux. But people aren’t just biographical data, done and gone. They reverberate through our lives and in our memories and choices: […]

Readings: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 To sin–especially to sin grievously–is not only to offend God, but also to fundamentally act against our human nature and become less, and even subhuman. Conversely, to live a life of virtue and goodness is to honor God by become authentically human. And this explains why […]

Due to the noise from construction down the hallway from our church, Mass for the Solemnity of the Founders or Citeaux, Friday, 26 January, will be celebrated after Lauds rather than at 10:00 AM. The Rest of the day, however, will follow the Sunday schedule with Midday Prayer at 12:20 PM and Benediction following Vespers.

The Community Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 AM. It is a non-work day for the monastic community and we follow the Sunday schedule; Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament follows Vespers (5:30 PM).

Readings: 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19; 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20; John 1:35-42 Come and see. Those words of Jesus are very poignant to me because a very good friend of mine told me that was the beginning of his monastic vocation. He’s not pietistic or at all conventional but hearing those words–Come and see–in a homily […]

Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 In the interest of ecumenical dialogue and Christian Unity, Mary under the title “Mother of God” would seem to be an unwelcome stumbling block. And to the degree that this title in any way suggests Mary as–in some sense–preexisting God or even the person of Christ, it surely […]