I said above that God is the reason for loving God. That is right, for he is the efficient and final cause of our love. He offers the opportunity, creates the affection, and consummates the desire. He makes, or rather is made himself lovable. He hopes to be so happily loved that he will not be […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 15th Sunday
As we know, the starting positions for runners in Olympic track events are staggered to compensate for the different lengths of each lane—the inner lanes being slightly shorter than the outer ones. Unfortunately, when it comes to our spiritual lives, running that race—which Saint Paul completed so magnificently—similar allowances or compensations are not offered. Instead, […]
Friday of the 14th Week of the Year
The spiritual quest for wholeness and integration—also known as holiness—seems inevitably to be preceded by an experience of disintegration and fragmentation. For, just as the walls of Jerusalem, whose rebuilding Pope Leo invokes as an image of our cooperative labor in a fractured world, first had to be breached and demolished—so too must our own […]
Wednesday of the 14th Week of the Year—Blessed Eugene
As Christians we are so familiar with the notion of seeking God and so we might miss the nuance in this morning’s response to the psalm in which we are exhorted to seek always the face of the Lord. And yet, to seek the Lord and to seek the face of the Lord, are not […]
GIFT SHOP LATE OPENING
This Saturday, July 11th is the Solemnity of Saint Benedict—whose Holy Rule we strive to follow. Accordingly, Holy Mass will be at 10.00 a.m., and the Gift Shop will only open at around 11. a.m. this Saturday morning However, the Gift Shop will be open, as usual, on Saturday afternoon at the usual time.
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 14th Sunday
Saint Thomas Aquinas’ dismissal of all his writings as “so much straw” after his final mystical experience gives us a glimpse into the joy Jesus expresses in today’s Gospel: “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed […]
Wednesday of the 13th Week: Saint Junipero Serra
Reassuring us of God’s constant care, Jesus insisted that not one sparrow falls to the ground without our Father’s knowledge. He then added those consoling words: Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. In today’s gospel, it would seem that the liberation of two demoniacs was worth more than an entire […]
Gift Shop: July 4th
Please note: The Gift Shop will be closed on Saturday, July 4, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country. However, it will be open on both Friday (July 3) and Sunday (July 5) afternoons at the usual times.
Friday of the 12th Week of the Year
Lord, if you wish you can make me clean. In that simple plea, the leper in today’s Gospel makes a twofold act of faith. First, he truly believes that Jesus has the power to heal him. Second, he trusts in Christ’s intrinsic goodness—his desire to relieve suffering and restore what is broken. There is also, […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 11th Sunday of the Year
Understood in a certain light, Jesus’ call to pray to the Master of the Harvest to send out laborers seems to imply that, if we fail to pray, no laborers will be sent. Yet if God would send laborers regardless of our prayer, then Jesus’ insistence on praying to the Master of the Harvest appears […]