Our motivations for doing things are not always as clear as we might think, or as pure and unselfish as they need to be. Ideally, we should, like Paul, be impelled by love in all that we do—echoing Saint Augustine’s adage, love and do what you will. Unfortunately, pure love and unselfish love cannot be […]
Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua
Like some low-grade, persistent, but untreated infection in the body that, though not life-threatening, constantly undermines a person’s health, so habitual patterns of sin whose deeper roots are never uncovered may not extinguish the light of grace, but they do constantly rob us of inner peace and preclude that purity of heart without which we […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the Ascension
Spiritually, there has long been a negative association with the depths of the earth as the realm of the dead and of hell. Conversely, the sky and the heights are associated with the realm of the living and the glories of heaven. It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that Christ’s return to the Father in his […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers
“ ….in the seven appearances [of the Lord] that we read took place after the resurrection we can find the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Take the first the spirit of fear: an angel came down from heaven as the holy women were coming to the tomb, and the earth shook, so that they […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter
Our readings certainly cover a wide range of topics: our Lord’s leave-taking during the Last Supper; the controversy in the early church whether people had first to become Jews to be Christians; the New Jerusalem at the consummation of time and history. The Gospel mentions the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send […]
Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter
It is interesting and significant that the disciples receive the privilege of being called Jesus’ friends shortly before his arrest and execution—when all but one would abandon him to his fate. And whereas it might suggest that Jesus had prematurely designated these still weak and untrustworthy men his intimate friends, it might also say something […]
Word from the Fathers
True petition does not reside in words spoken by the mouth but rather in thoughts of the heart. It is not our words, you see, that constitute the strongest voices in the presence of the most hidden ears of God, but our desires. If we ask with our mouths for eternal life but do not […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter
This Easter Season is a celebration of the fact that although the Ancient Serpent that is Satan) initially succeeded in derailing God’s great plan and desire for humanity, God neither abandoned us to our fate nor lost his desire to share his divine life with us. Instead, in Christ, God actively came in search of […]
Saturday of the 2nd Week of Easter
Spiritual ideals can be wonderfully inspiring and spur us on to greater holiness. However, ideals can also be discouraging and paralyzing when we find ourselves far from them and unable to draw closer to them. And whereas one doesn’t want to simply debunk ideals out of frustration at not being able to reach them, it […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
This is the mystery, brothers, this is the great sacrament of the Lord’s cross, for in it we have those four virtues. Let surpassing charity be at the head; let obedience be on the right side – it makes children of the right hand; let patience be on the left side – which we must […]