17 November, 2024, 33rd Sunday, YR B: Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13: 24-42 Sometimes people ask me whether I think these are the end times. I usually refer them to the Gospel verse we just heard: But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, […]
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
The charge of turning the God’s house into a marketplace is one that Jesus levels not just at the Jews of his time but also at us. Through baptism we have become living temples of the Holy Spirit and thus God’s house. And, alas, we too, all in varying degrees, bring into our hearts much […]
Thursday of the 31st Week of the Year
Many—if not most—of those who sought out Jesus were in search of a physical cure or some other self-serving need or request. In contrast, the tax collectors and so-called “sinners” were all drawing near to listen to Jesus—to quote today’s gospel. In other words, they were seeking the person of Jesus and not merely some […]
A Word from Gertrude of Helfta
God, my God, because you are mine, I lack nothing. And because I am yours, I will glory in you, God, my savior, for eternity. In all my sadness, you prepare for me in you the banquets of homage. And where is my soul’s well-being if not in you, O God of my life? If […]
Fr. James’ Homily for All Saints
All Saints, 1 November, 2024: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a In listening to the Gospel it can be as important to note what is not said, as what is said. Jesus does not say, “Blessed are they who sing on pitch”; nor does he say, “Blessed are they who never arrive late […]
Thursday of the 30th Week of the Year
A casual reading of the gospels would suggest that all the Pharisees were opposed to Jesus and were intent upon killing him. And yet we know that this is not true: Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was a secret disciple of Jesus, and Gamaliel, another Pharisee, defended Jesus’ apostles before the Sanhedrin. So too, we have just […]
Thursday of the 27th Week
As Saint Paul reminds the Galatians, it is through faith that we receive the Spirt, while in relation to today’s gospel, faith assures us that if we ask we will receive, and if we knock the door will be opened. In a somewhat paradoxical fashion, faith is also what we exercise in asking for a […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
Not one who has begun, but one who shall persevere unto the end, they shall be saved. There are many who begin, few who persevere. Perseverance is the singular daughter of the high king, the goal of virtues and their consummation, repository of all good, a virtue without which no one shall see God, nor shall one […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 26th Sunday
26th SUN, YR B: Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 Hasn’t our social media allowed us to organize ourselves into like-minded tribes, affirming our comfort zone and excluding those who disagree with us? Are we that insecure in our beliefs and prejudices that we cannot tolerate differing opinions? John in today’s Gospel didn’t […]
Wednesday of the 25th Week of the Year
It is well to remember that monastic asceticism is less about denying oneself pleasure and embracing hardship, and more about reestablishing that original God-intended harmony between the body and the soul, and the spirit and the flesh. Our reading from Proverbs expresses this goal in terms of seeking neither poverty nor riches, but only the […]