Readings: Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:2-13; Mark 10:17-30 There’s a kind of familiarity with the Gospel that deadens the impact. I’d grown up calling this narrative “the Rich Young Man”–and even our Bible translations use that term. But in Mark’s Gospel, it’s the punch line. It’s only when the man turns away sad that we’re told he […]
Laudato Si’: Part Nine
This is probably my final post on the Encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home. I do realize that I may have worn our my welcome a few posts back. And then, with Pope Francis long ago arrived at and departed from these shores, I must seem to be beating a dead horse. Worse still, […]
11 October, 2015, the 28th Sunday, Year B
Readings: Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. James Orthmann presiding and preaching.
Abbot Robert’s Homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday, Year B
Readings: Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16 This is perhaps not the sort of Gospel that a monk should presume to speak about to married people. You would likely be much better suited to share your thoughts with each other at home. I will do better to speak to my brothers this morning about what can […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers for October
He set love in order in me. Utterly necessary. Zeal without knowledge is insupportable. Therefore where zeal is enthusiastic, there discretion, that moderator of love, is especially necessary. Because zeal without knowledge always lacks efficacy, is wanting in usefulness and, all too often, is harmful. And so the more eager the zeal, the more vigorous […]
Prayer in the Monastic Tradition, continued
Our prayer in common is our vocation as Cistercians, members of the Benedictine monastic family. This is our witness of the value of praying together in Christ, our witness to all the faithful in the Church. This is also our great blessing from God, being such a rich source of grace for each of us […]
Twenty-seventh Sunday, Year B, 4 October, 2015
Readings: Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching. It is the first Sunday of the month and Eucharistic Adoration will begin at 4:00 PM; all are welcome to join us. Vespers (5:30 PM) will be followed by Benediction of the Most […]
Laudato Si’, Part Eight
I thought it might be worth while, especially after Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, to quote in full the two prayers that conclude the encyclical, Laudato Si’. The Holy Father is a plain-spoken man who does not express himself in the abstractions of “ecclesialese”. His two prayers are more comprehensible than a number […]
Twenty-Sixth Sunday Year B, 27 September, 2015
Readings: Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45,47-48 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Vincent Collins presiding and preaching.
Fr. Joseph’s Homily for the 25th Sunday, Year B
Readings: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37 The official arrival of autumn this Wednesday unfortunately heralds the arrival of the cold and flu season. And as we know so well from past years, a cold or flu is something difficult to keep to oneself and it is almost inevitable that we will infect others […]