When I use the term Benedictine, in reference to hospitality, I’m indicating hospitality according to St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries. It’s a species of hospitality anyone should be able to expect from Camaldolese and Cistercian as well as from Benedictine communities. We all follow the Rule, are informed and shaped by the Rule with it’s demands and […]
Fr. Joseph’s homily for the 20th Sunday, Year A
Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28 The manufacturing of parachutes is a highly skilled operation undertaken with utmost care and attention to detail because lives depend on the parachute’s proper functioning. And yet, despite all this care, the final and ultimate test of any parachute occurs when the parachutist leaps from the plane […]
Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption
Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10; I Corinthians 15:20-26; Luke 1:39-56 A great sign appeared in the heavens: a woman clothed in the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars, we heard from the Book of Revelation. And in the Gospel we heard of an adolescent named Mary […]
20th Sunday, Year A, 17 August, 2014
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Joseph Wittstock presiding and preaching.
Abbot Robert’s Homily for the 19th Sunday of the Year
Readings: I Kings 19:9, 11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33 The Scripture Readings for today’s Mass give us one of those wonderful opportunities to choose from a wealth of riches. The Gospel of Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee occurs in three of the Gospel accounts–of Matthew, Mark and John–right after the […]
19th Sunday of the Year, 10 August, 2014
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching.
Soul and Psyche
Among the works of the 12th century Cistercian authors, I wonder how often the treatises entitled On the Soul (De anima) are read by the average reader of Cistercian authors? I could equally ask how average is any reader who would read the works of the 12 century Cistercian authors! But such readers exist and […]
A Word From The Cistercian Fathers for August
You know that in a community of many it is impossible for all to be of the same strength, whether in body or in character, and so the authority of our Rule advises us to bear each weakness with patience; and charity requires us to stoop down somewhat to each. Some other person sees this […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 18th Sunday of the Year
Isaiah 55:1-3; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21 Matthew’s Gospel has a particular perspective on Jesus: he is the great teacher who unpacks God’s revelation, not in concepts in our mind but as the lives we lead. Jesus is a very patient teacher who, being one of us, appreciates our limits while, being the Son of […]
18th Sunday, Year A
Readings: Isaiah 55:1-3; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew14:13-21 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. James presiding and preaching. It is the First Sunday of the month and the monthly Eucharistic Adoration will begin at 3:30 PM (in the past we began at 4:00 PM) . All are invited and welcome to join […]