Nineteenth Sunday, Year A, 13 August, 2023: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew14:22-33 It’s too easy for a preacher to present Simon Peter as an impulsive, unthinking negative example for Christian disciples to avoid. Granted, none of the twelve Apostles garner high marks in comprehension during Jesus’ lifetime, but to reduce them to bad […]
Saturday of the 18th Week of the Year
In what is something of a paradox, our quest for inner peace and happiness is such that when it is attained—even only partially—it exposes us to spiritual danger. And this is because the peace and cessation of the struggle can induce complacency. Then by careless neglect of inner vigilance we expose ourselves to the attacks […]
Holy Mass Time-Changes
Please be aware that because this Tuesday, August 15, is the Solemnity of the Assumption, Holy Mass will be at 10.00 a.m. Then, on Wednesday, August 16, Bishop Michael Burbidge will be making his annual Pastoral Visit to the community and, again, Holy Mass will be at 10.00 a.m.
Tuesday of the 18th Week of the Year
Memorial of Saint Dominic: In his list of the seven principal vices, Saint Gregory the Great doesn’t list Pride. Instead, he understands pride to be the source and instigator of all the vices. This is no less true of envy and jealousy—manifested so clearly in Miriam and Aaron’s sarcastic-sounding question: “Is it through Moses alone […]
Wednesday of the 17th Week
In his catalogue of Tools for Good Works Saint Benedict includes his caution: Do not aspire to be called holy before you really are, but first be holy that you may more truly be called so. And in this Benedict is warning against an unhealthy preoccupation with self that is overly concerned with creating a […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
In all the four gospels, if I remember right, Mary is heard to speak only four times: first to the angel but only after he had spoken to her once and yet again; second to Elizabeth, when the voice of Mary’s greeting caused John to leap in her womb and Elizabeth magnified Mary, but Mary […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 17th Sunday
Saint Paul’s insistence that all things work for good for those who love God, might perhaps be thought of as his expression of a similar conviction captured in that pious aphorism: God writes straight on crooked lines. As comforting as these words can be to the suffering and perplexed Christian, it is important that they […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 16th Sunday
Sixteenth Sunday, Year A, 23 July, 2025: Wisdom: 13:16-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43 Listening to these parables, I’d say that Jesus could never work for a political campaign or an advertising agency. Either of those occupations stress the positive advantages of the platforms they promote; Jesus’ description of the kingdom of heaven undercuts privilege, […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 14th Sunday
Fourteenth Sunday, Year A, 9 July, 2023: Zechariah 9:9-10; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30 In a culture that valued scholars who studied God’s word, Jesus teaches a subversive opinion: Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to little ones. That’s not to say that […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 13th Sunday
The totally uncompromising words of Jesus according to which whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, calls to mind Abraham’s call to sacrifice Isaac, his only son (and heir). Jesus’ call to an uncompromising love of him is thus among those so-called “hard sayings” of Jesus that test the […]