Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C, 22 May, 2022: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-24, 22-23; John 14: 23-29 This brief passage from John’s Gospel is densely packed. Jesus speaks of his departing and returning; he also refers to the apostles’ sense of loss but that they should be glad for him. He tells them […]
5th Week of Easter
Although it is undeniably the greatest honor to be chosen by Christ to be his friend, we might be a little concerned by his additional assertion that in choosing us he has also appointed us to go and bear fruit that will remain. This is especially so when our lives of discipleship seem devoid of […]
Holy Abbots of Cluny
As we know, procrastinating because we don’t wish to make a decision is, in actual fact, a decision. Similarly, as Jesus insisted, whoever is not for him is against him—there can be no neutral position in relation to Christ. And in today’s gospel Jesus explains that if anyone hears my words and does not observe […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
Let us honor Mary, …. since she knows the course and outcome of all miseries, she soothes our fears, she awakens our faith, strengthens our hope, drives away our cowardice, and encourages us when we are timid. You fear to approach the Father? Terrified by the mere sound of his voice, you flee to the […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter
1 May, 2022: Third Sunday of Easter, Year C: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 Children, have you caught anything to eat? That’s a game-changing question, because Jesus shifts the emphasis from fishing to earn a living, to providing a meal for his apostles. This is no command to change, it’s a […]
Saturday of the Easter Octave
In our Christian tradition those who, under the influence of the Spirit, speak in the name of the Lord, are not mere mouthpieces or passive conduits of the divine message—the message they speak is transformative, not only for those who hear their message, but for the speakers themselves. Thus, those who speak in the Lord’s […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
And for that reason my advice to you, my friends, is to turn aside occasionally from troubled and anxious pondering on the paths you maybe treading, and to travel on the smoother ways where the gifts of God are serenely savored, so that the thought of him may give breathing space to you whose consciences […]
Fr. James’ Homily for Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday, Year C, 17 April, 2022: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9 In this morning’s Gospel, there are yet no angels, no announcement of the Lord’s rising; rather, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the Beloved Disciple puzzle over the empty tomb. Was Peter driven to the tomb by his inner turmoil? He […]
Easter Vigil
Keep your hopes high and your expectations low is advice that, initially, seems counterintuitive. Surely, there should be a close correlation between hope and expectation? Can you have high expectations without hope, or can you have low expectations with hope? Well, if we consider that the dictionary defines the word “expect” as regarding something as […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for Holy Thursday
The final and devastating plague meted out on a stubborn and recalcitrant Pharaoh and his hapless subjects, is also the only plague that the Israelites had to consciously and actively choose to evade. According to the Exodus account all the other plagues assailing Egypt left the Land of Goshen (where the Israelites dwelt) untouched—all this […]