How wonderful your love for me, my God, my love! How wonderful your love for me, everywhere mindful of me, everywhere eager for the welfare of one who is needy and poor, protecting him both from the arrogance of men and from the might of evil spirits. Both in heaven and on earth, O Lord, […]
Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas
Saint John Chrysostom offers an interesting reflection on Jesus’ image of the kingdom of God being like a mustard seed. He identifies the mustard seed with Christ and thus comments: “O seed by which the world was made, through which darkness was dispersed and the Church brought into being! In this seed hanging on the […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 3rd Sunday
Third Sunday, Year C, 23 January, 2022: Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Jesus’ visit to his home town starts off well enough, but as will unfold next Sunday, it ends rather badly, with his neighbors attempting to kill him. The narrative doesn’t described how the change occurred which is […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
Let faith be for us, then, like the first day on which we believers are separated from unbelievers, as light from darkness. Let hope be the second day: through it, dwelling in the heavens and through the merits of faith hoping only for things above the heavens, with God urging us on, we are distinguished from […]
The Protection of the Unborn
On this special day as we pray for the protection of the unborn and honor God’s gift of Life, we remind ourselves that Life is so much more than just physical life. Indeed, it is every individual’s ensoulment at the moment of conception that renders abortion so tragic and indefensible. And it is the immortal […]
Saints Maur and Placid
Good beginnings don’t always translate into positive and successful endings. Saul, who seemed at his anointing to be such a promising future king, ended his days in ignominy—taking his own life rather than be killed by his enemies on Mount Gilboa. In contrast, Matthew begins his Christian discipleship with the disadvantage of being a despised […]
Fr. James’ Homily for Epiphany Sunday
The Epiphany of the Lord, 2 January, 2022: Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12 The Magi from the east are genuine seekers of the truth who brave the risks of travel through an inhospitable terrain to reach their goal in an unknown land and an unknown religion. They have read the cryptic signs […]
CHRISTMAS NIGHT 2021
After a good washing, our monastic robes can appear dazzlingly white and contrast dramatically with our black scapulars. However, on more than one occasion when I have been out in the snow, I have not failed to notice that our otherwise white robes appear to be a definite off-white, cream, color in comparison with the […]
Fr. James’ Homily for Christmas Day
Christmas: Mass During the Day, 25 December, 2021, Year C: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18 We don’t know the actual date or even the season of Christ’s birth because he was born into a world that wasted little memory on such matters. The early church chose a symbolic date to celebrate the Lord’s […]
Friday of the 3rd Week of Advent
Although the genealogy of Jesus, we have just heard, is more representative and symbolic than literal, it nevertheless reminds us that God is perfectly aware of each one of our genealogies. As such he is familiar with every single influence (transmitted through our forebears), that made us the persons we were at our birth—genetically, physically, […]