Then the prophet adds, Rend your hearts and not your garments. By these words he is accusing the ancient people of hardness of heart and meaningless superstition. They frequently rent their garments, but not their hearts. … Let the Spirit rend your heart with his sword, which is the word of God; let him rend […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 8th Sunday
It can be helpful (at times) to think in either/or and black and white categories. In doing so, though, we disregard those gray areas of life that can be ambiguous, complex, and even confusing. Jesus seems to be doing just this with his metaphor of the tree that produces either good or rotten fruit—it is […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 7th Sunday
Seventh Sunday, Year C, 20 February, 2022: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38 This Gospel carries the extremely hard commandment to love our enemies. It’s not just the alienating nature, the repulsive aspect of people we dislike or who have hurt us; the underlying problem is the nature of […]
Friday of the 4th Week
Sin can, at times, seem so personal and private that we can perhaps presume that it is only offending God and not affecting others. King Herod’s sins (and those of his family) remind us that this is really never true—our sin always negatively impacts our fellow human beings. Herod’s moral weakness, lack of inner discipline, […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
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 […]