The ascetic practices enjoined upon us during this Lenten season can suggest that God takes pleasure in the discomfort and deprivation we experience thereby. Conversely, it could be thought that God resents our experiencing pleasure and freedom from suffering. This may, in turn, have us hesitant to pray for relief from suffering unless it is […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the First Sunday of Lent
First Sunday of Lent, Year B: Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 At the Jordan Jesus divested himself of everything to enter the river. He assumed a kinship with sinful humanity but rose from the waters to God’s voice calling him his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. That is […]
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Although Christ calls us out of sin, he initially meets us where we are—within our sinful state and not outside it. But as we hear in today’s gospel, this brought him into conflict with the Scribes and the Pharisees who condemned his eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Misguided humility and a fundamental […]
Ash Wednesday
Like the well-intentioned resolutions we make at the beginning of each year, Lenten resolutions can sometimes be abandoned long before Easter—this is especially true of the more interior ones, like those Saint Bernard labels the fasting of the eyes, ears, and tongue. Still, establishing some special Lenten practice (or resolution) is not without spiritual benefit, […]
Friday of the 5th Week
Since Saint John assures us that perfect love casts out fear, it is instructive that one of the first consequences of Eve and Adam’s disobedience is fear and the desire to hide from God. One presumes that prior to their disobedience, Eve and Adam did not fear God and lived in peaceful and trusting harmony […]
A Word from our Cistercian Fathers
The Father has different arrangements for each. For we did not choose him but he chose us and appointed places for us; and in the place of each one’s appointment there he is too. Thus one repentant woman was allotted a place at the feet of the Lord Jesus, another—if she really is another—found fulfillment for her […]
Saturday of the 5th Week
As Saint Paul reminded the Corinthians, if I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. We honor Saint Paul Miki and his companion martyrs not because they suffered so much in bearing witness to Christ, but that […]
Thursday of the 3rd Week
Psychological and spiritual growth are integral to the manifestation of otherwise hidden inner potential and our becoming all that God created us to be. Unfortunately, our still unredeemed condition and our failure to become the unique persons God created us to be is like the lighted lamp placed under a bushel basket—referred to in today’s […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 3rd Sunday of the Year
24 January, 2021: Third Sunday, Year B: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 After John had been arrested, Mark tells us, then Jesus began to call his disciples. We’re only in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel and already, Jesus, who was baptized by John, is on shaky ground. He doesn’t conceal […]
Friday of the 2nd Week
On this annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, the quote from Jeremiah (in our first reading) is especially relevant. For although legal protection of the unborn is crucial, it is only a stage in progress towards a true solution. Until, in the words of Jeremiah, God’s immutable law against the […]