I believe that some of our brothers can still be found alive today who listened with me to our blessed father and teacher [St Bernard] praise the nobility of silence, one of her greatest gifts, in Mary, mother of God, and greatest of all women. In all the holy gospels we find her words a […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter
25 May, 2025, 6th Sunday of Easter, Year C: Acts15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29 In only seven verses, today’s Gospel covers an immense territory, from fidelity to Jesus’s teaching, to intimacy with God, to the promise of the Holy Spirit AND the Spirit’s role in our understanding; to the peace that only Jesus […]
Saturday of the 4th Week of Easter
Certain spiritualities tend towards associating the so-called God of the Old Testament with God the Father—a God who often depicted as wrathful and punishing. And, in contrast, we have Christ as revealed in the gospels—one who is merciful and forgiving and who, as it were, stays the vengeful hand of God the Father. However, in […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter
4 May, 2025, Third Sunday of Easter, Year C: Acts 5:27-32. 40b-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 I draw your attention to Jesus’ question to Peter: Do you love me? For several weeks we’ve celebrated a pageant of betrayal, misunderstanding, suffering, injustice, cruelty, fidelity of the few—and the unexpected miracle of resurrection. Isn’t it so easy […]
Feast of Saints James and Philip
It is unclear (at least to me) whether Philip’s show us the Father, and that will be enough for is, is just simple curiosity, or the affirmation of a profound truth. This truth is one that we struggle to truly believe and act on. So much of our spiritual efforts involve letting go of those […]
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Saturday of the Easter Octave
It is a totally transformed and emboldened Peter who courageously defies the members of the Sanhedrin and exclaims that it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard. This “impossibility” of which Peter speaks can be understood in two ways. Firstly, in the sense in which Peter intended it. […]
Fr. James’ Homily for Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday, YR C: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9 For us, as for the people in this Gospel, isn’t knowledge of the Resurrection posited by indirect evidence? The Risen Jesus has yet to appear to them. In all four Gospels, he will come to them, though he is often not recognized at first. […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the Easter Vigil
Having celebrated, in orderly sequence, the last supper, the arrest and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and now his resurrection from the dead, we can naturally consider these as simply past events, annually recalled, and reverently honored. However, the truth is that they are not merely past events; instead, all the saving acts of […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper
At the beginning of each Holy Mass the priest invites us to acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate these sacred mysteries. This is a perhaps necessary reminder that the Eucharist is one of the central mysteries of our faith. And like all mysteries, our severely limited understanding of divine realities means that […]