Begin to recognize yourself, to love and possess yourself, to be kind to yourself, and you will be happy. … If you desire to know yourself and to possess yourself, go into yourself, and do not search for yourself outside. Distinguish between what is around you, what belongs to you, and your self! The world […]
Monday of the 8th Week of the Year: Fr. James’ Reflection on the day’s readings
Monday, 3 MAR, 2025: Sir 17:20-24; Mk 10:17-27 How hard it is… Jesus does not just address the rich. In various ways—take up your cross…Blessed are they who mourn—Jesus tells us that life is hard. If I haven’t accepted that, I haven’t accepted his Gospel. And if I don’t, I will recognize no miracle, feel […]
Saturday of the 7th Week of the Year
Psychological and spiritual maturity are among the prized attributes of adulthood. Immaturity, childishness, and even childlikeness, on the other hand, are usually disdained and considered a sign of a failure to develop and flourish. However, for most—if not all—of us our progress towards full maturity and wholeness is anything but smooth, uniform, or orderly. Instead, […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 7th Sunday of the Year
The call to love one’s enemies and do good to those who hate you, has all the appearance and feeling of losing control over one’s life, and thus being at the mercy (or lack thereof) of others—both friend and foe. Conversely, defensive retaliation in kind, and exacting an eye for an eye and a tooth […]
Memorial of St. Peter Damian
Jesus’ enigmatic statement according to which some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power, has been variously interpreted—usually in ways that don’t seem to directly involve us. However, recall that when the Pharisees asked when the kingdom would come, Jesus replied that the […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Sixth Sunday of the Year
16 February 2025, Sixth Sunday, Year C: Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-25 Blessed are the poor; not the poor in spirit but the poor. Scholars explain that Luke’s Christian community was probably very poor, but that fails to tell my why they are blessed. Is it beatitude when you have nothing […]
Saturday of the Fifth Week of the Year
With their privileged intimacy and a loving and unobstructed access to God their creator, Adam and Eve had little excuse for reaching out and eating of the forbidden fruit. We, by contrast, begin our human existence estranged and largely ignorant of the One in whom we live, move, and have our being. Consequently, we have […]
Saturday of the Fourth Week of the Year
Pope Francis has repeatedly urged priests to go out in active evangelization rather than simply waiting for people to come to them. Today’s gospel speaks of the Apostles having done just that and as they reported all they had done and taught. However, this same gospel also introduces another key element in evangelization. And that […]
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 Saint Agatha
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us to strive for peace with everyone. Striving, of course, is distinct from actually successfully living at peace with everyone, and is an acknowledgment of the great challenge involved in doing so. For some, the challenge lies in dealing patiently and compassionately with the weaknesses, failings, […]