Readings: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43 Little Lamb, arise. This is what Jesus’ words, the Aramaic, Talitha koum, literally mean–a beautiful, gentle expression. Another beautiful quote, much less obvious, is Jesus question, Who has touched my clothes? How is that beautiful? It is addressed to a woman whose malady, the […]
Thursday of the 12th Week of the Year (Saint Irenaeus)
The fall of Jerusalem and exile into Babylon of all but the poor and seemingly useless is not unlike what happens within our own spiritual lives. We too have to be freed from all arrogance, pride, and self-sufficiency and left poor, spiritually destitute, and needy. In this humbled state, all that we might have prided […]
Reflection for the Gospel of Wednesday of the Twelfth Week, Year Two
Readings: 2 Kings 22:8-13, 23:3-5; Matthew 7:15-20 By their fruits you will know them. We continue to hear Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount and today’s warning about false prophets adds a nuance to the warning from a couple of days ago about our judging. That was not an invitation to passivity or […]
Monday of the Twelfth Week, Year Two
Readings: 2 Kings 17:5-8,13-15a, 18; Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus said to his disciples, “Stop judging so you will not be judged.” This is the teaching of Jesus that we all wrestle with, that none of us can master. I often celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation in any given week and whether it’s penitents coming to me, […]
Saturday of the 11th Week of the Year
Christ’s admonition that we not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will take care of itself seems, perhaps, a little irresponsible if not impossible to carry out. However, I believe that Jesus is impressing upon us the fact that anxiety about tomorrow and the days thereafter can obscure God’s presence and grace given in the present […]
Wednesday of the 11th Week of the Year
Treading that fine line between a false humility that hides God’s gifts and boastfully parading one’s good works before others is something that Elijah seems to have been able to do. Seemingly aware of his imminent ascent into the heavens and humbly not wanting Elisha to witness this amazing spectacle he requests that Elisha remain […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 11th Sunday of the Year
In the world of cartoons things like vacuum cleaners are credited with a life of their own and endowed with the ability to choose their actions. Now apart from the fact that vacuum cleaners don’t have brains—even though some may be programmable—they are totally dependent on being connected to an electrical outlet capable of delivering […]
Brother Theodore begins his postulancy
Having recently spent three months within the community as an “observer,” Brother Theodore Berezuk (formerly Todd) has returned as a postulant to begin his initial period of formation. He joins Brothers Mark, John, and Richard in their continuing process of discernment and seeking the will of God for their lives. It has been a long […]
Thursday of the 10th Week of the Year
The anger that brings one to murder a fellow human being is on the far end of that spectrum that has mild irritation at its opposite end. And although mild irritation is very unlikely to bring us to commit murder, unexamined irritation has the potential to eventually become blind and murderous rage. But even if […]
Wednesday of the 10th Week of the Year
The increasingly popular notion of various religions being merely different paths to the same reality and truth, is something that Elijah would have taken issue with. For this great prophet it was either Baal or the Lord, with no straddling of the issue. Although there is some appeal and even some validity to “the all […]