Fr. James’ Homily for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
The cross on which Christ died may not have looked exactly like our familiar crucifixes. It did indeed have a vertical support and each of the condemned carried his horizontal beam to the place of...
View ArticleWednesday of the 24th Week
The old adage, actions speak louder than words lies at the heart of striving to set a good example for others to follow. However, good example will only be followed by those possessing a humble and...
View ArticleMemorial of Korean Martyrs
As Christians striving to imitate the self-giving and self-sacrificing love of Christ, we forget that receiving help and allowing others to serve us is integral to being Christ’s disciples. Although...
View ArticleFr. James’ Homily for the 25th Sunday
Jesus had a reputation for keeping bad company—inevitable in a ministry as oriented to the conversion of sinners, as to announcing the Kingdom of God. He probably knew characters like today’s...
View ArticleMemorial of Saint Vincent de Paul
Viewing a Wrentham documentary in the novitiate the other day, we heard Mother Maureen affirm that Cistercian life is one hundred percent community and one hundred percent solitude. This seemingly...
View ArticleAbbot Joseph’s Homily for the 26th Sunday
Masochism is that mental and psychological aberration according to which a person voluntarily seeks out pain and suffering and actually derives pleasure and satisfaction thereby. I mention this...
View ArticleWord from our Cistercian Fathers
And I beseech you, brothers, let us stand upon our watch, because now is the time of soldiery. Let not our conversion be on the dunghill of this wretched body, but in the heart where Christ dwells....
View ArticleFr. James’ Homily for the 28th Sunday
Today’s Gospel occupies an interesting place in Luke’s Gospel. It’s preceded by this self-effacing admission of good servants: We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we are obliged to do. And...
View ArticleMemorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus
As we know, it is not only the Pharisees who are filled with plunder and evil; each one of us has to make this same painful discovery in the progress of our self-knowledge. Saint Teresa was no...
View ArticleAbbot Joseph’s Homily for the 29th Sunday
Increasing numbers of people are avoiding so-called “organized religion” and labeling themselves “spiritual” rather than “religious.” In doing so, they seriously challenge traditional approaches to...
View ArticleNotes for November 1-3
Friday, 1 November, is the Solemnity of All Saints. The community Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 AM, as on a Sunday. Please Note: THE GIFT SHOP WILL BE CLOSED ON FRIDAY NOV 1 and reopen on Saturday...
View ArticleFr. James’ Homily for All Saints
With a predictable regularity guests at our Retreat House ask me whether we are living in the end times. Although I realize this has been a perennial preoccupation and fear in every era, I am in...
View ArticleAbbot Joseph’s Homily for the 31st Sunday
Celtic spirituality has long cultivated the belief in so-called “thin places” where the veil separating heaven and earth, time and eternity, is thin and where the experience of the sacred and the...
View ArticleThursday of the 31st Week
The Good Shepherd who goes in search of the stray sheep while leaving the other ninety-nine in the desert is a good image for ourselves in seeking out and reclaiming aspects of our true identity lost...
View ArticleA Word from a Cistercian Mother
My king and my God – God, love and joy – my soul and my heart are jubilant to you. My heart desires to greet, praise, magnify, and bless you, life of my soul, my God – God living and true, fountain...
View ArticleAbbot Joseph’s Homily for the 33rd Sunday
If you have found this morning’s gospel confusing and disorienting, you are not alone. Things that seem stable and immovable (like the great temple) will become a pile of rubble; wars and...
View ArticleSaturday of the 33rd Week
The choices of every moment and the actions of every day, are gradually forming the attitude and state of mind with which we will face death. King Antiochus ends his life in misery and regret for all...
View ArticleFr. James’ Homily for Christ the King
What is the relevance of the title, Christ the King of the Universe? What’s the point of kings in this day and age, after their dominions have been overthrown or their sovereignty limited by...
View ArticleThanksgiving Thursday
Abbot Joseph and the Community wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving and thank you for your kind good wishes for this special day of the year. Please be aware that Holy Mass on Thanksgiving Day...
View ArticleFr. James’ Homily for Thanksgiving
We read in the Book of Deuteronomy: When you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold...
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