There is a ‘voice’…do you hear it?  A voice that is crying out in the center of our longing.  What is that voice saying that cries out, that yearns for our attention, that yearns for us to open our hearts even more now as we await the manifestation of God’s ‘new gesture of love’.  Is this something that you need…that I need?  Absolutely. 

To honor St. Benedict, I like to focus this talk on Chapter 72 of the Rule. The title of this chapter is “Of the Good Zeal Which Monks Ought To Have”. My reason for choosing this chapter is that no scholar of the Rule of St. Benedict debates the fact that St. Benedict penned this chapter. It is unique to him and offers us a window into his heart and soul as well as the horizon through which he viewed monastic life.

Conversion to a deepened faith: the eye of the heart continually needs this transformation…transformation into a living and growing faith. 

The theme of Pope Francis’ message for Lent this year is ‘conversion’.  Right at the beginning of his ‘Lenten Message’ he states that the ‘paschal mystery is the basis of conversion.’  Indeed, the backdrop of our Lenten journey is the death and resurrection of Jesus.  This event states that ‘now is the time of grace, now is the day of our salvation’. This grace, available now, happens each time we turn from what is not life, and turn towards God….Conversion is a turning from and turning toward: this inner dynamic is a dying or a letting go for life, for God’s love to heal and transform.  An authentic conversion is an “inward transformation” (p.233).

Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 13:1-11 Lauds on Ordinary Days
Mass: Ga 5:1-6; Resp Ps 119; Lk 11:37-41


As to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.
Jesus' words to the Pharisees penetrate: 'A