Gestures of Love
April 18, 2025
“Today let us only think of God’s love” (Pope Francis, Homily for Holy Thursday, April 13, 2017). These words of Pope Francis reflect the underlying theme of the Holy Thursday
“The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum—from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.” USCCB Website. The Pascal Vigil on Holy Saturday night celebrates the renewal of the earth by […]
On Palm Sunday we entered Jerusalem following Jesus into Jerusalem. Fr. Simeon Leiva, OCSO, in his homily to us, described Jesus intention in this way: Jesus goes ahead of his followers up to Jerusalem, the holy city whose name means “city of peace” but that also is the city that kills those sent to her […]
“Today let us only think of God’s love” (Pope Francis, Homily for Holy Thursday, April 13, 2017). These words of Pope Francis reflect the underlying theme of the Holy Thursday liturgy and indeed of the entire Holy Triduum. God’s love incarnated in Jesus is the reality that is addressing us during these holy days. When […]
For this Sunday’s gospel, in the encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees who bring before him a woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:1-11), we see that Jesus’ words are spare. Both his few terse words and the gesture of his bending down into the silence twice communicate the new way of God embodied in Jesus. […]
We hear the voice of Jesus in today’s gospel: “If you do not repent….” And a second time: “If you do not repent….” (Lk 13:1-9). If you do not turn from that negative mind-set….If you do not set aside your hopeless attitude, or your know-it-all attitude, or your fears that paralyze you…If you do not […]
We began Lent with the imposition of ashes on our forehead. A profound ritual reminding us of the mystery that we are living: our birth, death, and the entrance into life eternal. Being reminded of this mystery puts into bas relief the pilgrimage we are on. In this jubilee year of ‘hope’ Pope Francis titles […]
Ash Wednesday begins the great season of Lent. It is a time to take stock of our lives and relationships with God, self, and community: a time to go to the heart in anticipation of the grace of the Resurrection at Holy Easter. This day is marked with ashes on the forehead as a sign […]
The first reading from Sirach for today’s liturgy is short (Sir 27:4-7), short but with a pithy message, a message we should never forget, a message that should quickly cause us to pause and observe before uttering a word to my neighbor! “The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too […]
At our daily Mass during the week, we heard a continual reading from the book of Genesis (chapters 4, 6, 8, 9,11). It has been striking to notice the change in the image of God that is projected in the texts. God becomes upset with the human beings that he has created. Now God wants […]
“What if the Beatitudes weren’t just comforting words, but a blueprint for a way of life”, writes Sr. Joan Chittister. A blueprint for life…A Divine blueprint stamped upon our heart…A blueprint that places us in paradox, in a reversal of how we normally see life. It is not easy to stand holding any paradox…and yet […]
In the larger horizon of the twelfth century, ‘reform and renewal’ was the overarching reality affecting the Church and its religious leaders (McGinn, The Growth of Mysticism, p.149). The atmosphere of the 12th century was breathing forth ‘change’. And within the larger spiritual field of God’s life, our three founders were conscious of the need […]
We heard at First Vespers from Fr. Kilian McDonnell that “Jesus is the icon of our salvation” (Theological Studies, June 1995, p.223)). He adds “what was fully realized in Christ is fully realized in us” (p.223). Jesus became the icon of our salvation at the baptism. He descended into the waters of baptism; he descended […]
‘Pilgrims of Hope’ this is title given to this Jubilee Year by Pope Francis. Here is what the Pope says at the beginning of the Jubilee year: “We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an […]
It is hours before we enter the New Year. Metaphorically speaking it is like a birth. We are at the beginning of a new year; we leave behind the old, we leave behind what has been, although it lives on in the body of experience that we have lived in 2024. Change is before us […]
Here we are at the threshold of Christmas. Can you feel this moment, still, quiet; circling around the soul is expectancy, anticipation, waiting is beginning to give way to this new never yet moment. Indeed, the Incarnate One who is the Love and Compassion of God comes. ‘He comes ever-comes’ as the poet Tagore has […]
This season of longing and waiting is coming to an end with the revelation of Christ in our midst. Christ comes in all humanity so that we are not frightened by the power of His divinity. He comes in all humility so that we might understand what true divinity looks like. He comes so that […]
Third Sunday of Advent —Gaudete Sunday We have come to Gaudete ( Rejoice ) Sunday, and the prophets Isaiah and Zephaniah in their writings call the Anawim, ( a people humble and lowly) to rejoice in the Lord, sing and shout for joy, for God is in your midst. Zephaniah writes further, “ The Lord […]
Sr. Gertrude, OSCO, offers the following reflections for the Second Sunday in the link below. She also suggests some helpful practices to deepen our Advent preparation. Advent Chapter Talk
Advent draws us into an experience of a contrasting reality: the reign of God is the “already” and it is still “the not yet”. The ‘God who is’, who is with us right now and the ‘God who is to come’, that which we long for. The already, you are with us…you are with us […]
I was very moved by a short essay from Fr. Romano Guardini written in 1945. The title of the essay is “Finding One’s Center”. In the longing to find our deep and true Center we meet our woundedness. Guardini in this essay is very transparent as he describes his struggle with depression and scrupulosity. Here […]
In the Pope’s recent encyclical titled Dilexit Nos, On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ, here are the titles of Chapter one: “The Importance of the Heart.” “What Do We Mean by ‘the Heart’”? “Returning to the Heart.” “The Heart Unites the Fragments.” “Fire.” “The World Can Change, Beginning with the […]
What is the “communion of saints”? This theme was an important theological reality for Fr. Christian de Chergé the superior of the Atlas community. We just celebrated the solemnity of All Saints which honors all those unknown saints and there are many. This was an important theme for Fr. Thomas Merton as well who reflects […]
A lot goes on in the world, but little changes in a monastery. The life is regular and is set by defined intervals of prayer, work, and study. We are monastics: our lives are dedicated to praying in the heart of history. So while we are impacted by the changing events in our world, community, […]
“Have pity on me”, says the blind man. “What do you want me to do for you” says Jesus? “I want to see” replies the blind man (Mk 10:45-52). Do we ever cry out in prayer, ‘I want to see’? Do we ever wonder if I am seeing with the ‘light’ of Christ? Do we […]
In a conference titled “What Formation Do We Need” given to the ‘Congress of Benedictine Abbots’, D. Mauro Giuseppe Lepori emphasizes that “being a monk and being a disciple are identities that coincide” (September 13, 2024). He says that when this relation doesn’t happen, “the result is a sad sterility.” ‘Always disciples’, a phrase he […]
The Lord came down, took some of the spirit that was on Moses and gave it to the seventy elders (Numbers 11:25-29). Then two of the elders, Eldad and Medad, who though not present, were also seen prophesizing. Then the ‘complaint’ comes from a young man, Joshua, who saw them prophesizing and says, “My Lord […]
We are all on a spiritual journey. We would not be living at a monastery or spending significant time at a monastery if we were not following a deeper longing of the soul. In the first reading for this Sunday’s Eucharist (1 Kings 19:4-8), we find the prophet Elijah fleeing for his life for his […]
“Without parables Jesus did not speak to them” (Mk 4:34). Why parables? Why did Jesus use this poetic form to teach the word of God? A parable reveals a universal truth. Often the parables contain paradoxical messages or “contrasting (antithetical) and complementary (synthetic) parallelism” (The Gospel in Parables, John Donahue, SJ, p.1). In today’s gospel […]
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:35). Whoever does the ‘will of God’ is in intimate communion with the Divine Presence. As followers of Jesus, we are to do as he did: placing the will of God at the center of our lives. Nothing is more important […]
Today we commemorate the beautiful Feast of the Visitation when Mary visited Elizabeth. Mary was pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist. Scripture tells us the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for join in the presence of the Jesus, the son of God and Mary. What a beautiful Feast to select as a […]
Thomas Merton in California:The Redwoods Conferences and Letters has been selected as a finalist in the Association of Catholic Publishers (ACP) 2025 Excellence in Publishing Awards! Congratulations to David Odorisio in recognition of the his work and dedication in making Merton’s conferences at Redwoods accessibility to the entire world. In May and October of 1968, […]
Jesus says in today’s gospel (Jn 15:9-17), “Remain in my love.” This is a declaration….it is spare in words, simple on one level to understand. Imagine yourself in an encounter with Jesus in prayer and out of the silence these words come: “Remain in my love.” Jesus goes on to tell us ‘how’ we remain […]
The risen Jesus never tires of offering himself to us over and over, now under one image, now under another. What he wants to be for us is such a mysterious and profound reality that it cannot be reduced to only one image. Last Sunday he presented himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down […]
In John’s gospel Jesus bends down two times. The first is the scene with the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:1-11). In this encounter with the upholders of the law Jesus bends down contemplating, listening. And then the Word of life, of healing, of truth emerges as he suffers their challenge. The bending down into […]
Did you see it? For a few days – the rain stopped – the skies cleared and there she glowed – beautiful in all her glory – the Easter Moon. According to the Julian Calendar, Easter is calculated as the first Sunday […]
“I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…This is the covenant that I will make…I will place my law within them and write it on their hearts” (Jer 31:31,33). According to the scripture scholar Fr. John Donahue this is the only time in the Old Testament that […]
“Because my soul has left itself and entered into the divine life, it has become great and expansive” (Essential Writings, p.65). What do these words from Edith Stein mean: ‘Because my soul has left itself…’? Because my soul has surrendered my will…because my soul has died to my small narrow self…because my soul has placed […]
In the reading we had at vigils from the homily for the Third Sunday of Lent (Jn 2:13-25) by the Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pizzaballa, he made this striking comment: “Jesus overturns the money-changers counters, but first of all he overturns an image of God and a way of believing”. This is a stunning statement: ‘Jesus […]
“Surrender is the highest act of freedom,” wrote Edith Stein/Sr. Teresa Benedicta (Essential Writings, p.145). This profound statement encapsulates what Jesus embodied in his life, death, and resurrection. Looking briefly at the trajectory of Jesus’ journey here is what we witness. Following the Christmas season we immediately have the Baptism of Jesus. At his baptism […]
In his Message for Lent Pope Francis wrote: “The call to freedom is a demanding one. It is not answered straightaway; it has to mature as part of a journey” (2024). There are so many windows to look through for focusing our Lenten journey. What if we take the image of ‘freedom’ which Pope Francis […]
Fast from hurting words … and say kind words, Fast from sadness … and be filled with gratitude, Fast from anger … and be filled with patience, Fast from pessimism … and be filled with hope, Fast from worries … and have trust in God, Fast from complaints … and contemplate simplicity, Fast from pressures … and be prayerful, Fast from […]
Will we ‘back into our future’ or will we walk into our future ‘face forward’, with heart and mind living in the present and leaning into the future, the future where grace is antecedent, already present, ready to bestow on us the Divine help we need as we live into this New Year. The prophet […]
With the gospel of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38), we sit on the threshold of Christmas. This breaking-in of God into human flesh, beginning with Mary, becomes the paradigm for God’s continual incarnation into our human lives. In a beautiful poem titled “How can this be?” the author John Shea gives a poetic expression of the […]
This year the season of Advent is only three weeks. Yes, we do have a Fourth Sunday of Advent, but the very next day is Christmas. How can we get the most out of this precious time of preparation? If you can, go to daily Mass, but if this is impossible, the Advent Daily […]
The refrain or the ‘mantra’ if you will for this Second Sunday of Advent is “Prepare the way”. We hear it in the first reading of Isaiah (40:1-5, 9-11), and it is repeated at the beginning of the gospel of Mark (1:1-8). What does it mean to prepare ourselves for this new manifestation of God’s […]
Advent means ‘coming’…the God who is to come. The Latin word for Advent is ‘Adventus’ and the Greek word ‘Parousia’. Building on the early Patristic Fathers, the Cistercians of the twelfth century spoke of ‘three comings’: the first, the birth of Jesus in history; the second the coming or birth of Christ in the human […]
In the recent newsletter from Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, the sisters had a tribute to D. Godefroy (shown above) following his tragic death this summer. To quote D. Godefroy from the newsletter: “The fruitfulness of monastic life, of which our seven brothers of Tibhirine are a shining example, is less a matter of […]
How do we reach ‘spiritual effectiveness’? On the solemnity of All Saints at our second Vespers we heard a profound text from Evelyn Underhill where she poses this to us: “If we ask the saints how they achieved spiritual effectiveness…” (Concerning the Interior Life). The reply she gives is that “in so far as they […]
The unconscious drive to power can become an obstacle to our service and impact our relationships with distrust and suspicion. This reality happens not only in the political realm since it is part of our human make-up. Thus, it happens in all institutions, in our religious institutions and more specifically in our communities. We can […]
Two sons, to the father’s request to go labor in the vineyard (Mt 21: 28-32 ) one say’s immediately ‘yes’ and the other quickly ‘no’. Let’s observe the attitude, or demeanor or posture of both. The one who quickly says ‘yes’, never thinks about it again; his ‘yes’ is shallow, not truthful as he never […]
A magnanimous heart: Is this the meaning of the parable of the workers in the vineyard, where some come early and others late in the day, and all receive the same wage from the landowner? Or is it the ‘mystery’ of God’s ways, which we cannot comprehend and yet stirs us to ponder, to stretch […]
Chapter Talk – Corpus Christi – June 11, 2023, cycle-A When we feel barren, empty, hungering for something more, where or to whom do we turn? What do we do? Do we ignore, or run from these experiences in our life’s journey? The point of the first reading of Deuteronomy centers around this poignant text: […]
Chapter Talk – Pentecost Sunday – May 28, 2023, cycle-A My talk this morning essentially will be sharing with you excerpts from a homily by Pope Francis given on Pentecost Sunday in 2020 when we were in the middle of the pandemic. What are we receiving, what are we being reminded of on this solemnity […]
Chapter Talk – Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 7, 2023, cycle-A ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’ (Jn 14:1). These words open the gospel for this Sunday. Of course, our hearts are going to be troubled. This is part of our human nature and being ‘troubled’ will happen over and over again for […]
Chapter Talk – Fourth Sunday of Easter – April 30th, 2023, cycle-A “…They hear his voice”; “…They recognize his voice”…and they follow. For the Fourth Sunday of Easter the gospel reading is from St. John’s gospel on the theme of the ‘Good Shepherd’ (Jn 10:1-10). In the selection for this Sunday there is emphasis on […]
Chapter Talk – Second Sunday of Easter – April 16, 2023, cycle-A This is Divine Mercy Sunday, and it is the Second Sunday of Easter. This gospel is always given for the Eucharist following Easter. It describes two encounters: the first is the appearance of Jesus to the disciples where he first says, ‘peace be […]
PASCHAL VIGIL 2023 Jesus’ death is torture for me! I prefer his life to his death…. While he was alive, he brought only three dead persons back to life. Now, thanks to his death, all the dead come back to life, and trample me as they rush out through the gates of hell. The 4th– […]
Palm Sunday Procession: Holy Thursday On Holy Thursday, Sr. Kathy opened the Triduum with a chapter talk for our reflection: What is the horizon of the mind and heart of Jesus? How would you describe it? What is the horizon of the Christian faith? These questions come into central focus on this Holy Thursday which opens […]
Chapter Talk – Holy Thursday – April 6, 2023 What is the horizon of the mind and heart of Jesus? How would you describe it? What is the horizon of the Christian faith? These questions come into central focus on this Holy Thursday which opens the Triduum. Foundational to Christian faith is love, the primacy […]
Chapter Talk – Fifth Sunday of Lent – March 26, 2023, cycle-A The Divine cry: ‘Lazarus, come out’ (Jn 11:1-45). The cry of God calling us all out of the tombs of death. Yes, we will all physically die someday. But here we are the so-called ‘living’ who in many ways live like we are […]
Chapter Talk – Fourth Sunday of Lent – March 19, 2023, cycle-A That we may see…That we may see as God’s sees…Do we ever pray for this? In personal situations, in situations of community life and beyond into the larger Church and world, do we pray with the whole of our heart to see as […]
Chapter Talk – Second Sunday of Lent – March 5, 2023, cycle-A Commenting on the Transfiguration, Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar indicates the reality of what it will mean for Peter and the other disciples to follow Jesus: “To truly hear and really be overshadowed will be their lot only after Easter” (Light of the […]
What began as a beautiful dusting of snow, soon became a blizzard. It is taking days turned into weeks to recover. We are all fine and most of the trees are too, though there are many branches and small trees down. We thank all those in emergency services for their diligence and pray for their […]
Chapter Talk – First Sunday of Lent – February 26, 2023, cycle-A “Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn” (Joel 2:13). What is the prophet Joel saying? Clearly it is a poetic metaphor: God does not desire to hurt us…this is about enlarging the heart…converting the heart, making the heart as wide and […]
Chapter Talk – Fourth Sunday of the Year – January 29, 2022, cycle-A With paradox there is tension between two seemingly opposing realities. This tension is like a golden thread linking the two, sending divine impulses as one experiences either side of the polarity. What does this have to do with today’s gospel of the […]
Chapter Talk – Solemnity of Sts. Robert, Alberic & Stephen, January 26, 2023 What was the larger horizon that guided our founders’ decision to leave their monastery of Molesme to the wilderness of Citeaux? We may ask the same question in this way: what was their dream? Dreams form the landscape, the horizon of our […]
Chapter Talk – New Year’s Eve – December 31, 2022 New Years Day in the Catholic liturgical season (the Roman calendar) opens the new year with a solemn feast dedicated to Mary Mother of God. Why Mary? Why the feminine vessel of God’s life, the Divine new life? She embodies the posture of receptivity to […]
Chapter Talk – Christmas Eve – December 24, 2022, cycle-A ‘And the Word became flesh’ (Jn 1:14). Behold reality: ‘God is now all in all’. This is the miracle of Christmas: God has become flesh of our flesh, embodied in the totality of human life. God’s total gift of his own life given in his […]
Chapter Talk – Third Sunday of the Year – December 11, 2022 – cycle-A The gospel reading for this Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, asks us to behold who the Coming One is. John the Baptist, who is now in prison, is hearing about the works Jesus is doing. He seems a bit puzzled […]
Chapter Talk – Second Sunday of Advent – December 4, 2022, cycle-A “‘But what is this darkness? What do you call it? What is its name?’ The only name it has is ‘potential receptivity’, which certainly does not lack being nor is it deficient, but it is the potential of receptivity in which you will […]
Chapter Talk – Christ the King – November 20, 2022, cycle-C How would we describe who Jesus is? And for more perspective: How does Jesus exercise authority in his ministry? The gospels themselves are revelatory and reflect the type of ‘king’ Jesus is. One’s normal understanding of ‘king’ is turned upside down, inside out in […]
Chapter Talk – 32nd Sunday of the Year – November 6, 2022 We just celebrated All Saints. It is a profound solemnity of the Church. Each year our first Vespers opens the solemnity of All Saints with this amazing text from St. Symeon the New Theologian: “The saints in each generation, joined together to those […]
Chapter Talk – 31st Sunday of the Year – October 30, 2022, cycle-C The gospel for this Sunday is uplifting as we behold the gift of salvation in the encounter of Zacchaeus with Jesus (Lk 19:1-10). To see, in order to see Jesus, Zacchaeus, who is short, and because of the crowd, climbs a sycamore […]
Chapter Talk – 30th Sunday of the Year – October 23, 2022, cycle-C In the gospel of today Jesus tells the story of two men who went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the upholder of the law, and the other a tax collector (Lk 18:9-14). The prayer of one is received […]
Chapter Talk – October 9, 2022 – 28th Sunday – cycle-C Today’s gospel is the healing of the ten lepers (Lk 17:11-19). There are several themes that one can draw out of this gospel. One being ‘thanksgiving’ and how gratitude keeps the heart wide open as it acknowledges the extravagant gifts of God upon us, […]
Chapter Talk – 27th Sunday of the Year – October 2, 2022, cycle-C Right now, let us ask Jesus, like the apostles: “Increase our faith”. To ask something, to desire something beyond our ego demands, what would this be like? To desire and thus to ask from the depths, ‘Out of the depths I cry […]
As part of the OCSO General Chapter, participants, Abbots, Abbesses and delegates attended a Papal Audience. In his talk, Pope Francis spoke about the importance of dreams. Dom Bernardus, our newly elected Abbot General, opened this year’s chapter by inviting all the Superiors of our Order to share their dreams. Over the course of the […]
Chapter Talk – Synodality in the Rule of Benedict – 8-21-2022 How does an ancient Rule, specifically the Rule of St. Benedict, offer a perspective and ways forward in implementing ‘synodality’ for the present and future renewal of monastic life and of the Church? This is the subject of a short essay by the Abbot […]
Berry time at the Redwoods is a team activity. It begins with thriving bushes loaded with luscious berries. This year we added a new feature to the garden; a wire cage that houses the blueberries and currants and protects the fruit from hungry birds and other veracious animals. Interns, guests, and sisters gathered the berries […]
Chapter Talk – 19th Sunday of the Year – August 7, 2022, cycle-C Stay awake… for what? For whom? Be aware…vigilant…have your lamps lit…why? Fears, anxieties, confusion, uncertainty…. silence. Imagine an encounter: I and Christ…or Christ and I: fears, anxieties, confusion, uncertainty: in the living encounter of faith what happens to these ‘pulls’ of the […]
Chapter Talk – 17th Sunday of the Year – July 24, 2022, cycle-C St. Luke’s gospel for this Sunday has three pericopes, all on the theme of prayer. The gospel begins with one of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. And Jesus’ reply is the Lord’s prayer. Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and […]
Chapter Talk – 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 10, 2022, cycle-C ‘For this command that I enjoin upon you today’ (Dt 30:11)….and what is this command? It is one simple word, a word so multi-faceted and complex, and still simple, straight-forward….something we all know from very young. We are stamped with the Divine […]
Summer Interns have arrived! We are hosting three young women in June and July and two more are expected in August. The women come from different backgrounds and educations: this year, several interns have come to us from divinity schools around the country. At Redwoods, they participate in a different sort of school, a schola […]
Chapter Talk – Trinity Sunday – June 12, 2022, cycle-C What word or words would we use to depict the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery we are celebrating today? The one essential word is ‘relationship’. And endemic within relationship is the power of ‘love’. The love reality is what makes relationship true, opening […]
Chapter Talk – Pentecost Sunday – June 5, 2022, cycle-C ‘Come Holy Spirit, kindle in us the fire of your love.’ Let us ponder: Is it not the fire of love that alone brings true and lasting change? Pope Francis has said: “The Spirit frees hearts chained by fear. The Spirit overcomes all resistance. To […]
Chapter Talk – 6th Sunday of the Year – May 22, 2022, cycle-C We are still in the Easter season: the gospel reading of this Sunday and the gospel readings we heard during the week give us profound images for lectio, indeed for our lives. Some of these images are peace, abiding, the commandment of […]
Chapter Talk – Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 15, 2022, cycle-C We meet the Risen One in the encounter of love, an encounter that includes forgiveness, receiving a deeper, fuller truth, and a way of being that is broader than the one we are living now. The encounter is about meeting the One who […]
Chapter talk – 4th Sunday of Easter – May 8, 2022, cycle-C “Jesus said: ‘My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they shall follow me’” (Jn 10:27). And then this later passage from John’s gospel: “I shall not call you servants any more….but friends” (Jn 15:15). We are friends because we are known […]
Easter Vigil. All is silent, but full of hope.The last Adam grasps the hand of the first Adam,And yanks him out of his grave.The Mother of God wipes away Eve’s tears.All around the mortal rock of the tomb, the garden of Eden blossoms. (Bartholomaios I, Ecumenical Patriarch) Here are some highlights of Easter Celebrations at Redwoods: […]
The Triduum is a sacred time. We spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a solemn ritual following the Lord as he undergoes his life-giving passion death and resurrection. We begin with the Tenebrae which is a special prayer on Wednesday evening. This service sets the tone for these days with the theme of alternating darkness […]
Chapter Talk – Holy Thursday – April 14, 2022 Today, Holy Thursday, which opens the Triduum, gives us two important rituals that reflect the heart and meaning of these holy days, these final days building towards Jesus’ death and resurrection. These rituals are Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and Jesus offering his body […]
Chapter Talk – Fifth Week of Lent – April 3, 2022, cycle-C How does the Word of God speak? In what way or ways do we hear the Word of God speaking to us? Is God’s word a silent word, silent though still speaking? What happens if we separate out silence from the word? Do […]
Chapter Talk – Fourth Sunday of Lent – March 27, 2022, cycle-C There is no Christianity without love and forgiveness! There is no true Christian love that does not include mercy and forgiveness. In the gospel parable of the so called ‘Prodigal Son’, Jesus reveals the nature of God as unconditional love and compassion. And […]
Chapter Talk – First Sunday of Lent – March 6, 2022, cycle-C “Without communion there is no mission”…Communion communicates mission….“Communion is the substance of mission”. What are these words of Dom Mauro Giuseppe saying to us? Is not the core of our mission as monastics communion, communion of heart and mind with God and one […]
Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten observance with the reception of ashes. In this photo above, Fr Simeon, from St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer Massachusetts, distributes ashes to the sisters. Fr. Simeon reminded us in today’s homily that Lent is about new birth. It mirrors the natural environment and our experience of Spring. Like […]
Chapter Talk – 8th Sunday of the Year – February 27, 2022, cycle-C The first reading from Sirach for today’s liturgy says: “The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind” (24:6). Our speech, our words are revelatory. Do not our words […]
On February 11, 2022, Abbots and Abbesses from all over the world gathered in Assisi (Italy) for the first part of the General Chapter, elected Dom Bernardus Peeters as our Abbot General. The session began days earlier, on February 7th, with the Mass of the Holy Sprit to pray for guidance in the selection of […]
Chapter Talk – Third Sunday of the Year – January 23, 2022, cycle-C For the readings of this Third Sunday, it is striking that two great voices and thinkers converge around one word: ‘today’. Those voices are Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar and Pope Francis. Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar in his commentary on the […]
“Today let us only think of God’s love” (Pope Francis, Homily for Holy Thursday, April 13, 2017). These words of Pope Francis reflect the underlying theme of the Holy Thursday
Monastery Lentils A popular Guest House recipe that is vegan, easy to make and packed with flavor. Recipe calls for dry herbs – but use fresh for extra flavor. Serve
“The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum—from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day
