We’re beginning our annual silent Advent retreat now, so I won’t be posting during this week—though I hope that I might have the opportunity to announce the availability of my new book toward the end of the week. It is at the printer now. In any case, I’ll be back with my Sunday homily on [...]
I watched a video a few days ago that you probably ought to see. It is not news that there are Islamic terrorist training camps all over the world, but it was news to me that there are 35 of them right here in the good old USA. Most of them are in rural areas [...]
I tend to have a certain ambivalence toward the holiday known as Thanksgiving. This has nothing to do with the essence and meaning of the day, which is as close to the Gospel as any secular holiday can get: giving thanks for all the blessings we have received as individuals and as a nation, and, [...]
“You gotta serve somebody,” sang Bob Dylan, in the time of his life when he considered himself to be “saved.” If you don’t serve Heaven, you’ll end up serving Hell. He seems to have fallen away since then, but his words are still true. As contingent beings, we are not self-sufficient, which means we are [...]
We have another curious configuration of readings today because it is both a Sunday (Eph 5:8-19; Lk 12:16-21) and a feast of the Mother of God (Heb 9:1-7; Lk 10:38-42, 11:27-28). The fact that this all occurs during Advent makes the mix even more interesting! We’ll try to bring all of this together, with the [...]
The Advent-Christmas issue of our monastery newsletter, Gladsome Light, is now available online. You already got a sneak preview in my last post here on the blog, but I have another article in this issue, and the monks have offered some Christmas reflections as well. So click here to read it, and may your heart [...]
[It may seem a bit early for Christmas reflections, but in our tradition Advent has already begun. The following is an autobiographical reflection on Christmas that will appear in our monastery newsletter, shortly to be published on our site, but I thought I’d get a little extra mileage by publishing it first here. There will [...]
We’re beginning a new liturgical and ascetical season, as we start setting our eyes and hearts on the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God and his birth at Christmas. Tomorrow begins the fast of St Philip, the 40-day Advent preparation for the Nativity of Our Lord. And today, even though the readings [...]
Jesus is intolerant. What? How can I say such a thing? After reading the Gospel accounts of his associating with prostitutes and tax-collectors, how can I say He is intolerant? I only say it because it is true. I also truly say He is merciful, which is something quite other than being tolerant. In our [...]
At the beginning of the Epistle of St Jude, the Apostle tells us that his intention in writing was simply to share some things concerning the salvation we all hope for in Jesus Christ. But instead he said he had to write urging his readers to “contend for the faith,” which means that even way [...]
