Writings About Saints
Humility, Eucharistic Devotion, and Hope
At the beginning of today’s Gospel, Jesus says to the twelve: “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” After signaling to John who it is, but not hearing the answer, Peter hears Jesus say to him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.” One imagines that Peter understood Jesus to be answering John’s question by identifying him as the soon-to-be traitor.
5th Week of Lent
Today, on this Passion Sunday, we are nourished by the dramatic scene of the recapitulation of all things in Christ Jesus made manifest by the dialogue of Christ with an adulterous woman. Here, an adulterous woman’s secretive life moves from hidden to revealed, from revealed to acknowledged, from acknowledged to forgiven, from forgiven to infectious.
Feast of St. Joseph
Just inside the doorway from the abbey cloister to the chapter room, there hangs an icon of St. Joseph written by our own fr. Philip. Not unlike the secco in the center south shrine here in the nave, the carpenter of Nazareth is depicted with the Christ child on his shoulders. Just a few days ago I looked at the icon and thought, “Carries the Son of God on his shoulders for fun—Terror of Demons.”
Annunciation of the Lord
Every year we hear this prophecy of Isaiah, and we instinctively know it was fulfilled in the virginal conception of Christ in the womb of Blessed Mary. And indeed that is true. It’s not just an adaptation of an ancient text to fit a mystery of our faith; this prophecy, even as it flowed out of Isaiah’s mouth, literally referred to the incarnation of the Son of God by the Holy Spirit. And yet, because the selection offered is truncated, we miss the wider historical context in which the prophecy was made, a context which only adds to the profundity of this prophecy.
Thursday After Ash Wednesday
On Tuesday morning, when we filed into the room where Fr. Leo was lying having recently passed, we were greeted with an unforgettable and consoling image: Fr. Leo’s hands wrapped lovingly around a crucifix, his face serene, at peace. Today we hear the Lord say to us: “Take up your cross and follow Me.”
Writings For Spiritual Growth
Parasceve Domini
“So marred was His look beyond human resemblance, and His appearance beyond that of mortals. There was in Him no stately bearing to make us look at Him, nor appearance that would attract us to Him.”
Holy Thursday
Listen to the homily by Abbot Eugene J. Hayes, O.Praem.
Humility, Eucharistic Devotion, and Hope
At the beginning of today’s Gospel, Jesus says to the twelve: “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” After signaling to John who it is, but not hearing the answer, Peter hears Jesus say to him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.” One imagines that Peter understood Jesus to be answering John’s question by identifying him as the soon-to-be traitor.
Pour Out Your Very Best for the Lord
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair (John 12: 3).
Holy Mother Church gives us in this holiest week of the year a tremendous opportunity to imitate Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha (and in the best strands of Catholic tradition, the Magdalene), in pouring out our very best for the Lord.
Palm Sunday
With the commemoration of the Lord’s Passion, we have now begun the holiest week of the year. And although the length of the Passion narrative is best matched by the brevity of our words, the need for a bit of rest demands we not be altogether silent, lest either so great a mystery be passed over with undue haste or weariness be increased by too much talk. So profound are Christ’s suffering and death that no man can do them justice, and yet the very subject matter which is ineffable gives us the ability to speak, nor can it be that however little we say is insufficient when however much we say can never be enough.
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"A priest is not a priest for himself. He is a priest for you."
– St. John Vianney
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