Abbot's Homilies

NOTE:  I will retire as abbot on December 12, 2018.  I have been writing these homilies since the First Sunday of Advent in 1997.  I will no longer write these homilies.  My last homily will be published for the Solemnity of Christ in the King, November 25, 2018. ...

NOTE:  I will retire as abbot on December 12, 2018.  I have been writing these homilies since the First Sunday of Advent in 1997.  I will no longer write these homilies.  My last homily will be published for the Solemnity of Christ in the King, November 25, 2018. ...

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING                      2 Kings 4:42-44 A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God, twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits, and fresh grain in the ear.  Elisha said, "Give it to...

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING            Jeremiah 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord.  Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my...

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING            Amos 7:12-15 Amaziah, priest of Bethel, said to Amos, "Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!  There earn your bread by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the...

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING            Ezekiel 2:2-5 As the Lord spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:  Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who...

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING            Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.  For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are...

June 24-The Birth of John the Baptist - 2018 First Reading  --  Isaiah 49:1-6 Hear me, O coastlands!  Listen, O distant peoples.  The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name.  He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow...

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Ezekiel 17:22-24 Thus says the Lord GOD:  I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain...

10th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Genesis 3:9-15 After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”  He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was...

9th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle B-2009 FIRST READING            Deuteronomy 5:12-15 Thus says the Lord:  “Take care to keep holy the sabbath day as the Lord, your God, commanded you.  Six days you may labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of...

Corpus Christi-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Exodus 24:3-8 When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told us."  Moses then wrote down all the...

Trinity Sunday-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40 Moses said to the people:  "Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other:  Did anything so great ever...

Easter-Pentecost-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.  And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house...

7th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26 Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers—there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place--He said, “My brothers, the Scripture had to be...

Ascension of our Lord—Cycle B—2018 FIRST READING                    Acts of the Apostles   1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles...

6th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and, falling at his feet, paid him homage.  Peter, however, raised him up, saying, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” ...

5th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 9:26-31 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.  Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought...

4th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING                    Acts of the Apostles 4:8-12 Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said:  “Leaders of the people and elders:  If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he...

3rd Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 3:13-15, 17-19 Peter said to the people:  “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and...