Notes, Homilies, and News
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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – 2018
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING Isaiah 35:4-7a Thus says the Lord: Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then...
read moreThe Abbot’s Notebook for September 5, 2018
The Abbot’s Notebook for September 5, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! Another week at home and everything here is relatively quiet and peaceful. Our Father Andrew, who is 55 years old, had a mild heart attack on September 1st, so please...
read moreImpressions of Italy: Sister Death
Saint Benedict exhorts his monks to “keep death daily before one’s eyes.” In the original Latin, the phrase is: “Mortem cotidie ante oculos suspectam habere.” As one of my friends would likely ask if reading the phrase in English or Latin: “What is that all about?”...
read more22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – 2018
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 Moses said to the people: "Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land...
read moreThe Abbot’s Notebook for August 29, 2018
The Abbot’s Notebook for August 29, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! Reading the news is sometimes like watching a storm beginning and then waiting to see if anything will happen. The storms of politics and the storms of the Church right now...
read moreImpressions of Italy: Saint Francis of Paola
I confess that until fairly recently I knew very little about another important Italian saint, Francis of Paola. I could have told you that he was a fifteenth century hermit monk, the founder of an Order and was not Saint Francis of Assisi. Other than that, I might...
read more21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – 2018
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B – 2018 FIRST READING Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before...
read moreThe Abbot’s Notebook for August 22, 2018
The Abbot’s Notebook for August 22, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! Last Wednesday we had the solemn vows of three of our brothers and we are blessed to have them now as permanent members of our community. We now have 25 permanent members...
read moreImpressions of Italy: The Carthusian Order
The Carthusians are an ancient and important monastic Order in the Catholic Church, founded in France in 1084 by Saint Bruno of Cologne. The Order was and continues to be a mostly hidden one, since its monks and nuns follow a life of strict solitude and prayer. For...
read more20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – 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. ...
read moreThe Abbot’s Notebook for August 15, 2018
The Abbot’s Notebook for August 15, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! I am home in the Monastery but I spent three days away in a crazy trip to Mexico to be present for the priestly ordination of Brother Antonio Abad and the diaconal...
read moreImpressions of Italy: Santa Rita
It almost goes without saying that there are many popular saints in Italy. Not all the saints near and dear to Italians were born in Italy, but lived here at some point in time and eventually won the hearts of Italians and remain very popular to this day. To name a...
read more19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – 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. ...
read moreThe Abbot’s Notebook for August 8, 2018
The Abbot’s Notebook for August 8, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! There are times when things hit me so strongly and I know that I should not write about them until I calm down. There is such a situation in my heart right now. So please...
read moreImpressions of Rome: Salve
Since coming to Rome to work in January of 2017, I have been struck by a word that is regularly used here. I don’t recall that it was so much in use thirty years ago when I was living here as a student, but most likely it was. The word is simply, “salve.” My...
read more18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – 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. ...
read moreThe Abbot’s Notebook for August 1, 2018
The Abbot’s Notebook for August 1, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! This was not a quiet a week as the last! But always life is changing and we are always challenged to seek God in the midst of that. Last Sunday, July 29th, our Archbishop...
read moreImpressions of Italy: Norcia
The birthplace of Saint Benedict and his twin sister Saint Scholastica is very sacred to Benedictine monks, nuns and oblates. The city is now called Norcia, but in the time of Saints Benedict and Scholastica, born in 480, it was called Nursia. It is located in the...
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— The Rule of St. Benedict
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