ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

We are pleased to have Brother Francis Maduchi from our monastery of Awhum in Nigeria staying with us. He will be praying and working with us for a couple of years. You are a blessing in our midst, dear Brother Francis!

The early church was fond of applying to Christ and baptism the image of the just Noah, who passed through the waters that destroyed a sinful world in the wooden ark, and emerged as the first-born of a new creation in a new covenant with God. Justin Martyr tells us: In the flood was implicit the mystery of man's salvation. At the time of the flood the righteous Noah with his wife and three sons and their wives, making in all eight persons, were a figure of the eighth day on which Christ appeared as risen from the dead and which is always first in rank. Now Christ, the first born of every creature, is become the head of a new race, which has been regenerated by him through water, faith and wood, which embraces the mystery of the cross, as Noah, together with his family, was saved by the wood of the ark carried on the waters. Baptism is God's judgment against sin. We escape judgment through our baptism, by our faith, by the wood of the cross and through repentance for our sins. L...

As a dusting of snow falls on this Lenten morning, we recall God's unfathomable mercy. For you do not cease to spur us on to possess a more abundant life and, being rich in mercy, you constantly offer pardon and call on sinners to trust in your forgiveness alone. Never did you turn away from us, and, though time and again we have broken your covenant, you have bound the human family to yourself through Jesus your Son, our Redeemer, with a new bond of love so tight that it can never be undone. from Euchristic Prayer I for Reconciliation

In his homily this morning Father Abbot spoke about the essence of Lenten repentance. The Greek word used in the Gospel for repent is metanoia literally changing the mind . Jesus' call to repentance is his invitation to change our way of thinking, to remember that we are deeply loved by God. Living and acting as God's beloved ones can change everything.

We share some photographs of the current crop of orchids cultivated by Brother Adam in the Abbey greenhouse. In these bleak winter days the cloisters are filled with their beauty.

Spring is officially 31 days away, but the first crocuses were just spotted outside the Holy Rood Guild shipping room.

Each Sunday one of the priests in the monastic community is assigned to preside and preach at the Sunday Mass. Yesterday we heard from our Father Kizito. We share a reflection from his fine homily. The leper showed a tremendous amount of courage, choosing to break the Law by approaching Jesus. This was no small matter, for this kind of behavior was completely forbidden. It takes courage to honestly face the truth of our lives, the neat and clean, as well as the messy. It takes courage! The leper showed a tremendous amount of faith, believing that his healing could come from one place and one place only. "If you wish, you can make me clean." This healing was pure gift on the part of Jesus. "Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, 'I do will it. Be made clean.'"